“‘He ran fast; he may have got away again on the other side of the thicket,’ said a third.
“‘Let us try this place first,’ cried the man who had previously spoken, and immediately several shots were fired into the thicket.
“‘Come out, you rebel!—come out!’ exclaimed several together.
“These words gave me courage, for it convinced me that my pursuers knew nothing of my place of concealment, and also that they possessed no superabundance of bravery or zeal. Had they been very zealous, they would not have cried ‘come out!’ but they would have forced their way in, and dragged me out. So I lay snug, while they expended their powder and shot on the harmless bushes. My only fear was, that they would shoot each other. It would have been wrong, you know, to wish them ill—they were only doing what, in their ignorance, they thought their duty.
“I lay all the time perfectly quiet, but without alarm, only wishing that they would go away, and allow me to continue my journey. I was anxious, also, to discover by anything they said what had become of my kind friend Sidor, but they did not mention him. Still, I knew that his chance of escape was very small; all I could do was to pray that he might be supported in his affliction.
“My pursuers continued beating about the bush for some minutes; at last one exclaimed, ‘There is no use in looking here, men; he has gone on, depend on it.’
“‘One hunt more before we go!’ shouted another. ‘Unearth the miscreant! Unearth the heretic! Drive him out from this—drive him out!—he’s here, depend on it!’
“Scarcely had these words been uttered, when a number of shots were again fired into the thicket—the people apparently loading and firing as fast as they could.
“‘If he is in there, he must be killed or wounded by this time, so now, men, let us try if we can find him!’ cried one of the party, apparently more eager than his companions.
“On this I heard the crackling of branches, as if the bushes were being broken and pushed aside as the people forced their way into the thicket. I could not now help feeling some apprehension that my place of retreat should be discovered, for I fancied they had got into the very pathway which led to it, and I feared that I might have been careless in my hurry in drawing the brambles over the entrance to my burrow; or I might have broken some of the twigs, which would clearly indicate my whereabouts, should any woodman or hunter be among my pursuers. Fortunately there was no dog with them, or he would speedily have ferreted me out. I thought the time very long that they were hunting about for me. At last one of them exclaimed—