For not once in two years does a wanderer chance to come this way, and long before that time the wolves and the vultures will have dispersed the bones of the fallen.
Yet this time the robber bands did not fall in with their pursuers, a sufficient proof that Szilard's plan was skilfully laid and unanticipated.

For had Fatia Negra had any idea of his design, it is absolutely inconceivable that he would not have laid in wait for him on this spectre-haunted path, where ten resolute men could have held a whole army at bay.
For hours Szilard's long troop of horsemen pursued their way along without meeting a soul.

Late in the afternoon they came upon the first shepherd's hut.

The herdsman himself was out in the forest with his flocks; there was nobody at home but a lame dog which barked at them.
In the evening they met a mounted countryman carrying maize to be ground at the mill, him they took along with them as guide.
After that they travelled all night long, passing through Skeritora and Nyigsa, till they came to the cataract of Vidra, which they reached at dawn of day.
The houses of these Alpine villages are so far apart that next neighbours cannot even see each other's dwellings, as there is at least half a league between them.

This circumstance and the night-season favoured Szilard's plans.