page, for one of them urged the prisoner in
commanding tones to greater haste, while the other raised his fist in
his face with a menacing gesture.

Perhaps he would even have struck him; but the German officer looked
into his face with such a proud, commanding glance that he let his
raised arm sink to his side. The sullen-looking fellow felt at once
that he was not here dealing with an ordinary spy, and from this moment
neither curses nor abuse passed his lips.

The rattle of a rifle volley struck Heideck's ear, and although he was
sufficiently accustomed to the crack of shots, a cold shiver passed over
him. The bullets that had just been fired had--he knew it well without
anyone telling him--been the portion of some poor devil who had been
in the same position as himself. That was why these rifle shots were
so full of a significance for him, quite different from that caused
yesterday by the rattle and the crash of the raging battle. Truly, one
need not be a coward to feel an icy shudder at the thought of ten or
twenty rifle barrels directed at one's own breast.

And now they had reached the fatal spot which was to be the goal of all
his earthly wanderings. The parade at the rear of the barrack camp
had been selected for the place of execution, and so summarily was the
punishment being dealt out, that no time had been found to cart away
separately the corpses of those who had been shot. They simply left them
lying in the trench before which the delinquents were posted, probably
because burial in a common grave was more convenient.

An officer was handed the execution warrant, which had been issued by
the President of the court-martial, and handed over the prisoner to a
non-commissioned officer, who, regarding him with an expression of pity,
bade him in an almost apologetic tone to follow him.

Only a few minutes after his arrival on the parade ground, Heideck also
was standing before the fatal ditch, and saw a company of infantry, with
their arms at attention, drawn up before him.

He had now abandoned all hope. Since the verdict of the court-martial
only a miracle could have saved him; and this miracle had not happened.
For a few short minutes he had, after the accidental meeting with the
Circassian, been foolish enough to entertain new hopes of life, but
now even those had vanished. Even had she been animated by the keenest
desire to save him, what, after all, could she do to make the impossible
possible? He wa