I think it must have been ten o'clock (my friends and I had just taken a
hasty supper) when the fortress on the Blocksberg again belched forth
its terrible sound of warning. This time there were six shots fired;
this was the signal of "Pest in danger." A profound impression of alarm
fell on the assembled multitude. Some went about wringing their hands;
others left the Corso hastily, going home, I imagine, to tell their
women to prepare for the worst. I was unconscious at the time of taking
note of things passing round me, and it seems strange, considering the
acute tension of my nerves, that I saw, and can now recall with
persistent accuracy, a lot of trivial and utterly unimportant incidents
that happened in the crowd. I remember the size and colour of a dog that
manifested his share in the common excitement by running perpetually
between everybody's legs, and I could draw the face of a frightened
child whom I saw clinging to its mother's skirts.
We never quitted the Corso. Though this was the third night we had not
taken off our clothes, it was impossible to think of rest now. I felt no
fatigue, and I hardly know how the last hour or two passed, but I heard
distinctly above the murmur of voices the town clocks strike twelve.
Just afterwards, a man running at full speed broke through the crowd,
shouting as he went, "The water is falling! the water is falling!" He
spoke in German, so I understood the words directly.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288