A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE IN HUNGARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 728, 22 September 1870, Page 3

A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE IN HUNGARY.

«. {Translated from the German.') On the third day after his departure from Vienna, a horse-dealer alighted at an inn situated at the entrance of a little town, which, to all appearance, was respectable and quiet; He gave his horse to the care of the landlord, dried his clothes at the fire, and as Boon as supper was ready, sat down to table with the host and his family, who appeared to be decent people. During supper, the traveller was asked where he came from, and on his answering from Vianna, they were all anxious to hear some news of the capital. The horse-dealer told them all he knew. The landlord then asked him what business had taken him to Vienna, to which the latter replied that he had been there to sell some of the very finest horses that had ever appeared in the market there. At these words the landlord looked very significantly at a young man who sat oppoBite to him, and who appeared to be his son. His expressive glance did not escape the observation of the traveller, who, however, thought nothing of it, though not many hours afterwards he had ample cause to regret his want of caution. Being in want of repose, he begged the landlord, as soon as the supper was finished, to Bhow him to his room. The landlord took a lamp, and conducted the traveller across a yard into a detached building, which contained two tolerably neat rooms. A bed was prepared at the farther end of the second. As soon as the landlord had retired, the traveller undressed himself, unbuckled a money-belt containing a considerable sum in gold, and took out his pocket-book, which was full of Austrian bank notes. Haying convinced himself that his money was right, he placed both under his pillow, extinguished the light, and soon fell asleep, thanking God and all the saints for the success of his journey. He had slept about an hour or two, when he was suddenly awakened by the opening of the window, and immediately felt the night air blow in upon him. Startled at this unforeseen circumstance, the traveller raised himself up in bed, and perceived the head and shoulders of a man who was struggling to get into the room ; at the same time he heard the voices of several persons, who were standing under the window. A dreadful terror seized the traveller, who was never very brave, and scarcely knowing what he did, he crept under the bed as quickly as possible. A moment afterwards, a man sprang heavily into the room, and staggered up to the bed, supporting himself against the wall. Confounded as the horse-dealer was, he nevertheless perceived that the intruder was inebriated ; this circumstance, however, gave him little hope, for he had probably got intoxicated in order to summon up courage for the contemplated crime ; besides this, the traveller had heard the voices of persons outside, so that the murderer, in case of resistance, could count upon the assistance of his comrades. But how great was his astonishment when he saw the unknown person throw bis coat upon the floor, and stretch himself upon the bed which he had just quitted ! Not very long afterwards he heard the intruder snore, and his terror began gradually to give way to reflection, although the whole affair was quite incomprehensible to him. He was just preparing to quit his hidingplace, in order to awake the inmates of the house, and ask for another bed in place of that from which he had been so unceremoniously expelled, when a new incident occurred. He heard the outer door carefully opened, and on listening, the sound of cautious footI steps reached his ear. In a few minutes the

door of his room opened, and two figures— those of the landlord and his son— stood on the threshold. " Keep the lamp back," muttered the father in a suppressed voice. "What hare we to fear ? " said the young man ; " we are two against one ; besides, he has only!a small knife with him, and is sleeping soundly, hear how he snores." "Do what I toll you," said the father angrily ; "do you wish to awake him ? would you have his cries alarm the whole neighbourhood ? " The horse-dealer was horrified with the spectacle. He remained motionless under the bed, scarcely daring to breathe. The son shut the door after him, and the two wretches approached the bed on tiptoe. An instant afterwards the bed was shook by a convulsive motion, and a stifled cry of pain confirmed the foreboding that the unhappy man in the bed had had his throat cut. After a Bhort pause of awful silence, the landlord >aid, " It is ove* now ; look for the money." " I have found it under the pillow," said the son ; "it is in a leathern belt and a pocket-book." The murderers disappeared. Everything being now quiet, the traveller crept from under the bed, jumped out of the window, and hastened to the adjoining town to inform the authorities of what had happened. The mayor immediately assembled the military, and in less than three-quarters of an hour the inn was surrounded by soldiers who had been summoned to arrest the murderers. The whole house seemed buried in profound silence, but on approaching the stables they heard a noise. The door was immediately broken in, and the landlord and his son were seen busily digging a pit. As soon as the murderers saw the horsedealer, they uttered a cry of horror, covered their faces with their hands, and fell to the ground. This was neither from repentance nor the fear of punishment, but they thought they saw before them the ghost of the murdered man, notwithstanding they heard him speak. There was some trouble in convincing them to the contrary. They were then bound, and led into the out-house where the horrible deed had been committed, and when they perceived the body which lay on the bed, the son fell senseless to the earth, and the father threw himself upon it with loud lamentations, clasped the bloody corpse, and exclaimed despairingly, 11 My son ! oh, my son 11, thy father, am thy murderer ! " The murdered man waa, in fact, the youngest son of the host. Drunkenness was the only fault this young man had ; and this night, instead of being, as his father and brother supposed, in his bed, he had gone out secretly, and been carousing with some of his companions at the alehouse. Soon becoming sufficiently inebriated, and fearing' his father's anger if he appeared before him in that state, he intended to pass the night in the detached outhouses, as he had often done before. His companions had accompanied him thither, and helped him to climb up to the window. The rest requires no further explanation. Nor do we need to add that the murderers expatiated their crime with their life ; and that the horse-dealer, although saved, and again in possession of his plundered property, still shudders at the recollection of that dreadful night. -