and there, just by Helena's side, an ,auroch appeared with his horns lowered. The next instant he had run his terrible horns into her horse, and was preparing to take a second charge at Helena, but Raresch was too quick for him, and seizing the two horns—all covered with blood as they were—with almost supernatural strength, he twisted the monster's head so that his neck broke.* He then freed Helena from her horse and set her on her feet.
     "Can you walk?" he asked, gently, just as though nothing extraordinary had happened.
     Helena clung to him for a moment, and then answered bravely:—
     "Yes, I could walk to the end of the world," but the deadly pallor of her cheeks betrayed her weakness.
     "Then we will give up our horses, for they will be more trouble than help in these parts; and in order to throw our pursuers off-the scent, we must separate. I must get to Ciceu, and I shall not be long before I am there, even though it is some distance by the mountains. Stefanitza, take the Princess to the cavern, and stay there with her until I come back. You could not very well walk to the end of the world after all," he added, turning to his wife and throwing his arm round her.
     "But must you leave me?" she asked.
     "Not for long.…Listen, though, do you hear the Turks in the valley? Quick, there is not a moment to lose!"
     He stooped down and kissed her, and then with whips and stones they drove the horses away in all directions, and Raresch bid farewell to his young wife, whom he was obliged to leave in the midst of this desolate wood, though under good protection.
     She watched him as he strode quickly away, and she could not help owning to herself that she could not have accompanied him any farther. without endangering both their lives. She stood there so long, looking out in the direction which her husband had taken, that; at last, Stefanitza was obliged to remind her of her own peril.
     Helena then started to walk in the direction of the two mountain-tops which looked like two vast domes. The ascent was difficult, and although the air was laden with the perfume of wild flowers, the Princess, fond though she was of every kind of flower, never noticed them at all. At length, a feeling of utter exhaustion came over her, and standing still, and supporting herself against a tree, she pressed her hand to her heart and listened for a moment to the wild cries which came up from the valley.
     "Stefanitza!" she said, "I want you to take a solemn oath."
     "What does your Highness wish me to promise?"
     "It is, more than a promise that I want. You must swear to me by all you hold sacred that you will not,let me fall into the hands of the infidels! I would rather have your sword plunged into my breast than the hand of a Mussulman on my shoulder."
     Stefanitza met her earnest gaze without flinching.

*The spot where the beast fell is marked today by a huge rock called the Piatra Zimbulei, or the Auroch's stone.