They were young for the most part,
but there was a sprinkling of older men among them; all were poorly,
but cleanly and decently dressed, and every man had a red
everlasting in his buttonhole. They stood as motionless as a troop
under arms, and apparently followed the orders of a gray-bearded man
who paced authoritatively up and down the silent line.
Paul was surprised, and asked the undertaker, who was waiting for
him beside the hearse, who these people were. He had not invited
anybody, and did not expect there would be a crowd of any kind,
although the Hamburg papers had devoted whole columns to the
accident.
The undertaker went over and addressed himself to the man who was
evidently the leader of the party. He informed Paul on his return:
"They are workingmen's societies from Hamburg and Altona. Their
leader says the deceased was not one of them, but they wanted to
show him this last mark of respect because he had been kind to them
during his lifetime."
CHAPTER XVI.
UDEN HORIZO.
On the first of May of the following year, which happened to fall on
a Sunday, a long procession of carriages drove along the road from
Harburg to Friesenmoor. They stopped at the entrance to the estate.
Before them rose a triumphal arch composed of branches of fir
garlanded with flowers, and adorned with flags and ribbons, and a
gold inscription on a blue ground, which ran as follows:
"A gracious Sovereign's due Reward
To fruitful Labour, honest Work.
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