Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-05-27

the noise of the dance and thi
frantic shouts Of the men as the.
rushed about the room. But tn.
Countess was not alarmed she op
ened the door boldly and walkee
in.
The room, long and wide. wal
whitswashed- In the first moment
of emotion ! thought there must b,
! a. ieast City men in Il. dancing anv
rushing around. Later, on count
ing them, saw that there were
nine. including the inn-keeper and
three tsiganes who composed the
orchestra. But the five others were
quite enough. They were all tall,
strong fellows. Their pipes, which
were stuck through the ribbons OF
their hats, almost touched the main
beam in the ceiling. Their should
era were formidable. Their five
rifles were placed against the wall
In q corner.
We were in pretty wasps' nest
When the wretches saw us, they
were so surprised at our audacity
that they ceased dancing. The
Countess said to them. with her
conquering smile:
Excuse us, nv good friends, if
We disturb your amusement. We
have lost our way, and as we cannot
continue our journey tonight, we
have come here to seek refuge
One fellow, straight as the letter
|, and finely formed, broke away
from the group, twisted his mus
tache, took off his hat with a swag-
gering gesture, brought his heels
together, bowed to the Countess,
and told her that her appearance
did not disturb him that, on the
contrary, it made him very happy.
that he was master of the premises
for the moment, and that his name
was Josgi Fekete Ia famous Hum
garian brigand. He then asked
the Countess who she was.
Before ! could pull her by the
sleeve to caution her to conceal her
name she had already answered.
Il am the Countess Repey | live
at Kerchvar, near here
'Oh. have the honor of know
ing you. was acquainted with
the old Count, also. lie fired his
double -barrelled gun at me one day
but missed me-.
A charming acquaintance
The Countess sat down on
bench, and the bandit placed him
self beside her. AS for me, no one
| asked me to sit down.
And where are you going this
way, in the middle of the night 2
made sign to her not to tell.
TO the ball at Arad Casino
Farewell our jewels
Then it is very fortunate that
you have lost your way. Your
Excellencies have no need to COR
tinue your journey. 1t SO happens
that we are just giving ball, and
| hope you will accept an invitation.
Our tsigai,es are good musicians !:
it IS the troop of Szalouta. They
play splendid czardas. Hey, gyp-
sy, play us the air from the Beau
tiful Woman,' and do not let your
eyes wander from your VIOLIN
The rascal did not even ask per-
mission. As soon as the musicians
had struck up the czareias, he threw
his dolman over his shoulder, took
the Countess by the wrist aud drew
her into the middle of the room.
Another bandit threw himself On
Cesarine, who was frightened to
death and half fainting. All. she
had no need to seek dancers, for
she passed from hand to hand and
SO quickly that her foot hardly ever
touched the ground.
The Countess showed what she
knew. She danced with as much
ardor and as much fire as If she
were on the waxed floor of the Arad
Casino. I had never seen her more
fascinating, more beautiful. Up to
that time the Hungarian dance had
never seemed to me, at the best,
anything but strange. No one be-
fore this brigand had ever made me
understand what it was. He began
by dancing round his partner with
lofty mien, effecting to be very
proud of her, looking at her from
head to foot, over his shoulder,
mingling his cries with the music.
When he was weary of this diver
| sion he nlaced her in the middle