The winter was over and the Gemmi Pass was practicable again, so the
Hauser family started off to return to their inn. As soon as they had
reached the top of the ascent the women mounted their mule and spoke
about the two men whom they would meet again shortly. They were, indeed,
rather surprised that neither of them had come down a few days before,
as soon as the road was open, in order to tell them all about their long
winter sojourn. At last, however, they saw the inn, still covered with
snow, like a quilt. The door and the window were closed, but a little
smoke was coming out of the chimney, which reassured old Hauser. On
going up to the door, however, he saw the skeleton of an animal which
had been torn to pieces by the eagles, a large skeleton lying on its
side.

They all looked close at it and the mother said:

"That must be Sam," and then she shouted: "Hi, Gaspard!" A cry from the
interior of the house answered her and a sharp cry that one might have
thought some animal had uttered it. Old Hauser repeated, "Hi, Gaspard!"
and they heard another cry similar to the first.

Then the three men, the father and the two sons, tried to open the door,
but it resisted their efforts. From the empty cow-stall they took a
beam to serve as a battering-ram and hurled it against the door with all
their might. The wood gave way and the boards flew into splinters. Then
the house was shaken by a loud voice, and inside, behind the side board
which was overturned, they saw a man standing upright, with his hair
falling on his shoulders and a beard descending to his breast, with
shining eyes, and nothing but rags to cover him. They did not recognize
him, but Louise Hauser exclaimed:

"It is Ulrich, mother." And her mother declared that it was Ulrich,
although his hair was white.

He allowed them to go up to him and to touch him, but he did not reply
to any of their questions, and they were obliged to take him to Loeche,
where the doctors found that he was mad, and nobody ever found out what
had become of his companion.

Little Louise Hauser nearly died that summer of decline, which the
physicians attributed to the cold air of the mountains.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Original Short Stories of Maupassant,
Volume 4, by Guy de Maupassant

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAUPASSANT SHORT STORIES ***

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