of shots being fired. They were letting off their guns in sign of rejoicing, as they did on the nights of the great feasts.
"They have gone mad," said the keeper, and he ran off at full speed in advance, the dog barking fiercely as though there were some revolt to be quelled up there.
Antiochus, on the other hand, felt inclined to weep. He looked at the priest sitting straight upright on his horse and thought he resembled some saint carried in procession. Nevertheless, his reflections took a practical turn:
"My mother will do good business to-night with all these merry folk!"
And he felt so happy that he unfolded the cope and threw it over his shoulders. Then he wanted to carry the box again, though he would not give up his new stick, and thus he entered the village looking like one of the Three Kings.
The old hunter's granddaughter called to the priest from her door and asked for news of her grandfather.
158
