seemed to have no more strength left. Vitalis pulled me by the arm.
"Come, come."
"I can't walk any farther."
"Ah, and do you think I'm going to carry you?"
I followed him.
"Are there any deep ruts in the road?"
"No."
"Then we must turn back."
We turned. Now we faced the wind. It stung our faces like a lash. It seemed that my face was being scorched with a flame.
"We have to take a road leading from the cross-roads," said my master feebly; "tell me when you see it."
For a quarter of an hour we went on, struggling against the wind; in the doleful silence of the night the noise of our footsteps echoed on the dry, hard earth. Although scarcely able to put one foot before the other, it was I who dragged Vitalis. How anxiously I looked to the left! In the dark shadows I suddenly saw a little red light.
"See, there's a light," I said, pointing.
"Where?"
Vitalis looked; although the light was but a short distance off, he saw nothing. I knew then that his sight was going.
"What is that light to us?" he asked; "it is a lamp burning on the table of some worker, or it's near the bed of a dying person. We cannot go and
