Part 65 (2/2)

The great level quadrangle of the exercise-ground lay at a high elevation; in the valley below the air had felt hot and stifling, but up here a soft breeze was blowing, and with gentle caressing touch it brushed back the golden tendrils of hair from the rider's white forehead.

Upon the scantily growing gra.s.s of the plain Hannah Gropphusen gave the mare her head, and the animal bore her at a light even gallop to the far end of the ground. From thence ran a narrow cart-track, by which their sluggish teams drew the loaded harvest-waggons down to the high road. The track led straight on to the edge of the plain, the chalky surface being there broken up by deep quarries. Here a strong rough paling had been erected as a barrier, in case any stubborn horse should prove unmanageable. This was no impediment to an unerring fencer like Lady G.o.diva. She went over it easily at full stretch.

After her landing Hannah Gropphusen gave the mare a touch of the whip.

The animal laid her ears back and increased the pace. At a little distance a second obstacle showed itself, a whitethorn hedge that looked like a hurdle.

Lady G.o.diva scarcely seemed to touch the ground with her hoofs. Her mane and tail gleamed golden as they streamed on the mild evening breeze. A pair of quails started up from amid the ripe corn.

The mare rose on her hind legs for the jump, then made a sudden violent movement as though to avoid it. Behind the whitethorn yawned an abyss.

But the impetus of her motion carried her on, and a firm grip kept her head forwards.

Early next morning when the stone-breakers came to their work they found at the bottom of the precipice a dead woman and a dead horse.

There were no external injuries either to the animal or her rider. The force of the fall must have killed them both. The terrified eyes of the mare were staring into vacancy, but those of the woman--indeed she was but a girl--were closed, and her small delicate hands still gripped the bridle firmly.

The foreman sent a boy to inform the village-elder; the other workmen stood in a silent circle round the unfortunate pair.

”Mates,” said the foreman at last, ”it's quite clear there is nothing to be done. We'd better be getting back to work.”

A lean, bearded man protested: ”We might as well say a prayer first for the poor creature.” For the stone-breakers are a pious people; they stand always with one foot in the grave. A loosened ma.s.s of chalk, a collapsing wall, a mine exploding prematurely, may threaten their lives; and the chalk-dust chokes their lungs so that they die early.

The bearded man took off his hat and began to pray. All the others bared their heads.

After the ”deliver us from evil” he inserted another pet.i.tion: ”And grant to this poor lady, who has met with such a terrible and sudden death, Thy eternal rest, we beseech Thee, O Lord! For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”

One only had gone back to his work, an aged man who, with trembling knees, was pus.h.i.+ng a loaded wheelbarrow before him. He was himself too near death for the sight of a corpse to strike him as anything out of the common.

When he saw the others praying he set down his burden. His toothless mouth stammered out his words with difficulty.

”What are you praying for?” he said. ”That the Lord will grant her eternal rest? Look at her, then! Isn't eternal rest written on her face?”

Reimers reached the practice-camp again when his brother-officers were at mess.

It was only on alighting from the carriage that he remembered Frommelt's commission. He was staggered a little at this neglect; but after all what did such trifles matter? He smiled to himself that he should trouble about it now.

In his own room he threw himself upon the hard camp-bed. The bare place felt stifling, although the window was wide open. The white-washed walls seemed narrowing about him, and he felt as if he would be suffocated.

He shut his eyes wearily. Then the troubled vision disappeared, and he had a feeling of freedom and deliverance, a grateful sensation of release from the limitations of matter, as though borne aloft into the unconfined regions of cosmic s.p.a.ce.

The mounted sentry patrolling the forest pa.s.sed by the window. The man had settled himself comfortably on horse-back, and his hanging bugle and accoutrements jingled. As he came near the creaking of the saddle could be heard. By degrees the sounds subsided, though the metallic tinkling was perceptible for a long time.

Perhaps, however, that gentle sound was but the prelude to some illusion of the senses.

Then voices sounded from the mess-room: the high crowing tones of Wegstetten and the mellow ba.s.s of Major Lischke, The little captain was grumbling about the food.

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