Something was wrong with his feet. He knew that, for his shoes now barely hung upon them. To what extent the rats had gone he dreaded to know. Already he could feel his feet smart and burn in a peculiar manner. Had they received poisonous bites, he asked himself? The mere suggestion of such a condition to one in his frightened state of mind was quite as bad, for the time, as actual wounds would have been.
A rat isn’t very good company at any time. Under the most favorable conditions his presence has a tendency to send people upon chairs or the nearest table, and not infrequently they do this little act with a whoop that would do credit to a genuine frontier Indian. When, therefore, we consider this fact, it is not difficult to realize the alarming situation in which our young hero was, and but for the timely sound of footsteps overhead it is impossible to predict what might have been the result of this terrible mental strain on him.
suddenly realizing his horrible situation, herbert sprang upon the bench with a pitiful cry of terror.
The night had worn away, the old fence was again on the move, and Herbert’s piercing cry brought him to the room over the cell. No sooner had our young friend heard this sound above his head than he appealed for help. So alarming were his cries that even old Gunwagner was at length moved to go to his assistance. He retraced his steps to the front of the house, and, taking a lighted lamp with him, passed down through the trap door, and then made his way into the rear cellar to Herbert’s cell.
Never before in his life had the presence of a human being been so welcome as was that of Gunwagner to our frightened hero. What a relief to this oppressive darkness was that small lamp light, and how quickly it drove all the rats into their hiding places.
“What’s all this row about?” growled the old fence.
“These rats,” gasped Herbert, with a strange, wild look; “see, they have bitten me,” pointing to his boots, or what remained of them.
Gunwagner’s heart softened a trifle as he beheld the boy’s sufferings, and saw how he had been assailed.