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Maciek went into the house, the stranger remained in the yard, looking carelessly round the buildings, while Burek barked madly at him. At any other time the dog's anger would have roused Maciek's suspicion, but how could one think anything but well of a guest who had already given vodka and sausages and who was offering more drink?

The gospodarz, his cap awry, and holding up nis sukmana as for a dance, lurched from right to left and from left to right, singing. The labourer laughed, not because they were drunk, but because it pleased him to see them enjoying themselves. 'Do you know, Maciek, cried Slimak from afar, 'do you know the Swabians can't hurt us! He ran up full tilt and supported himself on Maciek's neck.

For Slimak the horses were part of his working machinery, for Maciek they were friends and brothers. Who but they in the whole world had longed for him, had greeted him heartily when he returned, or looked after him when he went out? No one but Wojtek and Kasztan. For years they had shared hardships together. Now they were gone, perhaps led away into misery, through his, Maciek's, fault.

'Pour out a basin of soup for yourself. She did as she was told. 'Don't you want a servant? she asked presently. 'I don't know; my wife is ill. 'There you are! It's quiet here. Where's Magda? 'Left. 'Jendrek? 'Sent up for trial. 'There you are! Stasiek? 'Drowned last summer, he whispered, fearful lest Maciek's and the little girl's turn should come next.

A few months after leaving her child in Maciek's care she had been arrested; the reason was unknown to her. As a matter of fact she had been accused of begging, vagrancy, and attempted arson. After the discovery of each new crime, they had taken her from police- station to prison, from prison to infirmary, from infirmary to another prison, and so on for a whole year.

'It's quite warm here, he said, 'but all the same I'm not going to sit down, I must keep on walking till the morning. But it was not yet midnight and Maciek's legs began to refuse obedience, he could no longer push away the snow with his feet; he stopped and stamped, but that was even more tiring; he leant against the sides of the little cavity.

Come, Josef, the gentlemen did not pay for the things only, but for the trouble you took. This, and the thought that everybody who came from Warsaw obviously had much money to spend, reassured the peasant. As he and the rest of the family were so much occupied with their new duties, all the harvesting fell to Maciek's share.

He did not rest now or rub his frozen hands; he worked as fast as he could, so that the night and the winter storms should not overtake him. The sky grew darker and darker with clouds; mists rose in the forests and froze into fine crystals which instantly covered Maciek's sukmana, the child's shawl, and the horses' manes with a crackling crust.

At last, hardly believing his eyes, he went up to the silent sitter and touched his hand. Maciek's and the child's faces were hard, as if they had been cast in wax, hoarfrost lay on his lashes, and frozen moisture stood on the child's lips. The signalman's arms dropped in astonishment; he wanted to call for help, but remembered that no one would hear him.

The lame man's road led him past Slimak's cottage; tired and miserable he sat down on a stone by the gate and looked longingly into the entrance. The gospodyni was boiling potatoes for the pigs, and the smell was so good, as the little puffs of steam spread along the highroad, that it went into the very pit of Maciek's stomach. He sat there in fascination, unable to move.