Now, as they were jogging along, and approached near the scene of yesterday’s horror, the ass suddenly stopped with a jerk, that threw its master forward, and nearly off the saddle.
There, in front of the animal in the middle of the road, stood an angel holding a naked sword. Of course, Gruntli could not see anything, for [[256]]his soul had nearly shriveled up, and Gulick had never before met such a being. Yet the ass, even though it was a dumb brute, had enough sense to know that it dare not, and ought not, to rush up against the apparition, whatever it might be. Had it been rock, stone, ice, a mountain path, a chamois, or anything usual, the Swiss donkey would have known what to do. But before such an unusual sight, Gulick stood still.
As for Gruntli, he, being a self-styled “man of science,” without any faith, and very little imagination, could see nothing. So, when Gulick, to get out of the way, turned aside and out of the road, to make its way through the field, Gruntli, getting very angry, beat the animal and in his bad temper, even laid on several blows with his whip handle.
At this unusual action of his master, the ass was so surprised, that he actually stopped. He turned round, gave a rebuking glance at Gruntli, and then tried to go on, but in vain.
Then the man, in a worse temper than ever, not only beat the dumb brute again, but he drove his spurs into the sides of the faithful beast, until little drops of blood dropped on the ground.
At this, even patient Gulick lost his donkey temper, and lifting one of his hind legs tried to kick the man’s heels. [[257]]
This enraged Gruntli still further, and he cried out:
“You stupid beast! If you want to climb up into the saddle and ride yourself, I’ll jump off.”
Then he clutched his whip more tightly, expecting to get down and thrash the animal with all his strength.
But Gulick moved on, the road narrowing down, between rocks, as many bridle paths in Switzerland do. Yet no sooner had the intelligent beast entered into the shadow, than again a shining angel appeared in the path in front of them, but this time in a threatening manner, and waving his glittering sword.