[Footnote 80: To-day this former waste of shifting sand-hills has been converted into a splendid vineyard, which the Hungarian Government has planted with vines from America proof against the _Phylloxera_.--JÓKAI.]
"'If only we don't come across wolves!' said the contra-bass, with chattering teeth.
"'How can they be here when so many soldiers are about?' said I, by way of encouragement.
"'Nay, but they like to prowl about camps, because carrion is always to be found there.'
"Where the sand-hills ended, a far-extending flat began, and in the distance was a direful-looking object, resembling a ruin. A light mist covered the whole district, in which mist every object seemed as large again; the full moon shone wanly, like a huge broad halo in the misty heavens."
Here I explained to Bessy that this district was the famous plain of Alpar, where the ancient Magyars fought the decisive battle against Zalán, which gave them possession of the land; the ruin was the wall of the desert church of St. Laurence.
"Indeed! and I may add that this desert is memorable to me also. While we were waddling along as fast as we could, with our short mantles turned against the wind, the contra-bass, who was going on leisurely in front, exclaimed:
"'Devil take all these crows! Why don't they all go to sleep in the tower of the Calvinist church?'
"I inquired why the crows ought to go to sleep on the top of the Calvinist church of all places in the world.
"'Let the Calvinist crow stick to the top of the Calvinist church, and the Papist crow to the top of the Papist church, as is meet and right,' he explained.
"I did not understand this sectarian distinction among crows, but the gipsy made it quite plain to me.
"'One sort of crow is ashen grey, another sort black. The grey sort eats no flesh, but only grain; that is the Papist crow. The black sort lives on flesh, whether it be earthworms or fallen horse; that is the Calvinist crow, for it keeps no fast-days.'
"Then he called my attention to the fact that on the hill there straight before us, a whole army of crows was making a great commotion. At one moment they rose high into the air with loud croakings, at another they descended upon the self-same spot from which they had risen. 'There must be carrion,' he said.