[ 175 ] 



ELEVENTH DAY. 



ABOUT half-past two our jagers awoke us ; and when we had 

 quickly disposed of the chocolate prepared by the worthy 

 Dionisio, our guns and ammunition were got ready, and 

 again we sallied out into the dark woods of the Fruska-Gora. 

 It was a disagreeable morning, for the sky had clouded over 

 during the night and not a star was visible. We drove 

 along the bottom of the valley at a slow trot, followed by 

 two grooms riding the ponies with which we had been 

 furnished, our route being precisely the same as that by 

 which I had descended last evening ; and if it had proved 

 unpleasant in the daylight, one can imagine what it was 

 at night especially those steep narrow slopes which led up 

 to the mountain-heights. 



We often had to get out of the carts and walk behind 

 them a long way, while woodcutters with lanterns ran in 

 front of the horses to show the road. I remember one place 

 which neither Leopold nor I much liked, though we are not 

 at all nervous or afraid of bad roads ; for on the right, close 

 to the road, a steep slope descended into a deep valley, and 

 on the left the hillside dropped sheer down into the depths 

 below within a foot of the track. There was, however, 

 but a small stretch of this sort of thing. 



After driving about two hours, we began the last steep 

 incline before reaching " Prince Eugene's road " on the crest 

 of the mountains, and here we resolved to abandon the 

 carts ; so, calling up the grooms, we mounted Count 

 Chotek's capital ponies and hurried on in front, our jagers 

 following on foot more quickly than if they had stuck to the 



