“Oh, your excellency, some of them have gone mad, and have terribly ill-treated some of us; some have been killed, and the others made prisoners at the risk of our lives!”
The words “Gracious Heaven!” escaped like a groan from the breast of the grey-haired soldier. He sank together as if one of the bonds which bound him to life was snapped in twain. The fearful news had come upon him as the lightning strikes the oak, and one of his tall servants hurried up to hold him in his saddle.
“Gracious Heaven!” he repeated, and a long pause ensued.
“They must all be shot,” continued the gamekeeper pitilessly, “or else there will be murder.”
“Gracious Heaven! Gracious Heaven!”
“I am the only person who has come off with a whole skin,” pursued the gamekeeper, after a second and longer pause. “The bailiff has one of his ears bitten off; Wagner’s daughter, from Oberkaufunger, is at death’s door, and the head ploughman no longer looks like a human being.”
“Gracious Heaven!” ejaculated the General, and again the words were succeeded by a long pause.
Two or three times the General rode a few paces into the wood, but as often turned back, quite undecided what to do. At length he plucked up courage, rode up to the gamekeeper, down whose cheeks the hot tears were rolling, and, seizing his arm, said in a low, tremulous voice—
“Shoot them all, old friend—shoot them all. That is the best course. But, mind, take good aim, and let me have half-an-hour to get away. Shoot them all, but not sooner!”
With these words he turned his horse, and trotted off in the direction of Cassel, while the two lanky servants followed in angry mood.