IN DANGER Hope died within Felix when he thus suddenly found himself so near the executioner.

He had known so many butchered without cause, that he had, indeed, reason to despair.

Towards the sunset he felt sure he should be dragged forth and hanged on the oak used for the purpose, and which stood near where the track from Aisi joined the camp.

Such would most probably have been his fate, had he been alone concerned in this affair, but by good fortune he was able to escape so miserable an end.

Still, he suffered as much as if the rope had finished him, for he had no means of knowing what would be the result.
His heart swelled with bitterness; he was filled with inexpressible indignation, his whole being rebelled against the blundering, as it were, of events which had thus thrown him into the jaws of death.