Meanwhile I looked downhill into the valley below: it was a
veritable sea of slush. The teams that followed ours sank into it,
and seemed not to be moving at all. The oblique rays of the setting
sun, reflected and radiating in every direction, lent a peculiar
glitter to the slushy wagons and the broken sheet of mire, as if
pointing out their beauty to the darkening sky. So much light
wasted, I thought. But on the summit of the hill on which I was
standing, the direct rays of the sun promised a good hour more of
daylight.
The old man drew breath, and continued his story:--
Well, I was caught, and put into prison. I was not alone. Many
young boys had been brought there. Some were crying bitterly; some
looked at their companions wonderingly. We were told that the next
day we should be taken away to some place, and that the rabbi wished
to come to see us, but was not permitted to enter our prison.
Yes, a good man was the rabbi, may he rest in peace; yet he was
compelled to cheat for once. And when an honest man is compelled to
cheat he may outdo the cleverest crook.
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