Das landhaus am Rhein. English

by Berthold Auerbach

  CHAPTER XVI.

  A BLACK WAVE.

  On Sunday evening a bustling crowd was streaming along the white road,up and down the banks of the river, and to and fro between thevineyards, all seeming to have one end in view.

  Sonnenkamp, wrapped in his cloak, was sitting on the flat roof of hishouse, gazing with a sensation of dizziness upon the surroundinglandscape. Once he walked to the eaves. His brain reeled, and he wantedto throw himself off.

  So then it was all over, the hard thinking and everything! Neverthelesshe stepped back again, and sat upon the flat roof until nightfall.

  Suddenly his ear was struck by howls, cat-calls, hootings, rattling andclashing, as though hell itself had been let loose.

  He sprang to his feet. Are these sounds within him? Is this allimagination? He hears them distinctly; the noise comes from beneath. Itrises from the road, and he descries by the torchlight fantasticfigures with black faces. Is that, too, only imagination? Have theycome hither from the other world, those creatures with human forms?

  "You must leave the country!"

  "Begone to your blacks!"

  "We'll fetch him out, and paint him black too!"

  "And we'll tie him on his black nag, and lead him through the country,shouting: 'Look at him!'"

  Then followed more whistling, bawling, crashing, rattling, and a sharp,jangling sound, produced by banging pots and kettles together. It was amost infernal din.

  Then arose in Sonnenkamp's memory a vision of the past,--the image of aman accused of having incited slaves to revolt, driven through thestreets, naked, tarred and feathered, pelted with rotten apples andcabbage stumps. The scene changed, and on the gallows hung John Brown.

  The report of a gun was heard, and the voice of Pranken, crying:--

  "Shoot the dogs down! I'll take the responsibility!"

  Only one more shot resounded; then the raging mob came surging againstthe gate, which gave way with a crash, and in rushed the franticrabble, all with black faces, and the cry arose:--

  "We'll choke the whole of 'em!"

  "Where is he?"

  "Give him up, or we'll smash everything to pieces!" Sonnenkamp hasteneddown from the roof through the house, and, standing on the openbalcony, heard Eric's voice, warning the crowd in powerful tones:--

  "Are you men? Are you Germans? Who has made judges of you? Speak! Iwill answer you. You are bringing misery upon yourselves. You will berecognized and detected, in spite of your blackened faces. To-morrowwill come the appointed judge; for we live in a well-governed country,and you are all of you amenable to the law."

  "We don't want to touch the Captain!" cried a voice from the crowd.

  Eric continued,--

  "If there is one among you who can tell what you want, let him comeforward."

  A man with blackened face, whom Eric did not recognize, stepped forthand said,--

  "Captain, it's me, the Screamer; let me speak. The new wine has gotinto our folks' heads below there. I'm as sober as a cat," added he,stammering.

  "But what do they want?"

  "They wish that Herr Sonnenkamp, or whatever his name is, should leaveour part of the country, and go where he belongs."

  "Yes! Let him take himself off!"

  "And give me back my meadow!"

  "And me my vineyard!"

  "And me my house!"

  Such were the cries uttered by the mob.

  Claus quickly joined Eric on the steps, and called to the rabble,--

  "If you go on shouting out such crazy stuff, and speaking all together,I'll be the first to choke any one who tries to get into the house."

  "Let him be off!"

  "Let him clear out!" "Hustle him out!" was the general cry.

  Just as this was yelled forth, Sonnenkamp appeared on the steps. Thehowling, shrieking, and kettle-banging began anew; stones crashedthrough the great window-panes.

  The Screamer, hastening up the steps, placed himself before Sonnenkamp,saying.--

  "Keep still: I'll protect you."

  Then he shouted, yet more violently,--

  "If you say one word more, and if every man doesn't hold his neighbor,so that he can't move his arms, I'll be the first to shoot you down,without caring whether I hit the innocent or the guilty."

  "Men, what have I done to you?" cried Sonnenkamp.

  "Cannibal!"

  "Kidnapper!"

  "Slave dealer!"

  "And if I were," exclaimed Sonnenkamp, "what gives you the right tojudge me?"

  "You must clear out of this!"

  "Make yourself scarce!" was the cry from beneath.

  "Herr Sonnenkamp, and you, Captain," said Claus, hastily addressingthem both, "I only joined this savage troop, because I saw it was nouse trying to hold them back, but I've caught them by the halter, andif you'll just leave everything to me, we'll make a carnival-sport outof the whole concern. You speak first, Captain, and I beg you to keepstill, Herr Sonnenkamp."

  "My men," began Eric, "let the stones alone. Do you know the greatword,--'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone!'Has not every one of you done something that----"

  "We've never sold men! Oh! the ogre!" they cried from below.

  Eric could say no more. At this juncture Manna appeared, holding abranched candlestick with two lighted candles. A cry of astonishmentwent through the crowd; then all was still for a second, all eyes beingrivetted on the girl as she stood there, pale, with sparkling eyes anddishevelled hair.

  Roland, placing himself beside Eric, called out in a voice whichresounded far and wide,--

  "Stone us! Tear us in pieces! Come on; we are unarmed!"

  "We don't want to hurt the children!"

  "But the man-seller must begone!"

  "Yes, he must clear out!"

  "Be off!"

  Again the tumult seemed increasing, the rioters pushing one anotherforward. All at once they recoiled, even those upon the steps shrinkingback. Beneath the great door-way a white-robed form appeared, and herhair was gray.

  The noisy wretches in the court were struck dumb, gazing upward withglances of amazement. Those assembled on the steps, turning round, sawthe Professorin, standing there like a being from another world, fromthe boundless space of Eternity. Stepping quietly to the balustrade,she first raised and then lowered her hands as in blessing, as ifcalming the stormy waves. Profound silence reigned, and she spoke intones which might be heard a great way off:

  "No man can expiate his brother's sin by wrong-doing. Do not sinyourselves. Restrain yourselves, lest to-morrow you weep over to-day."

  Her voice grew more powerful, as she said:--

  "Conquer yourselves!"

  Laying her hand on Sonnenkamp's shoulder, she said, in sonoroustones:--

  "I promise you that this man, who has already done good, shall performa deed so great as to reconcile you all to him. Do you believe me?"

  "Yes, we believe the Professorin!"

  "Hurrah for the Professorin! Huzza! Huzza!"

  "Come along home! It's enough!"

  A man carrying a drum struck up a march, when, just as the mob wasabout to depart, something came rattling along, helmets gleamed, thefire-engine came up, and a jet of water suddenly spurted over them all.A like shower came from the other side; for Joseph had hastened to thehead-gardener's, and the hose was now used with effect. The stream fromeither side rose high into the air, and they all went off, grumbling,laughing, and cursing.

  The men were still standing on the steps, and Eric was the first tospeak, saying:--

  "Mother, you here? And from your sick-bed? This may cause your death."

  "No, my son, it has given life to me, to you, to all, and purity toall. I am ill no longer; a great and beautiful and fortunate deed hassaved me."

  Sonnenkamp, taking off his cloak, wrapped the Professorin in it, andthey led the old lady, whose eyes shone wonderfully, into the greathall, where she sat down, while they all stood around h
er as about asaint.

  Manna, kneeling before her, took her hands, and wept copious tears uponthem.

  "Now I only beg for quiet," said the Professorin. "I am calm; give meno further excitement now. I heard it, I know not how; I came hither, Iknow not how. Something called and impelled me, and it has ended well.Oh, believe that everything will yet turn out for the best. HerrSonnenkamp, give me your hand. I have something to say to you."

  "I will fulfil whatever you may command."

  "You must do something, although I do not yet know what, in order topacify the minds of these people."

  "I will. I will summon a jury, in the choice of which you must assistme. To them I will unfold my life, and into their hands I will leavethe decision of what is to be done."

  "That is a happy idea. To-morrow we will carry it out. Now it isenough," said the Professorin, in a tone soothing to the others and toherself. "Manna, go to your mother," added she.

  Manna left the room.

  It was late before those assembled in the Villa separated. TheProfessorin must spend the night there. Sonnenkamp would not have itotherwise. He gave her the best room in the house, and Eric sat by hismother's bed until she fell asleep.

  But without, on the banks of the Rhine, stood a multitude, washingtheir black faces clean again, and recovering from the effects of thenew wine. In the night a black wave rolled past the Villa, and down theriver to the sea.

  Oh! If the black deed could only be thus wiped off, and sunk in theocean of Eternity!

  BOOK XIII.