k, his limbs benumbed, and snoring, with
his face to the ground. But scarcely had he digested the maddening and
burning liquor, than the same cry, "Ulrich," woke him like a bullet
piercing his brain, and he got up, still staggering, stretching out his
hands to save himself from falling, and calling to Sam to help him. And
the dog, who appeared to be going mad, like his master, rushed to the
door, scratched it with his claws, and gnawed it with his long white
teeth, while the young man, with his neck thrown back, and his head in
the air, drank the brandy in draughts, as if it had been cold water, so
that it might by and by send his thoughts, his frantic terror and his
memory, to sleep again.

In three weeks he had consumed all his stock of ardent spirits, but his
continual drunkenness only lulled his terror, which awoke more furiously
than ever, as soon as it was impossible for him to calm it. His fixed
idea then, which had been intensified by a month of drunkenness, and
which was continually increasing in his absolute solitude, penetrated
him like a gimlet. He now walked about his house like a wild beast in
its cage, putting his ear to the door to listen if the other were there,
and defying him through the wall. Then, as soon as he dozed, overcome by
fatigue, he heard the voice which made him leap to his feet.

At last one night, like cowards do when driven to extremities, he sprang
to the door and opened it, to see who was calling him, and to force him
to keep quiet, but such a gust of cold wind blew into his face that it
chilled him to the bone, and he closed and bolted the door again
immediately, without noticing that Sam had rushed out. Then, as he was
shivering with cold, he threw some wood on the fire, and sat down in
front of it to warm himself, but suddenly he started, for somebody was
scratching at the wall, and crying. In desperation he called out: "Go
away!" but was answered by another long, sorrowful wail.

Then, all his remaining senses forsook him, from sheer fright. He
repeated: "Go away!" and turned round to try to find some corner in
which to hide, while the other person went round the house, still crying
and rubbing against the wall. Ulrich went to the oak sideboard, which
was full of plates and dishes and of provisions, and lifting it up with
superhuman strength, he dragged it to the door, so as to form a
barricade. Then piling up all the rest of the furniture, the mattresses,
palliasses and chairs,