e shot me for a spy. They placed me against the
wall. And there I stand and they aim at me. I take a last look at the
sky and the trees, something dims my sight, and I think to myself, if
it were only over! Then some one calls out, 'Halt!' And I think I
recognize the voice. He talks gibberish, of which I do not comprehend a
word, but they don't shoot. He orders me to be tied tighter. And there
I lie in a miserable stall and can't stir. And then comes some one
sneaking along, and whispers, 'Keep yourself quiet, Rothfuss.' And who
do you think it is? Our Ernst. And then we cried together, like little
children, and Ernst said, 'Keep yourself quiet! What I have been
through, couldn't be told in a thousand years. Now come with me!' And
for a long while there we were, creeping along the ground like frogs,
until we reached the horses, which were fastened outside. To unloose
them, spring upon them, and gallop away, took but a moment. The French
fired at us, but they didn't hit us, and away we went until we reached
our lines, and there Ernst said to me, 'You once passed for my brother
Ludwig; now do as much for me! Give me your clothes!'"

Rothfuss had to give him his blue blouse. Then Ernst transferred his
horse to him, and said, "Leave me now! we will soon meet again."

Rothfuss was about relating how he had found Martella, when she
entered. She had become very thin, but otherwise unchanged; was gayly
attired, and cried out as she perceived me: "Oh! father, happily met
again! To-day is Ernst's wedding-day, and my Sunday, my greatest
holiday, my ascension-day."

She offered no excuse for having run away; she made no mention of her
recent experiences, and as I could not avoid telling her what pain and
anxiety she had occasioned me, she exclaimed, "I know it better than
you can tell me; but indulge me for to-day: to-morrow, when I have
Ernst by the hand, we will set everything straight. He rescued Carl,
who would have bled to death, if he had not found him.

"Ernst carried him; yes, he is strong; he brought him all the way here.
His face, his hands, his clothes, were all full of blood. But that
doesn't hurt; it can all be washed off. Everything can be washed away
if one is sound within; and now everything, everything will be washed
away.

"Now I heard that Ernst had come to the regiment in which Carl was. He
introduced himself as a German with the name of Frohn." Martella added,
"That is the name of a comrade, who on the voy