last some time; all the stragglers in the place assisted at the
conference, taking a patriotic interest in their own countryman. The
matter was finally adjusted by the Wallack agreeing to take a sixth part
of the original sum.

Seated on a bundle of hay, with my things around me, I was now quite
ready for the start, but the driver had a great many last words with the
public, which the interest in our proceedings had gathered about us.
Presently with an air of triumph he took his seat, gave a loud crack or
two with his whip, and off we started at a good swinging trot, just to
show what his team could accomplish.

We took the road to Weisskirchen, leaving the Danube in the rear. The
country was fairly pretty, but nothing remarkable; fine scenery under
the circumstances would have been quite superfluous, for the dust was
two feet deep in the road, and the heels of four horses scampering along
raised such a cloud of it that we could see next to nothing.

We had not proceeded far when the speed sensibly relaxed; I fancy the
horses went slower that they might listen to what the driver had to say,
he talked to them the whole time. He was not communicative to me; his
knowledge of German seemed limited to the bargaining process, a lesson
often repeated, I suspect. As time wore on the heat became almost
tropical; as for the dust, I felt as if I had swallowed a sandbank, and
was joyful at the near prospect of quenching my thirst at Weisskirchen,
now visible in the distance.

Hungarian towns look like overgrown villages that have never made up
their minds seriously to become towns. The houses are mostly of one
story, standing each one alone, with the gable-end, blank and