I
said to myself: Thus may it be with our country and our people;
perhaps, while you slept, a dreadful storm--and, let us hope, a
beneficent one--may have passed over us.

Just then Joseph brought the news: "Fighting has begun. We have been
beaten at Saarbruecken."

"None of our people are there: only Prussians are there," cried
Rothfuss.

Joseph saw how angry these words made me, and, to turn away my wrath,
he begun to tell about Funk, who was down in the tavern boasting of his
knowledge of French, and saying that he would get along with the
Frenchmen. He also had several little books for sale, from which the
ordinary French phrases could be learnt.

Funk went about in jack-boots, carrying on a heavy business in grain,
butter, and bacon with the army. Schweitzer-Schmalz had advanced him
money for the purpose. He boasted of his generosity in putting the poor
fellow on his feet, but at the same time had wisely bargained for the
lion's share of the profits.

An hour afterwards, the wife of the councillor sent word that the news
of our defeat was false.

That afternoon a message came from Hartriegel, informing us that, from
the top of a hill in his neighborhood, a great movement of the opposing
armies could be seen. I hurried up there with Joseph, Martha, and
Conny. The engineer, who had been engaged at a neighboring stone-quarry
while the troops had been stationed about us, reappeared and
accompanied us.

We stood on the top of the tower of the ruined castle and gazed over
into Alsace, where we could see the movements of the battle.

It was going on near Weissenburg, the region which was so familiar to
me. Looking on thus from a distance, with fear and trembling as we saw
the sudden flashes, the clouds of smoke, the burning villages, and
hearing, occasionally, the sound of the guns which the echo from the
hills brought us--all this oppressed me so much that Martha persuaded
me to take some wine. It went hard with me to do so, for I first had to
drown the thought of the many men yonder who might be restored to life
if we could but wet their lips.

Martha prayed; I could only think of the new epoch that was just
beginning. Happiness and victory must be the share of those who desire
their own good and that of others. One great step was already gained,
for the war had been carried into the enemy's country.

We did not return before nightfall. Joseph drove to town to bring the
latest news. The morrow came, so cal