"That is just what I want. The trouble is at present that they lie so still."
And with that he ordered half of his pandurs to lie down and sleep and the other half to remain awake and so relieve each other every three hours. So the pandurs rested till midday and then the sergeant began to urge Szilard to set off again or else they would arrive too late.
"It is too early yet," replied Szilard, and he spent a good half of the afternoon there doing nothing. Only then did he take horse again, complaining to everyone how much yesterday's ride had taken it out of him, and asking everybody he met on the road, coming or going, where the next village lay?—how to get to it?—and in what direction the highroad lay?
The old pandurs naturally began murmuring among themselves. "Oh!" said they, "if he keeps on blurting out his whole line of route like this, we shall only have the empty nests of the robbers to thresh out for our trouble."
"And this chap thinks, forsooth, that he will capture Fatia Negra!" growled the veteran sergeant.
But no sooner did they get beyond the fenced fields than Szilard suddenly turned his horse's head and leading the way to the other side of the mountain-stream, cut his way through the forest, ordering his comrades to hurry after him as speedily as possible. What he was aiming at, nobody had the least idea. If he meant to lose his way in the forest he was setting about the best way to do it.
Suddenly he ordered his followers to dismount and lead their horses by their bridles up to the top of the mountain. The old sergeant now guessed what he was after, but did not approve of it.
"There is no path for a horse up this mountain," said he.
"Silence, sir! I know what I am about. Follow me!"
And so, for a good half hour, cursing their leader bitterly beneath their breaths, they painfully struggled after him up the dangerous path and then, suddenly, a marvellous sight met their gaze. An immense cavern gaped open before them through which, as through a tunnel, they could reach the valley on the other side. This was the so-called "Roman Gate." Many believe that the Romans dug this passage through the mountain, but this marvellous piece of workmanship has been carried out on too vast a scale for anybody else but Nature to be its architect; it is possible, however, that the Romans may have used this passage for their campaigns.