, 1874-05-03

Now, Kuzuk Pacha could say to the Debrec-
liners, ''Where is the joke now Have you
outwitted me, or are you chuckGng at me? You
may have to laugh On the othar side OF Jour
| mouths, still'
4 long line Of country wagons Is grinding
along the highway from Tokaj to Hadha7. It is
the caravan from Deb1eczin-ivo hundred wag-
ons, ono behind another, crowded full OF woner
and girls; not one man among than, nor boy
big enough to hold Whipl The women we're
their Own teauasters. All the men-folk they had
in the party had their hands bound tight in baby
clothes; for they we're culy nursing babies. So
many women and 80 many girls together, you
can guess what
cHATTERIHo AND cR11xo
/ there was, and what queer notions they brought
along the way with them. "Will Master DobosY
drive the Turks away from the town. VIII ho
talk about, as whole week crawls by; and ont Of
that their little hearts made fright enough, can
tell you.
One OF the wagons WAS full Of young girls,
which you MAI hear to this day anywhere be-
tween the Theiss and Molda
MY ducking dives down in the wster,
AL in tho country Of No Land:
For nanny calls out TO her daughter
AL tho way OF to Poland.
Or another one would sing:
Where shall hide7
Bee, Am nod = +
Tied hand and foot,
And in irons, to boot.
This song was very much in fashion then :;
God knows, tho poor Hungarian sung it right
from the bottom Of his heart.
This time. the girls sung it all through their
weary way; and their auisering voices flung It
up into the heavens SO high that the poor little
1arks hardly dared to sing back again. When
mid -day came, the whole caravan rested under the
edge Of the green mound which rose above the
broad puszta.~ Who built up this mound Are
-. NIr,o hail
only ours, because the whole region round there
is 30 very cold.
There WAS no village and no town in the
neighbo1hood. Hero and there you would come
on an open hamlet, what they called Tanya,"
surrounded by hay stacks and eyen these we1o
very far apart. There Was no trace Of cultivated
land; tho whole plain Was given up to sheep and
to cattle.
But tha
"rArA NoDdAfA,"
what the Hungarians call ''Delibab," and other
people "1uignCe, that wonderful, fanci(ul and
manY-colored reflection in the air which you may
see on the steppes Of the Eastern world, and
the praries Of the st,-Wou1d bejuggle them
every day by showing its ravishing pictures on the
enormous plains OF the Hungarian puazta-
Yet the people OF those regions are SO much &C.
customed to them, that they pay no more atten-
ton to them than to shadows in the sunshine.
There might be the sight Of raging ee:s; but
nobody would think Of going there to swim: or
nobody would 70 there, for shade. Al
the cities and palaces which tho 'Fata Mor-
CANA" represent are images to which they are
all entirely accustomed; and nobody pays any
more thought to them than you do to Peppers
Ghost when you see it. Just at this time, the
Delibab was every morning in partio1karly good
humor. Hot aud heavy blazed the sun down
upon the pusZta; 80 that the earth cracked
open, and tho deep soil all broke into little bits.
That is just the day tor the Fata t 4o;rgana s; ao
wanted to sec the wonder ran up to the top OF
the green mound, and
LOOKED OUT UPON THE SLY.
All around them extended . sea OF raging
waves, Is far rs tho horizon; from this there
stretched up to the heavens all tho different
ahadow-pictures, es,-blue islands swimming IN the
sea, which would grow if,ger and higher as they
looked on Ill covered with green forests OF leafy
trees. They could eea the reflections OF tho
trees pointing down into tbs water; then tho
island would sink away, and the waves OF the
500 would foH together over 1t, and cover 1t
more and more, till it was altogether gone.
There, on the other side. are great palaces With
wonderful towers and churches OF pale blue; and
shakes them all as they swim here aod there till
at last they tumble into ruins, and the towers
aud the steeples fall down upon each other. At
last the sea is gone, and all you can sec 10 the
track Of stray crane who is quietly flying aeross
from one side to the other.
The girls on the top OF the mound were talk
ing about all these changes: "See! that one Ii
lust like the white church in Debreczin. There
is one Just like the watch-tower in G1ossWardeira.
The roof is split in just the samc way"
who was 1T tho foot OF the hill, hushing her
chubby baby, ''it isn't good to play with WITCH
craft >raill bring no blessing to the house.
when you make it ont in tho Delibab; it's bad
luck for any city to be copied J., In the sk9. 10
nHusf !" cried suddenly ali Of
them together; and then tho words
died away upon their lips: they Ill looked
speechiess, with eyes amazed
What was it thst they saw On the sky?
In tho direction Of Hadhaz, high above the aea
OF the mirage there was
THE IMAGE OF 4 HoB5EMAN,
which appeared suddenly upon tho pale aky.
horseman, not to be mistaken, OF colossal pro-
portions, With quiyer over his shoulder, WITH
pointed turban on his head, aud with the .retns
in his hand, rose in one instant aboEo the broad
ocean. The feet Of the horse did not touch tho
earth; the whole WAS like = ight-blue shadow OF
phantom thrown across the yellow heaven.
s'Jesus Christ, do not for9ake us!" cried
out these poor frightened folk, as they gaw
this ehadowy phantom pass by,-a phantom
not terrible to US With all our ecience, but which
they had never aeen nor heard OF. This
form of . warrior far away moved acro.s the
heavens a. large as the cloudy ghost OF giant;
in the next moment crowd OF new forms passed
across the sky-alf armed giants. Some stood
resting against their horses over the mirror Of
the deceitful sea; Of some you could only see
the beads and shoulders; but there ware some
where you could see the whole body, and these
would bo fastened to other bodies. You would sec
two shadows sticking together, and the heads.
arms, aud weapons ptrctchlng up and down from
tho point where they united Suddenly AL this
disappeared; and nothing was left in the heaven
but two broad rays OF light, and tWo light-blue
strips Of ribbon upon the cloudy background, e1-
tending down to the very horizon.
'tJesuH Christ! Turks and Ta-tats
on THE WATCH FOR U.s."
This VA. the cry Of the crowd Of
women as they hnddled all together, without
help .nd without council, there in tho midst Of
the great desert.
The mothers c]asped their babies In thelr
arrus, and rushed with them to the wagons.
The maidens scattered on the road even their
beloved scarfs and their earrings. thinking that,
while the robbers stopped to collect these, they
could be hastening on their flight; for they AZ
knew that the troop must be watching for thenn
Away, away! To Boesorneny! Haste,
hasteE We must leave the track Haste |"
So the poor army Of women, IN terrible fear.
turned aside from their way. All the line OF
wagons followed at tho risk Of the very lives Of
tl1e beasts As they went ovar the prnirieB, where