It was just the place for a hunted band of robbers to turn upon their pursuers for a last life and death struggle,—here where even the bodies of the slain would never be found. For not once in two years does a wanderer chance to come this way, and long before that time the wolves and the vultures will have dispersed the bones of the fallen.
Yet this time the robber bands did not fall in with their pursuers, a sufficient proof that Szilard's plan was skilfully laid and unanticipated. For had Fatia Negra had any idea of his design, it is absolutely inconceivable that he would not have laid in wait for him on this spectre-haunted path, where ten resolute men could have held a whole army at bay.
For hours Szilard's long troop of horsemen pursued their way along without meeting a soul. Late in the afternoon they came upon the first shepherd's hut. The herdsman himself was out in the forest with his flocks; there was nobody at home but a lame dog which barked at them.
In the evening they met a mounted countryman carrying maize to be ground at the mill, him they took along with them as guide.
After that they travelled all night long, passing through Skeritora and Nyigsa, till they came to the cataract of Vidra, which they reached at dawn of day.
The houses of these Alpine villages are so far apart that next neighbours cannot even see each other's dwellings, as there is at least half a league between them. This circumstance and the night-season favoured Szilard's plans. They could surround each house, one by one, without the inhabitants of the other houses being aware of what had happened in the first ones.—A fruitless labour for they found nothing of a suspicious nature.
Tired out, the band, early in the morning, reached the house beneath the waterfall; here they felt the need of halting. Szilárd put some questions to the guide and then dismissed him, commanding him to return to Skeritora.
When the guide had mounted, the pandur sergeant observed to Szilard: "I fancy, your honour, that that rascal does not mean to return to Skeritora, but as soon as he is out of sight will turn back and give the alarm beforehand in all the districts on our line of march."
"I fancy so too."
"But then every suspected person will get wind of the whole affair and have time to bolt."