"Lay it there, my friend," said the latter. "I am tired; I thank you for providing me a resting-place."
The man spread out the mattress upon the floor; the superintendent laid himself upon it and said:
"Now lie down, all of you. You, Herr Müller, go to the infirmary and see if I am needed there. You remain with me, George."
The inspector went, with the turnkeys; the door was closed and locked; we were alone.
Alone among about eighty convicts, for the most part the worst and fiercest criminals in the whole prison.
The lanterns that hung from the ceilings cast a dim light over the rows of beds which were arranged along the walls, and in three long lines, extending the length of the ward. The men had either lain down, or were crouching upon their beds. The man who had given his mattress to the superintendent might have done the same, for there were some half-dozen of vacant beds in the ward; but he seemed afraid to occupy any one of them, and crouched upon the bare floor in a dark corner. I stood with folded arms against the stone pillar which supported the centre of the roof, looked at the strange spectacle before me, and listened to the storm which raged without with unabated fury. The superintendent lay quite still, his head supported by his hand. He slept, or seemed to sleep; and yet I fancied that from time to time a shiver shook his frame. The room was warm, but we had been thoroughly drenched by the rain in crossing the court; he had no covering, and had just risen from a sick bed. What will be the end? I sighed in the depth of my heart.
Suddenly a man near me, who had several times turned his head towards the superintendent, arose from his bed, walked softly with bare feet to me, and whispered:
"He must not lie there in that way; it will be his death."
I shrugged my shoulders: "What can we do?"
And then another came up, and another rough voice whispered: