w than the devil you don't know. Said he: 'It
will cost you thirty-three roubles each.' I said: 'I have had an offer
of twenty-eight roubles, but you I will give thirty.' '_Hoi, hoi!_'
shrieked he. 'On a Jew a lesson is lost. It is just as at the
frontier: you wouldn't give eighty roubles, and it cost you double.
You want the same again. One daren't do a Jew a favour.'
So I held my peace, and accepted his terms. But I saw I should be
twenty-five roubles short of what was required to finish the journey.
Said Kazelia: 'I can do you a favour: I can borrow twenty-five roubles
on your luggage at the railway, and when you get to London you can
repay.' And he took the bundle, and conveyed it to the railway. What
he did there I know not. He came back, and told me he had done me a
turn. (This time it seemed a good one.) He then took envelopes, and
placed in each the amount I was to pay at each stage of the journey.
So at last we took train and rode off. And at each place I paid the
dues from its particular envelope. The children were offered food by
our fellow-passengers, though they could only take it when it was
_kosher_, and this enabled us to keep our pride. There was one kind
Jewess from Lemberg with a heart of gold and delicious rings of
sausages.
When we arrived at Leipsic they told me the amount was twelve marks
short. So we missed our train, not knowing what to do, as I had now no
money whatever but what was in the envelopes. The officials ordered us
from the station. So we went out and walked about Leipsic; we
attracted the suspicion of the police, and they wanted to arrest us.
But we pleaded our innocence, and they let us go. So we retired into a
narrow dark street, and sat down by a blank wall, and told each other
not to murmur. We sat together through the whole rainy night, the rain
mingling with our tears.
When day broke I thought of a plan. I took twelve marks from the
envelope containing the ship's money, and ran back to the station, and
took tickets to Rotterdam, and so got to the end of our overland
journey. When we got to the ship, they led us all into a shed like
cattle. One of the Kazelia conspirators--for his arm reaches over
Europe--called us into his office, and said: 'How much money have
you?' I shook out the money from the envelopes on the table. Said he:
'The amount is twelve marks short.' He had had advices, he said, from
Kazelia that I would bring a certain amount, and I didn't have it.
'Her
|