you were so near each other! But go ahead."

John now related how they had successfully passed through P. and across
the border, telling how, from that point, they had begged their way
through to Freiburg in Breisgau as itinerant workmen. "I had my
haversack with me, and Frederick a little bundle; so they believed us,"
he went on. In Freiburg they had been induced to enlist in the Austrian
army; he had not been wanted, but Frederick had insisted. So he was put
with the commissariat. "We stayed over the winter in Freiburg," he
continued, "and we got along pretty well; I did, too, because Frederick
often advised me and helped me when I did something wrong. In the spring
we had to march to Hungary, and in the fall the war with the Turks broke
out. I can't repeat very much about it because I was taken prisoner in
the very first encounter and from that time was a Turkish slave for
twenty-six years!"

"God in Heaven, but that is terrible!" exclaimed Frau von S.

"Bad enough! The Turks consider us Christians no better than dogs; the
worst of it was that my strength left me with the hard work; I grew
older, too, and was still expected to do as in former years." He was
silent for a moment. "Yes," he then said, "it was beyond human strength
and human patience, and I was unable to endure it. From there I got on a
Dutch vessel."

"But how did you get there?" asked the Baron.

"They fished me out of the Bosphorus," replied John. The Baron looked at
him in astonishment and raised his finger in warning; but John
continued. "On the vessel I did not fare much better. The scurvy broke
out; whoever was not absolutely helpless was compelled to work beyond
his strength, and the ship's tow ruled as severely as the Turkish whip.
At last," he concluded, "when we arrived in Holland, at Amsterdam, they
let me go free because I was useless, and the merchant to whom the ship
belonged sympathized with me, too, and wanted to make me his porter.
But," he shook his head, "I preferred to beg my way along back here."

"That was foolish enough!" said the Baron.

John sighed deeply. "Oh, sir, I had to spend my life among Turks and
heretics; should I not at least go to rest in a Catholic cemetery?"

The lord of the estate had taken out his purse. "Here, John, now go and
come back soon. You must tell me the whole story more in detail; today
it was a bit confused. I suppose you are still very tired."

"Very tired," replied John; "and"--he pointed to