It was so like the Schnitzel I had known that I believed still he might have strength enough to help me.
“Who did this?” I begged. “I'll hang him for it! Do you hear me?” I cried.
Seeing him lying there, with the life cut out of him, swept me with a blind anger, with a need to punish.
“I'll see they hang for it. Tell me!” I commanded. “Who did this?”
The eyes, now filled with weariness, looked up and the lips moved feebly.
“My own people,” he whispered.
In my indignation I could have shaken the truth from him. I bent closer.
“Then, by God,” I whispered back, “you'll tell me who they are!”
The eyes flashed sullenly.
“That's my secret,” said Schnitzel.