'You were giving a hundred not long ago.' 'Why didn't you take it?' 'That's true, why didn't I take it? Everyone profits as he can.' 'Have you never tried to profit?' 'I have.' 'Then will you take it?' 'Why shouldn't I take it?' 'We will settle the matter at my house to-night.' 'The sooner the better.' 'Well, since it is so,' Hamer added after a while, 'I will give you seventy-five roubles, and you shan't be left to die here. You and your wife can come to the school; you can spend the winter with us and I will give you the same pay as my own farm-labourers.' Slimak winced at the word 'farm-labourer', but he said nothing. 'And your gospodarze,' concluded Hamer, 'are brutes. They will do nothing for you.' Before sunset a sledge conveyed the unconscious woman to the settlement. Slimak remained, recovered his money from under the manure, collected a few possessions and milked the cows. The dumb animals looked reproachfully at him and seemed to ask: 'Are you sure you have done the best you could, gospodarz?' 'What am I to do?' he returned, 'the place is unlucky, it is bewitched. Perhaps the Germans can take the spell away, I can't.' He felt as if his feet were being held to the ground, but he spat at it. 'Much I have to be thankful to you for! Barren land, far from everybody so that thieves may profit!' He would not look back. On the way he met two German farm-labourers, who had come to spend the night in the stable; as he passed them, they laughed. 'Catch me spending the winter with you scoundrels! I'm off directly the wife is well and the boy out of jail.' A black shadow detached itself from the gate when he reached the settlement, 'Is that you, schoolmaster?' 'Yes. So you have consented after all to sell your land?' Slimak was silent. 'Perhaps it's the best thing you can do. If you can't make much of it yourself, at least you can save others.' He looked round and lowered his voice. 'But mind you bargain well, for you are doing them a good turn. Miller Knap will pay cash down as soon as the contract has been signed and give his daughter to Wilhelm. Otherwise Hirschgold will turn the Hamers out at midsummer and sell the land to Gryb. They have a heavy contract with the Jew.' 'What? Gryb would buy the settlement?' 'Indeed he would. He is anxious to settle his son too, and Josel has been sniffing round for a month past. So there's your chance, bargain well.' 'Why, damn it,' said Slimak, 'I would rather have a hundred Germans than that old Judas.' A door creaked and the schoolmaster changed the conversation. 'Come this way, your wife is in the schoolroom.' 'Is that Slimak?' Fritz called out. 'It is I.' 'Don't stay long with your wife, she is being looked after, and we want you at daybreak; you must sleep in the kitchen.'