Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume One).djvu/297

 of prison life should have completely destroyed Kinkel's mental and bodily strength. Then she informed me that Kinkel, according to rumor, would be taken to Cologne for trial on account of the Siegburg affair, and that there might then possibly be a favorable opportunity for his deliverance. She asked now for my advice, as she confided in my friendship as well as in my knowledge of the situation.

The night after the arrival of this letter I slept but little. Between the lines I could read the question whether I would not be the one to undertake the venture. It was this question that kept me awake. The spectacle of Kinkel in his prison jacket at the spinning-wheel was constantly before my eyes, and I could hardly endure the sight. I loved Kinkel dearly. I believed also that with his great gifts, his enthusiasm and his rare eloquence, he might still do great service to the cause of the German people. The desire to restore him if I could to Germany and to his family became irresistible. I resolved that night to try and make the attempt.

The next morning I began to consider the matter in detail. I remember that morning very clearly. Two doubts troubled me much. The one was whether I would be capable of carrying so difficult an undertaking to a happy end. I said to myself that Frau Kinkel, who after all had most to win and most to lose, seemed to believe me capable, and that it was not becoming in me to put my ability in doubt in the face of her confidence. But would those whose coöperation in so dangerous a risk was necessary give their confidence to so young a man as I was? I might perhaps gain it by a bold attitude. I cheered myself with the thought that as a young, insignificant and little known person I might better succeed in remaining unnoticed than would an older and more widely known man, and that therefore I might trust myself with less