A few day later, quite early in the morning, shortly after he had taken Jadlowker his breakfast up the ladder, he heard a familiar ringing of bells, the bells of a sleigh. The sleigh stopped, the ringing trembled on a while longer, there was no doubt that the sleigh had stopped in front of his gate. He had a sense of foreboding, what was a sleigh doing in front of his house so early in the morning? He opened the shutters. In the sleigh sat the gendarme Piotrak and Inspector Eibenschütz. He had no time left to remove the ladder. He reflected rapidly that it would be better to run outside at once and welcome the terrifying guests. So he ran outside, calling as he ran, ‘What a surprise! What a surprise!’

The two of them climbed down and Eibenschütz said: ‘We wanted to pay you a short visit. It’s still too early, Litwak is still closed. We’ll only stay a quarter of an hour, if we may, just long enough to drink a schnapps and some tea. You’ve got that, eh?’ Kapturak no longer had any doubt that they had come because they suspected him of harbouring someone, or at least of hiding something suspicious. He said: ‘I’ll go and fetch the schnapps,’ and he left the room and quickly scrambled up the ladder. ‘They’re here,’ he called through the skylight. Going down he no longer skipped onto the individual rungs but slid down both struts of the ladder using his hands and thighs. He ran into the kitchen to fetch the schnapps. He re-entered the room cheerfully with the bottle and three glasses.

‘Do you have a cellar?’ asked the gendarme Piotrak.

‘Yes,’ said Kapturak, ‘but I haven’t fetched the schnapps from the cellar. It’s too cold in the cellar.’

‘Where did you fetch it from then?’ asked Piotrak.

‘From the attic,’ said Kapturak and smiled. It was as if he had made a joke and was apologizing at the same time for having made it.

The red-haired gendarme actually took it for a joke and laughed. Kapturak slapped his thigh and doubled up. He joined in the laughter, out of humility rather than conceit. The gendarme and the Inspector emptied their glasses and got up. ‘Thanks for the hospitality,’ they said as with one voice. They climbed back on the sleigh; Kapturak accompanied them. He noted that they glided off in the direction of Pozloty.