It was a cold, dark night. The moon, which shone so brightly during the previous night, was covered with heavy clouds; the storm swept clouds of snow before it, and whistled and howled across the extensive snow-fields. But the wanderers continued their journey with undaunted hearts.
All at once something stirred behind them; they saw torches gleaming up, and Bavarian soldiers accompanying the bearers of the torches.
The soldiers, headed by the landlord who had fetched them, rushed forward with wild shouts and imprecations. But Wallner and Eliza likewise rushed forward like roes hunted down. They panted heavily, the piercing storm almost froze their faces, their feet bled, but they continued their flight at a rapid rate. Nevertheless, the distance separating them from their pursuers became shorter and shorter. The Bavarians, provided with torches, could see the road and the footsteps of the fugitives in the snow, while the latter had to run blindly into the night, unable to see whither their feet were carrying them, and exhausted by the long journey of the preceding day.
The distance between pursuers and pursued rapidly diminished;scarcely twenty yards now lay between them, and the soldiers extended their hands already to seize them. At this moment of extreme peril the storm came up howling with redoubled fury and drove whole clouds of snow before it, extinguished the torches of the Bavarians, and shrouded every thing in utter darkness. The joyful cries of the pursued and the imprecations of their pursuers were heard at the same time.
Wallner and Eliza, whose eyes were already accustomed to the darkness, advanced at a rapid rate, the soldiers followed them, but blinded by the darkness, unable to see the road, and calling each other in order to remain together. These calls and shouts added to the advantages of the fugitives, for they indicated to them the direction which they had to take in order to avoid the enemy.
Finally, the shouts became weaker and weaker, and died away entirely.
The fugitives continued their flight more leisurely; but they could not rest and stand still in the dark, cold night, for the storm would have frozen them, the cold would have killed them. They did not speak, but advanced breathlessly and hand in hand. All at once they beheld a light twinkling in the distance like a star. There was a house, then, and men also. They walked on briskly, and the light came nearer and nearer. Now they saw already the house through whose windows it gleamed. In a few minutes they were close to the house, in front of which they beheld a tall post.
"Great God!" cried Anthony Wallner; "I believe that is a boundary-post, and we are now on Austrian soil."
He knocked hastily at the door; it opened, and the two wanderers entered the small, warm, and cozy room, where they were received by a man in uniform, who sat at the table eating his supper.
Anthony Wallner went close up to him and pointed to his uniform.
"You wear the Austrian uniform" he asked.
"I do, sir," said the man, smilingly.
"And we are here on Austrian soil?"
"Yes, sir. The boundary-post is in front of this house. This is an Austrian custom-house."Anthony Wallner threw his arm around Eliza's neck and knelt down. He burst into tears, and exclaimed in a loud, joyous voice, "Lord God in heaven, I thank Thee!"Eliza said nothing, but her tears spoke for her, and so did the smile with which she looked up to heaven and then at her father.
The custom-house officer had risen and stood profoundly moved by the side of the two.
"Who are you, my friend?" he asked; "and why do you weep and thank God?""Who am I?" asked Wallner, rising and drawing Eliza up with him. "Iam Anthony Wallner, and this is my daughter Lizzie, who has saved me from the Bavarians. The good God--"He said no more, but leaned totteringly on Eliza's shoulder, and sank senseless to the ground.
Eliza threw herself upon him, uttering loud cries of anguish. "He is dead," she cried, despairingly; "he is dead!""No, he is not dead," said the officer; "the excitement and fatigue have produced a swoon. He will soon be restored to consciousness and get over it. Careful nursing shall not be wanting to Anthony Wallner in my house."He had prophesied correctly. Anthony Wallner awoke again, and seemed to recover rapidly under the kind nursing of his host and his daughter.