'Then let him sit, it will cure him of fighting.'
Again silence fell. The Jew shook his head; Slimak's alarm grew.
He screwed up his courage at last and asked: 'What else?'
'What's the use of making many words?' said the Jew, holding up his hands, 'Maciek and the child have been frozen to death.'
Slimak sprang to his feet and looked for something to throw at the Jew, but staggered and held on to the wall. A hot wave rushed over him, his legs shook. Then he wondered why he should have been seized with fear like this.
'Where…when?'
'In the ravines close to the railway line.'
'But when?'
'You know quite well that it was yesterday when you drove them out.'
Slimak's anger was rising.
'As I live! the Jew is a liar! Frozen to death? What did he go to the ravines for? are there no cottages in the world?'