a noble boy," exclaimed the Rabbi, grasping his hand,
affectionately. "Kathinka, get Joseph some supper; he must be hungry."

"You are right, Rabbi," returned Joseph. "I am hungry and tired, and yet
since I have seen Kathinka I am supremely happy."

It was a sad and fearful night. Sleep was out of the question for the
threatened Israelites. All night long the noise of hammering could be
heard; the Christians were attaching little wooden crosses to their
houses that they might be spared by the mob. The Jews gathered their
portable treasures and trinkets and conveyed them to places of safety.

The morning of the eighth of May dawned; a quiet serene Sunday morning,
the day on which is proclaimed throughout Christendom the golden rule:
"Love your enemies."

At an early hour armed gangs appeared on the streets, wandering hither
and thither, without any definite plan or object. Ringleaders, however,
were not long in making their appearance.

As in Elizabethgrad, the first act of the mob was to storm the
dram-shops; it needed the inspiration of _vodki_. Having broken in the
doors and windows, they rolled the barrels out into the street. _Vodki_
flowed in streams; the rioters waded, they bathed, they wallowed in
whiskey. The women carried it away by the pailful. From shop to shop
they went, becoming more hilarious, more boisterous as they proceeded.
Through the uproar could be heard their shouts: "The Jews have lorded it
over us long enough; it is our turn now! Down with the Jews!"

They came to the inn of a man named Rykelmann and here they met their
first resistance. Rykelmann refused to admit them. He had barricaded
himself and his family behind stout doors and stood guard over his
premises with a pistol. The mob besieged the place from all sides and
finally succeeded in forcing an entrance in the rear. The poor
proprietor was forced to accompany the rioters to his wine cellar, where
they amused themselves staving in the barrels and breaking the bottles,
while some of the drunken ruffians in the rooms above cut the throats of
his wife and six children. It was the first blood shed in Kief and it
served to stimulate the appetites of the vampires.

Onward sped the rioters. They divided into groups, each, under a
self-appointed leader, attacking a different quarter. Here and there
houses were burning fiercely, and to the crackling of the flames was
added the piteous cries of women and children consigned to a fiery
death.