CHAPTER XX.
It was still night when Anton stepped over the threshold of the tavern.
A thick cloud hung over the plain.

A red glare on the horizon marked the district through which the travelers had to pass.

The mist of night covered, with a gray veil, a dark mass on the ground.

Anton went nearer, and found that it consisted of men, women, and children, cowering on the earth, pale, hungry, and emaciated.

"They are from the village on the other side of the boundary," explained an old watchman, who stood wrapped in his cavalry cloak.