She was still very shaky on her legs, though, and had to lean on her companion’s arm. “It smells of spring so, my head is whirling.” “That will pass off in a day or two.” “Why, a month’s change has come about in a week!” “Spring rides a swift horse; there is no overtaking it.” “How green all round is, O Lord! how green!” Yes: over every orchard there floated a cloud of verdure, and nothing was seen of the huts except the white tops of the chimneys. Deep in the thickets, the birds were twittering with all their might; and genial breezes came up from the fields beneath, made the weeds in the hedges wave, and the mill-pond ripple and eddy. “The buds are big on the cherry-trees: soon we shall see the blossoms.” “We shall have plenty of fruit, unless a sharp frost nips them.” “There is an old saying: ‘When the harvest is rare, there’ll be fruit and to spare.’” “I fear it looks like that for Lipka,” she sighed; and the tears dimmed her eyes as she glanced at the unsown fields. The “churching” was soon over; for the baby roared amain, and Hanka was presently so tired that she had to lie down at once on her return. But she had not lain a breathing-space, when Vitek rushed in, crying: “Mistress, the Tsiganes! the Tsiganes are coming!” “Evil news, in truth! Have we not enough to plague us?—Call Pete; let him lock all the doors, lest they make off with anything.” And she went out in great alarm. In a short time, the whole gang was all over the place: black-avised, in rags and tatters, with infants carried on their backs, these beggars, importunate beyond all measure, were running about everywhere, offering to tell fortunes, and even trying to make their way into the huts by force. There were but ten of them, but they made as much noise as a whole village. “Yuzka! drive the geese and hens into the yard, and take the children within doors; they might be stolen!” Down she sat in the porch to watch; and, perceiving a Tsigane woman trying to enter the enclosure, set the dog on her. Lapa attacked her with savage pertinacity, and would not be driven off, though the hag lifted her staff at him and muttered sundry words and curses of magic might. “Your curses, they are less than naught to me, you thief!” “There would be no spells cast on us at all if ye let her come in,” said Yagna, who looked annoyed. “No, but our things would be stolen! There is no safety against such a creature, even should your eyes follow her hands all the time!—and if ye want your fortune told, why, go ye after her.”