ck down, and then a mournful funeral
procession. Exulting bailiffs bore a tall strong-limbed corpse, and a
slender, black-robed body, his father and his teacher. Then came the
quiet, beautiful wife and Ruth in bonds, and behind them Marx and Rahel.
He distinctly saw all this; it even seemed as if he heard the sobs of
the women, and wailing bitterly, he thrust his hands in his floating
locks and ran to and fro. Suddenly he thought that the troopers would
return to seize him also. Away, away! anywhere--away! a voice roared and
buzzed in his ears, and he set out on a run towards the south, always
towards the south.

The boy had not eaten a mouthful, since the oatmeal porridge obtained
at the charcoal-burner's, in the morning, but felt neither hunger nor
thirst, and dashed on and on without heeding the way.

Long after his father had left the clearing for the second time, he
still ran on--but gasping for breath while his steps grew slower and
shorter. The moon rose, one star after another revealed its light, yet
he still struggled forward.

The forest lay behind him; he had reached a broad road, which he
followed southward, always southward, till his strength utterly failed.
His head and hands were burning like fire, yet it was very, very cold;
but little snow lay here in the valley, and in many places the moonlight
showed patches of bare, dark turf.

Grief was forgotten. Fatigue, anxiety and hunger completely engrossed
the boy's mind. He felt tempted to throw himself down in the road
and sleep, but remembered the frozen people of whom he had heard, and
dragged himself on to the nearest village. The lights had long been
extinguished; as he approached, dogs barked in the yards, and the
melancholy lowing of a cow echoed from many a stable. He was again among
human beings; the thought exerted a soothing influence; he regained his
self-control, and sought a shelter for the night.

At the end of the village stood a barn, and Ulrich noticed by the
moonlight an open hatchway in the wall. If he could climb up to it! The
framework offered some support for fingers and toes, so he resolved to
try it.

Several times, when Half-way up, he slipped to the ground, but at last
reached the top, and found a bed in the soft hay under a sheltering
roof. Surrounded by the fragrance of the dried grasses, he soon fell
asleep, and in a dream saw amidst various confused and repulsive shapes,
first his father with a bleeding wound in his broad