The Dead Are Silent | Page 3

whether there were human beings on it. Two other carts followed
the first. They could just see the outlines of a man in peasant garb on
the last cart, and could see that he was lighting his pipe. The carts
passed them slowly. Soon there was nothing to be heard but the low
rolling of the wheels as their own carriage followed them. The bridge
dropped gently to the farther shore. They saw the street disappear into
blackness between rows of trees. Open fields lay before them to the
right and to the left; they gazed out into gloom indistinguishable.
There was another long silence before Franz spoke again. "Then it is
the last time--"
"What?--" Emma's tone was anxious.
"The last time we are to be together. Stay with him, if you will. I bid
you farewell."
"Are you serious?"
"Absolutely."
"There, now you see, it is you who always spoil the few hours we have
together?--not I."
"Yes, you're right," said Franz. "Let's drive back to town."
She held his arm closer. "No," she insisted, tenderly, "I don't want to go
back. I won't be sent away from you."
She drew his head down to hers, and kissed him tenderly. "Where
would we get to if we drove on down there?" she asked.
"That's the road to Prague, dear."

"We won't go quite that far," she smiled, "but I'd like to drive on a little,
down there." She pointed into the darkness.
Franz called to the driver. There was no answer; the carriage rumbled
on, slowly. Franz ran after it, and saw that the driver was fast asleep.
Franz roused him roughly. "We want to drive on down that street. Do
you hear me?"
"All right, sir."
Emma entered the carriage first, then Franz. The driver whipped his
horses, and they galloped madly over the moist earth of the road-bed.
The couple inside the cab held each other closely as they swayed with
the motion of the vehicle.
"Isn't this quite nice?" whispered Emma, her lips on his.
In the moment of her words she seemed to feel the cab mounting into
the air. She felt herself thrown over violently, readied for some hold,
but grasped only the empty air. She seemed to be spinning madly like a
top, her eyes closed, suddenly she found herself lying on the ground, a
great silence about her, as if she were alone, far away from all the
world. Then noises began to come into her consciousness again; hoofs
beat the ground near her; a low moaning came from somewhere; but
she could see nothing. Terror seized her; she screamed aloud. Her terror
grew stronger, for she could not hear her own voice. Suddenly she
knew what had happened; the carriage had hit some object, possibly a
mile-stone; had upset, and she had been thrown out. Where is Franz?
was her next thought. She called his name. And now she could hear her
voice, not distinctly yet, but she could hear it. There was no answer to
her call. She tried to get up. After some effort she rose to a sitting,
posture, and, reaching out, she felt something, a human body, on the
ground beside her. She could now begin to see a little through the
dimness. Franz lay beside her, motionless. She put out her hand and
touched his face; something warm and wet covered it. Her heart
seemed to stop beating--Blood?--Oh, what had happened? Franz was
wounded and unconscious. Where was the coachman? She called him,
but no answer came. She still sat there on the ground. She did not seem

to be injured, although she ached all over. "What shall I do?" she
thought; "what shall I do? How can it be that I am not injured? Franz!"
she called again. A voice answered from somewhere near her.
"Where are you, lady? And where is the gentleman? Wait a minute,
Miss--I'll light the lamps, so we can see. I don't know what's got into
the beasts to-day. It ain't my fault, Miss, sure--they ran into a pile of
stones."
Emma managed to stand up, although she was bruised all over. The fact
that the coachman seemed quite uninjured reassured her somewhat. She
heard the man opening the lamp and striking a match. She waited
anxiously for the light. She did not dare to touch Franz again. "It's all
so much worse when you can't see plainly," she thought. "His eyes may
be open now--there won't be anything wrong...."
A tiny ray of light came from one side. She saw the carriage, not
completely upset, as she had thought, but leaning over toward the
ground, as if one wheel were broken. The horses stood quietly. She saw
the milestone, then a heap of loose stones, and beyond them a ditch.