Part 17 (1/2)

”Mr. Ruckstuhl? Yes, he and another recruit are in close confinement for getting dreadfully intoxicated and insulting their superiors; they say it was a most laughable scene.”

”The devil take him!” said Frymann and straightway departed. Half an hour later he was saying to Hediger:

”Now it's your wife who is sitting with my daughter in the garden and rejoicing with her that my plan for a marriage has been wrecked.”

”Why don't you drive her away? Why didn't you growl at her?”

”How can I, in view of our old friends.h.i.+p? You see, how these confounded affairs are already confusing our relations with one another. Therefore let us stand firm! No kins.h.i.+p for us!”

”No kins.h.i.+p indeed!” corroborated Hediger, and shook his friend by the hand.

July, and with it the National Shooting Match of 1849, was now scarcely a fortnight distant. The Seven held another meeting; for the cup and banner were finished and had to be inspected and approved. The banner was raised aloft and set up in the room, and in its shadow there now took place the stormiest session that had ever stirred the Upright Seven. For the fact suddenly became apparent that a banner carried in a presentation procession involves a speaker, and it was the choice of the latter that nearly wrecked the little boat with its crew of seven, Each in turn was chosen thrice, and thrice did each in turn most decisively decline. They were all indignant that none would consent, and it made each of them angry to think that just he should be picked out to bear this burden and do this unheard-of thing. As eagerly as other men come forward when it's a question of taking the floor and airing their view's, just so timidly did these men avoid speaking in public, and each plead his unfitness, and declared that he had never in his life done anything of the kind and never would. For they still believed speechmaking to be an honorable art requiring both talent and study, and they cherished an unreserved and honest respect for good orators who could touch them, and accepted everything that such a man said as true and sacred. They distinguished these orators sharply from themselves and imposed upon themselves the meritorious duty of attentive listeners, to consider conscientiously, to agree or to reject, and this seemed to them a sufficiently honorable task.

So when it appeared that no speaker was procurable by vote, a tumult and general uproar arose, in which each tried to convince another that he was the man who should sacrifice himself. They picked out Hediger and Frymann in particular and vigorously a.s.saulted them. They, however, resisted forcibly, and each tried to s.h.i.+ft it to the other till Frymann called for silence and said:

”My friends! We have made a thoughtless mistake and now we cannot fail to see that, after all, we had better leave our banner-at home; so let us quickly decide to do that and attend the festival without any fuss.”

Heavy gloom settled down on them at these words.

”He's right!” said Kuser, the silversmith.

”There's nothing else for us to do,” added Syfrig, the ploughmaker.

But Burgi cried: ”We can't do that; people know what we intend to do and that the banner is made. If we give it up the story will go down to history.”

”That's true, too,” said Erismann, the innkeeper, ”and our old adversaries, the reactionaries, will know how to make the most of the joke.”

Their old bones thrilled with terror at such an idea, and once again the company attacked the two most gifted members; they resisted anew and finally threatened to withdraw.

”I am a simple carpenter and will never make a laughing stock of myself,” cried Frymann, to which Hediger rejoined:

”Then how can you expect me, a poor tailor, to do it? I should bring ridicule on you all and harm myself, all to no purpose. I propose that one of the innkeepers should be urged to undertake it; they are most accustomed to crowds than any of the rest of us.”

But the innkeepers protested vehemently, and Pfister suggested the cabinet-maker because he was a wit and a joker.

”Joker! Not much!” cried Burgi, ”do you call it a joke to address the president of a national festival in the presence of a thousand people?”

A general sigh was the answer to this remark which made them realize the difficulties of the task more vividly than ever.

After this several members rose one by one from the table, and there was a running in and out and a whispering together in the corners.

Frymann and Hediger alone remained seated, with gloomy countenances, for they divined that a fresh and deadly a.s.sault on them was being planned. Finally, when they were all a.s.sembled again, Burgi stood up before these two and said:

”Kaspar and Daniel! You have both so often spoken to our satisfaction here, in this circle, that either of you, if he only will, can perfectly well make a short, public address. It is the decision of the society that you shall draw lots between you and that the result shall be final. You must yield to a majority of five to two.”

Renewed clamor supported these words; the two addressed, looked at each other and finally bowed humbly to the decision, each in the hope that the bitter lot might fall to the other. It fell to Frymann who, for the first time, left a meeting of the Lovers of Liberty with a heavy heart, while Hediger rubbed his hands with delight--so inconsiderate does selfishness make the oldest of friends.

Frymann's pleasure in the approaching festival was now at an end and his days were darkened. He thought constantly of his speech without being able to find a single idea, because he kept seeking for something remote instead of seizing upon what lay near at hand and using it as he would have among his friends. The phrases in which he was accustomed to address them seemed homely to him, and he hunted about in his mind for something out of the ordinary and high-sounding, for a political manifesto, and he did so not from vanity but from a bitter sense of duty. Finally he began to cover a sheet of paper with writing, not without many interruptions, sighs, and curses. With infinite pains he wrote two pages, although he had intended to compose only a few lines; for he could not find a conclusion, and the tortured phrases clung to one another like sticky burrs and held the writer fast in a confused tangle.

With the folded paper in his waistcoat pocket he went worriedly about his business, occasionally stepping behind some shed to read it again and shake his head. At last he confided in his daughter and read the draft to her to see what effect it made. The speech was an acc.u.mulation of words that thundered against Jesuits and aristocrats, richly larded with such expressions as ”freedom,” ”human rights,” ”servitude,” and ”degradation”; in short it was a bitter and labored declaration of war, in which there was no mention of the Seven and their little banner, and moreover, the composition was clumsy and confused, whereas he usually spoke easily and correctly.

Hermine said it was a very strong speech, but it seemed to her somewhat belated, as the Jesuits and aristocrats had been conquered at last, and she thought a bright and pleasant declaration would be more appropriate since the people were contented and happy.