While thinking and planning, Kurt kept an eye on his father and rather neglected his supper.

Presently, when old Dorn and Neuman rose and left the dining-room, Kurt followed them.

His father was whispering to the proprietor over the desk, and at Kurt's touch he glared his astonishment.
"You here! What for ?" he demanded, gruffly, in German.
"I had to see you," replied Kurt, in English.
"Did it rain ?" was the old man's second demand, husky and serious.
"The wheat is made, if we can harvest it," answered Kurt.
The blaze of joy on old Dorn's face gave Kurt a twinge of pain.

He hated to dispel it.

"Come aside, here, a minute," he whispered, and drew his father over to a corner under a lamp.