"Oh," he complained, "why did you wake me? I died so happy. To die drunk is the best way, after all; now, I've got to die over again. No matter; I'll wait for master, and then we will ride to heaven in double harness; or, if the parson is right in what he says, to hell. It's all the same to me; I shall stay with master."
Then he embraced Ludwig, and repeatedly said to him; "Let me go to jail once more for you." They managed to get him home without further trouble.
CHAPTER XII.
The newly married couple left; but the young people were averse to breaking up, and kept up the dance until long after nightfall. A little circumstance occurred which greatly excited Martella.
Julius's friends had come in their smart hunter's suits; even Rautenkron had overcome his scruples, and attended the festival, although he did not join us at table.
We were told that Rautenkron had always been angry that Martella was permitted to keep her own dog, and Pincher, moreover, had a special aversion to Rautenkron.
At the same time that Rothfuss was being looked up, a terrible barking and yelling arose. The strange dogs had fallen upon Pincher, and it was even said that Rautenkron had called out to his dog, "At him, Turenne! Break his neck for him!"
When they at last succeeded in separating the dogs, Pincher was dead, and Martella's lamentations were heart-rending. She indulged in expressions that I would not have expected of her: "It was the only living thing that belonged to me, and that Ernst had left me. Now I am all alone in the wide world!"
When I spoke to her, she hastily said, "Forgive me; I am sometimes very silly."
She could not bear the sight of the dead dog, and begged that he might be buried in the woods.