"No, an American; but he speaks a little German, though with a very foreign pronunciation."
"Where is he now, then?" asked Siebert; "and where are the young ladies? I have not seen them yet since our arrival."
"The American had seen a young deer in the woods,"—Mrs. Hehrmann now took up the word,—"and as we feared that it might be starved, or attacked by the buzzards, the children have taken a jug of milk, and have gone with Dr. Normann and Mr. Trevor to fetch it."
Wolfgang laid down his knife and fork, and looked up, alarmed, and almost astonished, towards the speaker.
"The American found a deer-calf in the woods, which, as he feared, would starve!" he repeated, as though he were in doubt whether he could have rightly understood the words.
"Yes," replied Mrs. Hehrmann, "and which, he said, was but a day or two old; and, in order that the bears might not devour it, or the buzzards, which had already congregated about it, get it, he went at once."
"A deer-calf—day or two old—bears devour it—buzzards get it!" repeated Wolfgang, astonished.
"Why, yes; and he added, besides, that he must fetch it before evening, for that it was then that the buzzards became most ravenous and most bold, and when they attacked their prey."
"Gentlemen," said Wolfgang, who had suddenly become very earnest, "this American, whom I do not yet know, has either taken the liberty to play off a joke upon the young ladies, your daughters, or—some scoundrelism has been carried out."
"For God's sake, what do you mean!" cried Mrs. Hehrmann, becoming deadly pale, and the men sprang from their seats in alarm.