Hans enjoyed this, being used to the air and freedom of his Thuringian forest.
His room in the castle had a window, and that also made him happy. One day, gazing out, he discovered that the field he had noticed lay quite near the wall of his prison.
"Ach Himmel!" cried Hans, with a start. "It is the sewer pipe of this castle!"
A thought struck him. He was old, yes, and he had said he did not mind dying; but his heart beat wildly at the thought of escaping from certain death by shooting. Day after day he thought on the sewer. Where was the exit, he wondered, from the castle! He would find it, yes, if it were possible.
To get air he went to the courtyard. New prisoners had arrived in the night. They, too, were walking.
"Ach Himmel! God be praised!" cried Hans, for he came face to face with the Herr Lieutenant.
But what a change!
He was thin, gaunt, and pale, and his face and figure looked wretched and hopeless.
"Hans Lange!" he cried, and then there was much to talk of.
To his ear Hans confided the idea of the sewer, and hope at once began to change the expression of the prisoner.