evident that he had disseminated in the hearts of the peasants the conviction that the nation must arise and openly demand its rights. Through his influence the band of pilgrims was constantly increasing, and it moved toward Prague in a spirit of perfect peace and understanding. Two whole days they journeyed on quietly and unmolested, at night sleeping under the wide heavens. As they neared some castle or manor, the officials fled terror-stricken, conscious of the injuries they had inflicted on the peasants and fearing that the day of reckoning had come. Not until the end of the third day, when they found themselves at the foot of a chain of mountains, did they see a frightful wall on the horizon, moving and quickly approaching them. It was a regiment of soldiers. The official runaways had signaled to Prague that peasants were on their way to the city to settle with their masters; and in consequence of this the city officers had sent the soldiers against them.
The peasants, though amazed, yet bravely
