This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
By Georg Ebers
The magistrate's horses did not reach the city gate, from the monastery,more quickly than Ulrich.
As soon as the smith was roused from sleep by the boy's knock andrecognized his voice, he knew what was coming, and silently listened tothe lad's confessions, while he himself hurriedly yet carefully took outhis hidden hoard, filled a bag with the most necessary articles, thrusthis lightest hammer into his belt, and poured water on the glimmeringcoals. Then, locking the door, he sent Ulrich to Hangemarx, with whom hehad already settled many things; for Caspar, the juggler, who learnedmore through his daughters than any other man, had come to him the daybefore, to tell him that something was being plotted against the Jew.
Adam found the latter still awake and at work. He was prepared for thedanger that threatened him, and ready to fly. No word of complaint, noteven a hasty gesture betrayed the mental anguish of the persecuted man,and the smith's heart melted, as he heard the doctor rouse his wife andchild from their sleep.
The terrified moans of the startled wife, and Ruth's loud weeping andcurious questions, were soon drowned by the lamentations of old Rahel,who wrapped in even more kerchiefs than usual, rushed into the sitting-room, and while lamenting and scolding in a foreign tongue, gatheredtogether everything that lay at hand. She had dragged a large chestafter her, and now threw in candlesticks, jugs, and even the chessmen andRuth's old doll with a broken head.
When the third hour after midnight came, the doctor was ready fordeparture.
Marx's charcoal sledge, with its little horse, stopped before the door.
This was a strange animal, no larger than a calf, as thin as a goat, andin some places woolly, in others as bare as a scraped poodle.
The smith helped the dumb woman into the sleigh, the doctor put Ruth inher lap, Ulrich consoled the child, who asked him all sorts of questions,but the old woman would not part from the chest, and could scarcely beinduced to enter the vehicle.
"You know, across the mountains into the Rhine valley—no matter where,"
Costa whispered to the poacher.
Hangemarx urged on his little horse, and answered, not turning to theIsraelite, who had addressed him, but to Adam, who he thought wouldunderstand him better than the bookworm: "It won't do to go up theravine, without making any circuit. The count's hounds will track us,if they follow. We'll go first up the high road by the Lautenhof.To-morrow will be a fair-day. People will come early from the villagesand tread down the snow, so the dogs will lose the scent. If it wouldonly snow."
Before the smithy, the doctor held out his hand to Adam, saying: "We parthere, friend."
"We'll go with you, if agreeable to you."
"Consider," the other began warningly, but Adam interrupted him, saying:
"I have considered everything; lost is lost. Ulrich, take the doctor'ssack from his shoulder."
For a long time nothing more was said.
The night was clear and cold; the men's footsteps fell noiselessly on thesoft snow, not