The object of the garrison was to prevent this.
What was that?
An exulting cry rang through the night air.

A warrior had succeeded in penetrating the hostile citadel untouched and setting his foot on the hearth! Two or three times we enjoyed the delight of battle; and when towards midnight it closed, we threw ourselves-glowing from the strife and blackened by the smoke of the hearth-fires-down on the greensward around the women's fire, where boiled eggs and other good things were served, and meanwhile the mugs of foaming beer were passed around the circle.
One patriotic song after another was sung, and at last each Bergwacht withdrew to its citadel and lay down on the moss to sleep under the sheltering roof.

Two sentinels marched up and down, relieved every half hour until the early dawn of the summer Sunday brightened the eastern sky.
Then "Huup!"-- the Keilhau shout which summoned us back to the institute-rang out, and a hymn, the march back, a bath in the pond, and finally the most delicious rest, if good luck permitted, on the heaps of hay which had not been gathered in.

On the Sunday following the Bergwacht we were not required to attend church, where we should merely have gone to sleep.

Barop, though usually very strict in the observance of religious duties, never demanded anything for the sake of mere appearances.
And the bed of my own planning! It consisted of wood and stones, and was covered with a thick layer of moss, raised at the head in a slanting direction.