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Show 133 old shepherd's cave, I broke into a run to catch up to him. I wanted to try once more to persuade him to return for her. "Gast, please don't leave Hilde," I panted as I reached him. "Look at her, she's helpless." I pointed to where Hilde had been abandoned far behind us, visible only by the bright patch of color her dress made against the earth. Gast would not look back but bent to pick up the end of a rope which lay coiled next to his feet. The rope extended from where he stood into the depths of the shepherd's cave. "What's that for?" I asked. "The other end is tied around the main support timber inside the cavern," he answered without turning toward me, winding the rope again and again around his left arm. Just at that moment the skies burst open and the rain which had been threatening for so long began to fall in torrents, as though a whole flood were trying to crash down all at once. I was standing just beneath Gast on the side of the mountain, and as I raised my head to confront him the rain fell into my mouth and stung my skin. "Gast, can't we go back and...?" "Silence! Are the children far beyond this point?" His face glistened with wetness and his bright clothes clung to his body. I glanced over to where the bigger boys were still herding the children along the narrow pass. "They are about a hundred paces ahead of us and still moving," I answered. He leaned backward, pulling on the rope until it grew taut. |