"Turn to the right and begone!" whispered Manasseh to the rider, and he caused the horse to make a sudden spring to one side.
"Oh, he's got away!" cried the gipsy, in great chagrin. "Why didn't you let me take the bridle? Catch me bringing you another thousand-florin prize, to be thrown away like that!"
"Never mind, my lad. From this day on you shall find a full trencher always ready for you at our house. But now let us start for home."
Six weeks later Benjamin Vajdar made his reappearance in Vienna, the net result of his expedition to Transylvania being, first, a heavy draft on the bank-account of his chief, and, second, a limping gait for himself, which proved a sad affliction to him on the dancing-floor.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A CRUEL PARTING.
At the close of the war the young men of Toroczko who had served in the national guard returned home and resumed their work in the mines and iron foundries. The mining classes had always been exempt from military service in the imperial army, and so the Toroczko young men had no fear of being soon called away again from their peaceful industry.