He assured Blanka that she would find it most delightful to camp there by a blazing fire; he and Manasseh would take turns watching while she slept, her head pillowed on a fragrant bundle of hay.
They passed through the giant gateway, and clambered up to Balyika Cave, a spacious chamber in the side of the cliff, rudely but strongly fortified by a stone rampart that had been built to guard the entrance.
A wild rosebush grew in the narrow doorway and seemed at first to refuse all admittance.

Manasseh and Blanka waited without, while Aaron fought his way through the brambles, which tore at his leather coat without injuring it, and presently returned with three broad planks.

He and Manasseh held the briers aside with two of them and laid the third as a bridge for Blanka to pass over unharmed.

In a corner of the stone wall lay a pile of hay, and behind it a supply of pitch-pine torches, one of which Aaron now lighted.

Then, like a lord in his own castle, he issued his orders to his companions.