The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-29 00:00:00

murmur against the storm which had covered ti
heavens with darkness, thus becoming a blessing
them, not a curse, as the only means that could hat
rendered the reaching the other bank of the Danube i
concealment, a matter of possibility. The lady Gisell
sat crouched at tge bottom of the boat—her hands folde,
over her breast—her spirits rising with the danger—
her courage high—her trust in Providence. The two
men stood, each at his long oar, directing thn lvat
partially against the current of the stream, in order to
reach the point immediately opposite, which was above
the village already mentioned, and an isolated spot. The
violence of the rapid Danube is, however, always great:
the wind added to the force of the current; and in spite
of the vigorous exertions of the two men, it soon became
evident that they were drifting much further down the
stream than was their intention. The same flash of
lightning that had discovered the boat to the watchers
on the shore which they had left, showed the toiling men
that they would be shortly upon the point of running
against one of those boat-mills, so peculiar (to the
Danube, which are anchored on the stream, in the
neighbourhood of every village on its banks. Oa this
occasion the one they approached lay above the village
which it was their effort to avoid. The horses plunged,
scared at the flash of lightning; but the lady Gisella,
with that courage which formed a part of her character
in moments of emergency, rose, seized the reins at their
heads, and endeavoured to pacify them with those
manoeuvres of a ready horsewoman, which formed part
of her Hungarian education. The broad flare of light,
however, which had showed them the hulk of the
anchored mill, revealed the boat, at the same time, to a
guard stationed upon it.
" ' Boat a-head! Whence come ye?' shouted a voice
from the mill.
" ' Pull a-head, man, and with all your power!' said
the robber, in a low voice, to Antal.
" ' Boat a-head!' cried the guard ugain. 'lf you do
not speak, I fire!'
" Almost at the same instant the man upon the mi

fired. The bullet whizzed past the boat, and splashed
into the water close by the lady's side.
" Pull! pull!' cried Sobri once more.
" But at the same moment they became faintly visible
to a body of soldiers upon the bank; and several shots
were fired from the shore by the guards, put upon the
alert by the report of their comrade's musket: again,
however, the fugitives remained untouched in the dark-
ness, by the firing of the random shots.
" In spite of the struggles of Sobri and the driver, the
boat now drifted violently against the mill. But with
his ever ready presence of mind, the robber, at the very
moment the shock was felt, calling to Antal to hold on by
the hull of the mill-boat, sprang upon its deck. Before
the guard could again load his weapon, the robber had
his grasp upon his throat, and flung him violently on
his back. The next moment his hand was upon the
soldier's mouth, and his•knee upon his chest.
" Utter another word—make another struggle—and
you are a dead man,' he cried; the road is not many
miles long from the edge of this hulk to the rushing
stream, which will stop your bellowing for ever.'
" At the noise of the bustle occasioned by this inci-
dent, another adversary came forward in the person of
the miller, who issued from the interior of the mill-cabin.
Before this second person could utter any shout or cry, a
pistol was drawn from Sobri's breast, by the hand which
was free, and pointed at his head.

" 'And this the second, if ho make but a sign to
alarm the guard upon the shore said the robber, or
dare to stir from this spot.'
" The unhappy miller remained as if spell-bound at
this sudden danger.
" What is it? where is the boat?' shouted a voice
from the shore.

" ' Now speak ! tell them that it has drifted down the
stream,' whispered the robber, pointing his pistol at the
miller's head.

" The man obeyed in trembling voice,
" Louder!' said Sobri, with menacing gesture.
" The man again obeyed.
" Were there many persons on board?' shouted again
the voice from the shore.

" Tell them you saw several,' commanded the robber.
" The miller echoed the prompting of the man who
held a pistol at his face.

"A command was beard to be given to the guards
upon the shore, to scour immediately down the stream
towards the village, and prevent the landing of the party
in the boat, that was thus supposed to have run further
down the stream.
" After giving time to the soldiers on the banks to
vacate their post upon the opposite shore, Sobri dropped
his pistol.
" You may shout now. They will not hear you,' ho
said to the trembling miller: but I would advise you
not; for you may still have a bullet through your brains.'
" Then, tearing violently asunder the shirt-sleeve of
his arm which held down the soldier's head, he bound it
about the fellow's mouth ; with equal promptitude and
force, he turned round the struggling man, undid his own
leather girdle, and fastened the arms of the guard behind
him. lie rose, dragged the man into the interior of the
cabin, and flung him down ; then, seizing the shaking
miller, he thrust him also into the interior of the mill,
locked the door upon his prisoners, and flung the key
from him into thq, water.

" ' Now, man, now put,forth all your force. Pull up
against the stream ; the coast is clear for the time,' he
cried to Antal, as he again dropped' into the boat.
" The rain that fell from the last outpourings of the
storm dashed around the men as theynow again struggled
violently to head the stream. But their efforts were re-
warded with better success. Presently they ran against
the shore, at some distance above the mill. Sobri sprang
upon the bank, drew up the ferry-boat by its chain,
spiked the chain firmly to the ground, and, after ad-
vancing a little inland to reconnoitre, returned to say, in
a low cautious voice, that they might risk the landing.
The carriage and horses were drawn upon land by the
united efforts of Sobri and the driver. The lady
followed.

" ' Now, let it really drift down the stream, that it
betray not our place of landing,' said the robber, as he
again loosened the boat. He gave it a violent shove
with his foot ; and it was soon floating down the
curre"ht.

" NOw wrap your cloak firmly about you, sweet
lady,' said the robber, as he handed Gisella into the
carriage. This is a rude journey for so frail and
sweet a flower. The road lies along the river's banks.
On with you, then. Hurry forward, but not so as to ex-
cite suspicion or alarm. You possess a good passport,
as I heard from that bold youth : you need no longer
then have any fear. Should you meet with any other
patrol, put on a bold face: they have no right to hinder
your further progress. Heaven guide and prosper you!
And now, indeed, farewell—farewell for ever!'
" But now Gisella stretched forth her hand, without a
thought who or what was the man before her, except
that he had again been her preserver ; and now the
robber, yielding to an impulse he no longer could resist,
bent over it to imprint a kiss upon it. Wds it a tear
from the robber's eye, or but the moisture from the
heavens? But Gisella's hand was wet.

" ' Generous man!' exclaimed the lady, in broken
voice.

" A deep sigh responded to her. The carriage drove
on: and the robber was immediately lost to sight in the
darkness.

" It was the last Gisella ever saw of that extraordinary
man. In after years the jeurnals of the day were again
filled with his exploits in the woods of Bakony, his
daring deeds, and his escapes. His ultimate fate was
never clearly known. His band was cut in pieces, at
last, by a troop of Schwarzenberg lancers; and the body
of a young man of striking and remarkably handsome
exterior was found among the slain. But none could
ever tell whether it was that of the famous Sobri. The
people believe that he still exists, and will again appear,
to be their protector and their friend. By some it is con-
fidently asserted, that he has retired into obscurity, and
lives an honest life, as a peasant farmer. Another vague
report asserts, however improbably, that he has been
positively recognised, under the robe of a Benedictine
monk, in the monastery of Tihany. His fate thus
remains in the obscurity of that romance which shed so
strange a halo over his whole existence."

Sobri is only introduced: in the third volume, and
yet his character leaves a more lasting impression
upon the memory than that of any of the other per-
sonages, not even excepting Gisella and Aladar. Of
the style of the composition we could speak more in
commendation were it not disfigured by such mongrel
words as "martyrized" (p. 288, III.), and " artificious-
ness" (p. 43, II.) Sometimes a thought is condensed
into a brief sentence, as where it is remarked " What
a beautifying influence has hope alone, when it springs
up like a fresh fountain from the desert of misfor-
tune." More generally, however, a single thought is
dilated 'over many pages. The principal merits of
the composition altogether are the newness of the
descriptions, and the rapid variation of the incidents.
In these respects " Gisella" is a phenomenon among
the novels of this season.