Similar acts were performed in the other rooms, and it gave the survivors a
little more room to stretch their limbs. This frightful condition lasted
six days and six nights, during which time no food was given to them. The
corpses in the yard were piled up so high that the pile reached up to the
windows. It was 48 hours since Schehl had eaten the last of the six pieces
of bread, and he was so tortured by hunger that he lost all courage, when
at 10 o'clock in the forenoon a Russian officer entered and in German
ordered the prisoners to get ready within an hour for roll call in the
court yard, because the interimistic commanding officer of Moscow, Colonel
Orlowski, was to review them. Immediately before this took place, the
prisoners had held a counsel among themselves whether it would be wise to
offer themselves for Russian military service in order to escape the
imminent danger of starving to death. When that officer so unexpectedly had
entered, Schehl, although the youngest--he was only 15 years of age--but
relatively the strongest, because he was the last of them who had had a
little to eat, rose with difficulty from his straw bed and made the offer,
saying that they were at present very weak and sick from hunger, but that
they would soon regain their strength if they were given something to eat.
The officer in a sarcastic and rough manner replied: "His Majesty our
glorious Emperor, Alexander, has soldiers enough and does not need you
dogs.
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