twenty-five miles had taken eight hours instead of four, as the Wallack
had profanely promised.

We entered the town with a feeble attempt at a trot, but the poor brutes
of horses were dead beat, and neither the pressure of public opinion nor
the suggestive cracking of the driver's whip could arouse them, to
becoming activity.

Oravicza is very prettily situated on rising ground, and the long
winding street, extending more than two miles, turns with the valley.
Crawling along against collar the whole way, I thought the street would
never end. There are very few Magyar inhabitants in this place, which is
pretty equally divided between Germans and Wallacks; the lower part of
the town belongs to the latter, and is known as Roman Oravicza, in
distinction to Deutsch Oravicza. The population is altogether about
seven thousand.

I fancy not many strangers pass this way, for never was a shy Englishman
so stared at as this dust-begrimmed traveller. I became painfully
self-conscious of the generally disreputable appearance of my cart and
horses, the driver and myself, when two remarkably pretty girls tripped
by, casting upon me well-bred but amused glances. All the womenkind of
Oravicza must have turned out at this particular hour, for I had hardly
passed the sisters with the arched eyebrows, when I came upon another
group of young ladies, who were laughing and talking together. I think
they grew merrier as I approached, and I am quite sure I was hotter than
I had been all day. "Confound the fellow! can't he turn into an
innyard--anywhere out of the main street?" thought I, giving my driver a
poke. He knew perfectly well where he was about to take me, and no
significant gestures of mine hastened him forward in the very least.