'Wait, wait! Poor rabbit! I will release you!' and he hastily tried to cut the cords which bound the tender little paws. But his hands were tightly clutched, and a sharp laugh sounded in his ear.
'What do you mean by this, Johannes? Are you still such a baby? What must the doctor think of you?'
'What does the boy want? What brings him here?' asked the doctor in surprise.
'He wants to become a man, so I have brought him to you. But he is still young and childish. That is not the way to find what you are seeking, Johannes.'
'No, that is not the way,' said the doctor. 'Doctor, set the rabbit free!'
But Pluizer held him by both hands till he hurt him.
'What did we agree on, little man?' he whispered in his ear. 'To seek diligently, was it not? We are not on the sand-hills now, with Windekind and the dumb brutes. We are to be men--men. Do you understand? If you mean to remain a child, if you are not strong enough to help me, I will send you about your business and you may seek by yourself.'
Johannes was silent, and believed him. He would be strong. He shut his eyes so that he might not see the rabbit.
'My dear boy,' said the doctor, 'you seem still too tender-hearted to begin. To be sure--the first time it is horrible to look on. I myself, for some time, was most averse to it, and avoided it as far as possible. But it is indispensable; and you must remember we are men and not brutes, and the advancement of mankind and of science is of more importance than a few rabbits.'
'Do you hear?' said Pluizer,--'science and mankind.'
'The man of science,' the doctor went on, 'stands far above all other men. But he must make all the smaller feelings which are common to the vulgar give way to the one grand idea of science. Will you be such a man? Is that your vocation, my boy?'
Johannes hesitated; he did not know justly what a vocation might be--any more than the cockchafer.
'I want to find the book of which Wistik spoke,' said he.
The doctor looked surprised and asked, 'Wistik?'
Pluizer hastened to reply. 'He will, doctor; I know he really will. He desires to seek the highest wisdom and to understand the true nature of tilings.'
Johannes nodded, 'Yes!' So far as he understood the matter, that was what he meant.