ran on--but gasping for breath while his steps grew slower and shorter.
The moon rose, one star after another revealed its light, yet he still
struggled forward.

The forest lay behind him; he had reached a broad road, which he followed
southward, always southward, till his strength utterly failed. His head
and hands were burning like fire, yet it was very, very cold; but little
snow lay here in the valley, and in many places the moonlight showed
patches of bare, dark turf.

Grief was forgotten. Fatigue, anxiety and hunger completely engrossed
the boy's mind. He felt tempted to throw himself down in the road and
sleep, but remembered the frozen people of whom he had heard, and dragged
himself on to the nearest village. The lights had long been
extinguished; as he approached, dogs barked in the yards, and the
melancholy lowing of a cow echoed from many a stable. He was again among
human beings; the thought exerted a soothing influence; he regained his
self-control, and sought a shelter for the night.

At the end of the village stood a barn, and Ulrich noticed by the
moonlight an open hatchway in the wall. If he could climb up to it! The
framework offered some support for fingers and toes, so he resolved to
try it.

Several times, when Half-way up, he slipped to the ground, but at last
reached the top, and found a bed in the soft hay under a sheltering roof.
Surrounded by the fragrance of the dried grasses, he soon fell asleep,
and in a dream saw amidst various confused and repulsive shapes, first
his father with a bleeding wound in his broad chest, and then the doctor,
dancing with old Rahel. Last of all Ruth appeared; she led him into the