Pagina 397 van 896

"All work is stopped, all assemble there, nobody leads the cows

out, the cows are there with the rest. At midday, the roll of

drums. Soldiers have marched into the prison in the night, and he

is in the midst of many soldiers. He is bound as before, and in

his mouth there is a gag--tied so, with a tight string, making

him look almost as if he laughed." He suggested it, by creasing

his face with his two thumbs, from the corners of his mouth to

his ears. "On the top of the gallows is fixed the knife, blade

upwards, with its point in the air. He is hanged there forty feet

high--and is left hanging, poisoning the water."

They looked at one another, as he used his blue cap to wipe his

face, on which the perspiration had started afresh while he

recalled the spectacle.