upward, until the lightning showed me that, by mistake, I had taken the
road to Greifenstein. I turned back, and while feeling my way through
the gloom the earth seemed to vanish under my feet, and I plunged
headlong into a viewless gulf--not through empty space, however, but a
wet, tangled mass which beat against my face, until at last there was a
jerk which shook me from head to foot.

I no longer fell, but I heard above me the sound of something tearing,
and the thought darted through my mind that I was hanging by my trousers.
Groping around, I found vine-leaves, branches, and lattice-work, to which
I clung, and tearing away with my foot the cloth which had caught on the
end of a lath, I again brought my head where it should be, and discovered
that I was hanging on a vine-clad wall. A flash of lightning showed me
the ground not very far below and, by the help of the espalier and the
vines I at last stood in a garden.

Almost by a miracle I escaped with a few scratches; but when I afterwards
went to look at the scene of this disaster cold chills ran down my back,
for half the distance whence I plunged into the garden would have been
enough to break my neck.

Our games were similar to those which lads of the same age play now, but
there were some additional ones that could only take place in a wooded
mountain valley like Keilhau; such, for instance, were our Indian games,
which engrossed us at the time when we were pleased with Cooper's
"Leather-Stocking," but I need not describe them.

When I was one of the older pupils a party of us surprised some "Panzen"
--as we called the younger ones--one hot afternoon engaged in a very
singular game of their own invention. They had undressed to the skin in