stily gulped down the contents of the can.
'One hardly has time even to say, "Grant, O Lord, what I partake!" And
yet I ought to be thankful, too, that I am here to drink my soup at
all. How many miners, citizens, peasants, soldiers, and even young
children, has this siege cost us already! St. Peter's churchyard is
getting too small to hold them all.'

'Yes, father,' said Dollie. 'And poor Hofmann the woodcutter will
never be able to eat any more soup. He fell down quite close by us as
if a thunderbolt had hit him.'

'Hofmann!' said Roller hastily; 'your god-father, child, and my old
friend? But,' he went on, 'who is that lying in yon dark corner?'

He rose and went across in that direction. As he did so, he caught the
sound of a groan, and a feeble voice murmured: 'Ah, merciful Father, do
not let the arch-enemy prevail against me, or what will become of my
three boys, all of them stampers at the Prince's Shaft. If I must die,
do Thou take under Thy care my wife and my four poor girls. They are
at the coppersmith's house in the Erbis Street.'

'What is it?' said Roller, turning his dark lantern so that its light
fell for a moment on the dying man's pale face.

Hofmann lifted his failing eyes towards the approaching figure, and
said in a broken voice, and with long pauses between: 'Comrade, there
is a cold Swedish bullet rankling in my vitals. Promise me, old
friend, that I shall have an honourable burial; not in this shabby
miner's dress, but in my new uniform. And when they lay me in my last
resting-place, let the lads say: "A good journey to thee, old comrade!"'

[Illustration: 'Promise me that I shall have an honourable burial; and
let the lads say, "A good journey to thee, old comrade!"']

'A good journey to thee, old comrade,' responded Roller heartily, as
Hofmann, putting his hand to his side, stopped abruptly.

Conrad and Dollie both followed Roller's example, as he folded his
hands on his breast and began to repeat the simple words of the 'Our
Father' over the dying man. The hollow roar of the Swedish siege-guns
outside, and the constant dull thud of the cannon-balls striking the
great earthwork that covered the gallery, formed a strange contrast to
the solemn little service within, beside one whose spirit was taking
its flight.

'You have come at a most unfortunate time, children,' said Roller, when
all was over. 'You had better stay here till things are quieter
outside, for the stones an