From the valley below came up the bleating of goats and the flute-like notes of the blackbird.
"Are you really in earnest, Aaron, about defending the town from this position in case of an attack ?" asked Manasseh.
"Wasn't it from the Szekler Stone that our fathers repulsed the whole Mongolian horde ?" was the rejoinder.
"But that was in the old days, in old-fashioned warfare." "Well, the Wallachians are now no further advanced in military science than were the Tartars then." "Yes, but at that time the Szekler Stone was in a condition for defence," objected Manasseh.
"And how do you know I haven't put it in such a condition again ?" asked the other.
"I should like to see how you have accomplished it." "I shall not show you, for you are not a soldier, and no civilian shall see my fortifications.

I will show them to the two young ladies; they count as combatants.

The other day they coaxed Alexander to lend them his pistols, and since then they have been practising shooting at a mark in the garden behind the house." "What, does my wife know how to handle a pistol ?" "To be sure; and it's no elderberry popgun, either.

You may depend upon it, she'll sell her life dear.

You needn't laugh." The rocky height known as the Szekler Stone commands a view of vast extent.