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Updated: June 26, 2025
Manasseh paced his prison cell in almost unbearable impatience, as he listened to the distant firing, and watched the red glow over the door growing gradually brighter. A heavy booming as of cannon was heard from the Szekler Stone. So the attack in that quarter had begun, and Aaron's battery was at work.
In the sleeping-room bedclothes, canopy, and curtain were embroidered by peasant maidens. This little house was not to be shown to Blanka until her wedding day. During these preparations Aaron climbed the Szekler Stone every evening and surveyed the horizon in search of any beacons blazing on the surrounding hills.
While a part of my forces conduct a feigned assault in the valley, and so engage the attention of your men, my main body will descend on the town from the direction of the Szekler Stone, and will assail it in the rear, where none but women and children are left to receive the attack.
The man himself was a gold watch encased in a rough exterior, a noble heart in a rude setting. His horny hands were hardened by toil, but he had a clever head on his shoulders; he was well endowed with mother-wit, quick at repartee, merciless in his satire toward the haughty and overbearing, cool and good-humoured in the presence of danger, in short, a genuine Szekler, heart and soul.
Toward evening Aaron himself began to feel uneasy at their non-appearance. He had nearly exhausted his ingenuity in quieting Blanka's anxiety. Finally he played his last card. "Now, my angel," said he, "you remember I promised you I would dance the Szekler dance at your wedding. Have the goodness to pay attention, and you will see something that is not to be seen every day."
He had so much money, people said, that he wished for no more. What could he do with it? He began by sending for celebrated cabinet-makers from Szekler and Zarand, who understand the building of those splendid wooden houses which last for centuries real palaces of hard wood. The Roumanian nobility live in such houses as these, which are full of beautiful carving inside.
"His name is Manasseh Adorjan, he is of good old Szekler descent, and he has seven brothers and a twin sister. They all live at home in their ancestral castle. Some of the brothers have married, but all live together peacefully under one roof and form one household.
"That is the camp of Moga's insurgents, and it lies between us and the Szekler Stone. Every road leading thither is now unsafe for us. But hear my plan. The insurgents hold Monastery Heights, and we must ride past them, through the Torda Gap. The millers of the two mills that stand one at each end of the Gap are my friends.
Nevertheless he was determined to try his hand; so the others left him at work and went on to view the curiosities of the Szekler Stone. "Take good care of my wife," Manasseh called to his brother, "and don't let her fall over any precipice." "Never fear," Aaron shouted back. "The whole Szekler Stone shall fall first." "Promise not to take Blanka and Anna up Hidas Peak." "I promise."
"But it would have been a piece of needless cruelty," remarked Manasseh, "and merely on account of a little hay that has not been touched, after all." "He didn't come up here to steal hay; he is one of Diurbanu's spies." "But what, pray, could he spy out here?" "What could he spy out? Oh, just see how sharp my brother Manasseh is! My fortifications and armament are on the Szekler Stone.
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