Page:The Shield (Knopf, 1917).djvu/234

208 peril, he sprang to his knees, threw up his arms and cried out, as if responding to a voice heard in the desert.

"I! . . . I! . . ."

A shot crashed; but it was only Mak's cap, that jumped up and landed in the mud puddle. From beyond the stream and the trees a typical head with ears projecting from under the varnished helmet looked straight at him.

"Don't shoot! . . . Don't shoot!" yelled Hershel Маk in Russian, German and Jewish all at once, waving his hands frantically. And the other Jew, in a long light-grey cloak was also yelling something to his fellow-soldiers. Now not one but about ten pairs of eyes looked at Hershel Маk, with astonishment and sudden joy. A vague, faint hope was seen in these frightened human eyes, which suddenly became simple and sympathetic. Then Hershel Маk and the Jew in the light-grey cloak rushed to the clearing and, splashing in the water, trustingly ran to each other.

They met between the two ranks of still hostile gun-barrels and embraced each other in a fit of unreasoning human gladness.