144 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
Count Chotek, stayed with us until he had seen that we were 
comfortably housed, and then left us and went back to 
Cerevis. 
We now had supper served, our cook being Bombelles’ 
valet, a worthy. Dalmatian, who had been lent to us by his 
master, and who displayed a truly delightful skill. Our meal 
being over, both we and the jagers retired to rest, fatigued 
with the day’s exertions, and perfect silence reigned in the 
shooting-lodge. 
The windows were low, the house had but one ordinary 
door, the surrounding fence was not high, and the remoteness 
of the district suggested all sorts of ideas of wandering robber 
bands both to my brother-in-law and myself. Southern 
Hungary and, still more, Slavonia where it borders on Bosnia 
and Servia are in this respect by no means safe, and it would 
be hard to find a mountain-region offering greater facilities 
to such rascals than the Fruska-Gora. 
We had taken my black pointer into the room for our 
protection, and he slept on one of the two wolf-skins which 
decorated the chamber, and which had been taken from 
animals killed in these mountains. My brother-in-law also 
placed his gun beside his bed and laid out some cartridges ; 
but unfortunately all these precautions were made in vain, 
for a little adventure with robbers would have been very 
entertaining, and before going to sleep we really longed for 
the possibility of such an occurrence. 
