IN PORLIK GROTTO.
Complying with his brother's instructions, Aaron broke up his quarters
at Balyika Cave early the next morning, and, descending with Blanka to
the bed of the stream, led her up the valley to Porlik Grotto, one of
nature's wonders known to few and seldom visited. From the top of its
high-arched entrance hung cornel-bushes with brown leaves and red
berries, while luxuriant wild grape-vines, with pendant clusters of ripe
fruit, climbed upward from below to meet them, the whole thus forming an
almost perfect screen before the opening. Through the screen, however,
an observant eye caught the gleam of the stalactites within; the sun's
rays, piercing the foliage, lighted them up like so many sparkling
chandeliers. But our two travellers' thoughts were not on the beauties
of the place.
"If Manasseh should only come out now to meet us!" they both exclaimed
at once.
"There!" cried Aaron, "we both wished the same thing, and we have a sort
of superstition here that a wish so uttered by two at the same time is
bound to be fulfilled."
But Manasseh did not appear.
"Look there," said Aaron, with forced cheerfulness, pointing out the
wonders of the grotto; "see how the limestone pillars grow together from
above and below, till they meet and make one solid column." And all the
while he was thinking: "What if Manasseh should come back, not alone,
but with our two brothers! Yet is it right to ask so much of fate? Will
not Heaven be angry with me for cherishing such a wish? Ah, let Manasseh
himself come, even if he must come alone and with evil tidings!"
"See there, my dove," he continued aloud to his companion, "how the
arches extend back, one behind another, with balconies along the sides,
just like a theatre, and high up yonder a perch for the gallery gods."
Meanwhile he was saying to himself: "Oh, that brother of mine ought to
have been here long ago if he was coming at all." Then, aloud to Blanka:
"Hear me play on the organ up there,--for theatres have organs
sometimes. You notice the pipes, side by side, some longer and some
shorter, each for a different note. But you stay here,--the rocks are
wet and slippery,--while I go up and play you a pretty tune."
With that he clambered up the side of the cavern to a series of
stalactites that presented somewhat the appearance of organ-pipes, and
drew the handle of his hatchet across them, assuring his listener the
while that he was playing a beautiful melody. Blanka was expected to
laugh at this, and had Manasseh only been there, she could have done so
with a light heart.
"Don't you think this back wall looks like a stage curtain?" Aaron went
on. "With a little stretch of the imagination you might take it for the
curtain in the Kolozsvar theatre, with Apollo and the muses painted on
it. One feels almost like stamping one's feet, to make it go up and the
play begin." But the undercurrent of the speaker's thoughts was quite
different. "What if Manasseh shouldn't come by noon--by nightfall?" he
was asking himself. "Then what is to become of this poor girl?" Aloud
once more: "That lad Manasseh must have made a little mistake--just like
these young men! He probably took the longer way, instead of following
my advice. But just look out toward the entrance, and see how the sun
shines in through the leaves and lights up the whole grotto like a fairy
palace."
Blanka, however, was feeling so heavy of heart and, in a vague way, so
fearful of impending misfortune, that she was in no mood to enjoy the
splendours around her. She crossed her hands on her bosom and, in the
half-light of this mysterious subterranean cathedral, yielded to the
awe-inspiring influence of the place and gave utterance, in a subdued
chant, to these words of the psalmist:
"Hear me, O God, nor hide thy face,
But answer, lest I die."
Aaron could control his feelings no longer. Throwing himself down on his
face, he began to sob as only a strong man can when he is at last moved
to tears, not by any selfish grief, but by the very burden of his love
and anxiety for others.
But at that moment the psalm was broken off, and Aaron heard himself
called three times by name. He rose to his knees and looked toward the
opening of the grotto, where a glad and unexpected sight met his eyes.
Glorified by the flood of light that poured in from without, appeared
the forms of three men, the middle one being the tallest and stateliest.
They were Manasseh and his two brothers, David and Simon.
Aaron sprang up and threw himself on them with an inarticulate cry like
that of a lioness recovering her lost cubs. Embraces and kisses were not
enough: he bore them to the ground and thumped them soundly on the back
in the excess of his emotion.
"You rascal, you good-for-nothing, you shameless rogue, to worry me like
that!" he exclaimed, accosting now one, now the other of his two lost
brothers, after which he embraced them both once more.
"And am I of no account?" asked Manasseh. "Have I no share in all this?"
"You are your brothers' father," Aaron made answer, "before whom they
prostrate themselves, even as the sheaves of Joseph's brethren bowed
before his sheaf. We are all your humble slaves." So saying, he threw
himself at Manasseh's feet and embraced his knees. "Torda Gap is,
indeed, a place of wonders, but the greatest wonder of all you have
wrought in rescuing your brothers."
This unrestrained outburst of joy opened Blanka's eyes and made her see
that there was far more behind the meeting of these brothers than she
had at first suspected. She knew now that the vague dread which had
oppressed her, and from which she had sought relief in sacred song, had
not been unfounded. Thus it was that she felt all the more impelled to
take up the psalm where she had broken off, and to pour out her gladness
in the concluding lines:
"He hears his saints, he knows their cry,
And by mysterious ways
Redeems the prisoners doomed to die,
And fills their tongues with praise."
Much rejoicing then followed, and the two brothers, whom Manasseh now
presented to Blanka, told her all about the preparations made for
receiving the bridal party at the Borev Bridge. Then all five sat down
and emptied the lunch-basket with which Ciprianu had provided his
guests; for thenceforth they would not need to carry their supplies with
them. Toward noon they mounted their horses, David and Simon taking
Blanka between them, and the other two bringing up the rear.
"Now tell me all about it," began the elder brother, as he rode a little
behind with Manasseh. "You must have had the eloquence of Aaron and the
magician's power of Moses, to prevail on Pharaoh to let your people go."
"I have wrought no miracle and used no eloquence," was the reply. "But I
showed our foes neither fear nor haughtiness. I joined their circle, but
did not spoil their entertainment. They questioned me, and I told them
the truth. I asked them for peace, and offered them a price that I
thought we were able to pay."
"How high a price?" asked Aaron.
"Sixteen oxen and twenty casks of plum brandy," was the matter-of-fact
reply.
"If my arm were only long enough, wouldn't I box your ears!" exclaimed
Aaron, by way of giving vent to his admiration.
"They wished to do something of the sort to me up yonder, too, when they
heard my offer," returned the other. "But then they reconsidered the
matter, and at last came to see that it was a very fair proposal, and
one that needed no lawyer or interpreter to make clear to them. They all
understood it, and finally declared themselves satisfied."
"But where did you get the two horses for our brothers?"
"I bought them, and I gave a price, too, such as is paid only for the
best English thoroughbreds; but half of the money was what I won from
the sellers themselves last night."
"So you have been playing cards with the Amorites, you godless man!"
"They held me prisoner till morning, while they took counsel together
what to do with me and my two brothers. Some of them were for sending
our heads, minus our bodies, to Toroczko, with a demand to surrender the
town, else they would storm it and not leave one stone on another. But
the upshot was that they led me out in the morning and told me my terms
of peace were accepted. They abandon their plans against Toroczko,
disperse to their homes, and promise henceforth to be our good
neighbours, as heretofore."
"Did they swear to this?"
"Before the altar, and a priest administered the oath."
"With two candles on the altar?"
"Yes."
"Then they will keep their word."
"And I, as plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary, gave them a written
and sealed pledge to restrain my people from all acts of hostility
against them."
"That will cost you a hard fight when you get home."
"But I shall win. The Wallachians will respect the peace, and we shall
avoid all contention with them. Their leader, when he handed me our
passport, said to me: 'You now have no further cause for uneasiness so
far as we are concerned. My comrades and I will do your countrymen no
further harm. As to the supplies offered by you, we accept them as a
gift, not as a ransom. One parting word I have to add, however, and I
bid you mark it well: we cannot promise you that some day a renegade
from your own midst may not plunge your town into war and bloodshed.'
With that we shook hands and kissed each other; and I can assure you
positively that from here to the Aranyos our way will be clear."
"But how did you win them over so easily, I should like to know? Surely,
the sixteen oxen and a few casks of brandy could not have done it."
"I gained my end simply by telling the truth. I told them about our
setting the beech-tree on fire. They had taken it for a signal, and the
mistake might have cost them dear."
"And did they believe you?"
"No, they doubted my word and discussed the matter a long time in their
council, one party being strongly opposed to any change in their
preconcerted arrangements; and this faction pressed urgently for my
immediate execution."
"What, then, was it that saved you?"
"A mere chance--no, it was Providence, rather. It was a heart that beat
with warm human feeling and a will that was prompt to act. In the midst
of their discussion a messenger came from Ciprianu and confirmed the
truth of my words."
"From Ciprianu? Then the messenger must have ridden all night."
"Yes, through a trackless wilderness and over rugged mountains."
"I do not see how mortal man could have accomplished it!" exclaimed
Aaron, shaking his head.
"It was not a man; it was a woman that effected the impossible. She came
to Monastery Heights to attest the truth of my statement by assuring the
insurgents that what they took for a signal-fire was merely the result
of an accident. The woman who saved us three from death was Zenobia."
At this point Blanka interrupted the conversation of the two brothers.
She laughingly demanded to know what they were so earnestly discussing
together.
"We can't agree on what guests to invite to our wedding," was Manasseh's
ready reply. "Aaron would have only the immediate family, but I am in
favour of inviting all our friends. What are your wishes in the matter,
my angel?"
"I have no relatives or friends that I can invite to my wedding,"
answered Blanka, gently, "but I shall feel very happy if all your family
can be present, even to your youngest brother, whom we met in Kolozsvar.
You must send for him to come home."
"He will be there, dear heart," Aaron assured her.
"And stay! I have a friend, after all,--a friend that I have made since
coming into this country, and should much like to see at my wedding. It
is Zenobia, Ciprianu's daughter."
* * * * *
At sunset they reached the Aranyos River, beyond which lay the
longed-for home, the happy valley which, from Manasseh's description,
had so often been the subject of Blanka's dreams. At last she was to see
Toroczko.