... By two in the morning I was still lying awake, shivering and
thinking. All those hours I could not get warm; then at last it turned
hot, and I lay there in full fever.... How frightened she had been
yesterday--dared not sit down to eat with me by the roadside, and never
opened her eyes to me once through all the journey....
Coming to my senses for a moment, it occurs to me I might wake Falkenberg
with my tossing about, and perhaps say things in my delirium. That would
never do. I clench my teeth and jump up, get into my clothes again,
scramble down the stairs, and set out over the fields at a run. After a
little my clothes begin to warm me; I make towards the woods, towards the
spot where we had been working; sweat and rain pour down my face. If only
I can find the saw and work the fever out of my body--'tis an old and
tried cure of mine, that. The saw is nowhere to be seen, but I come upon
the ax I had left there Saturday evening, and set to work with that. It is
almost too dark to see at all, but I feel at the cut now and then with my
hands, and bring down several trees.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137