Name: Class:

The Interlopers
By Saki
1919

Hector Hugh Munro (1870-1916) wrote under the pen name Saki, but is also commonly known
as H. H. Munro. Saki is considered a master of dark wit and deep insight into human nature. An
interloper is someone who becomes involved in a situation in which they do not belong.

[1] In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on

the eastern spurs of the Karpathians, a man
stood one winter night watching and listening,
as though he waited for some beast of the
woods to come within the range of his vision,
and, later, of his rifle. But the game1 for
whose presence he kept so keen an outlook
was none that figured in the sportsman's
calendar as lawful and proper for the chase;
Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled the dark forest
in quest of a human enemy.
"Wooden Fence" by Arnoooo is licensed under
The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
extent and well stocked with game; the
narrow strip of precipitous2 woodland that lay on its outskirt was not remarkable for the game
it harboured3 or the shooting it afforded, but it was the most jealously guarded of all its
owner's territorial possessions. A famous law suit, in the days of his grandfather, had wrested it
from the illegal possession of a neighbouring family of petty landowners; the dispossessed
party had never acquiesced4 in the judgment of the Courts, and a long series of poaching
affrays and similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three
generations. The neighbour feud had grown into a personal one since Ulrich had come to be
head of his family; if there was a man in the world whom he detested and wished ill to it was
Georg Znaeym, the inheritor of the quarrel and the tireless game-snatcher and raider of the
disputed border-forest. The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the
personal ill-will of the two men had not stood in the way; as boys they had thirsted for one
another's blood, as men each prayed that misfortune might fall on the other, and this wind-

1. animals that are commonly hunted

2. Precipitous (adjective) very steep or dangerously high
3. to be the home or habitat of
4. Acquiesce (verb) to accept something

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 scourged winter night Ulrich had banded together his foresters to watch the dark forest, not in
quest of four-footed quarry, but to keep a look-out for the prowling thieves whom he suspected
of being afoot from across the land boundary. The roebuck, which usually kept in the sheltered
hollows during a storm-wind, were running like driven things to-night, and there was movement
and unrest among the creatures that were wont to sleep through the dark hours. Assuredly
there was a disturbing element in the forest, and Ulrich could guess the quarter from whence it
came.

He strayed away by himself from the watchers whom he had placed in ambush on the crest of
the hill, and wandered far down the steep slopes amid the wild tangle of undergrowth, peering
through the tree trunks and listening through the whistling and skirling of the wind and the
restless beating of the branches for sight and sound of the marauders.5 If only on this wild
night, in this dark, lone spot, he might come across Georg Znaeym, man to man, with none to
witness — that was the wish that was uppermost in his thoughts. And as he stepped round the
trunk of a huge beech he came face to face with the man he sought.

The two enemies stood glaring at one another for a long silent moment. Each had a rifle in his
hand, each had hate in his heart and murder uppermost in his mind. The chance had come to
give full play to the passions of a lifetime. But a man who has been brought up under the code
of a restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his neighbor in cold blood
and without word spoken, except for an offence against his hearth and honor. And before the
moment of hesitation had given way to action a deed of Nature's own violence overwhelmed
them both. A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their
heads, and ere6 they could leap aside a mass of falling beech tree had thundered down on
them. Ulrich von Gradwitz found himself stretched on the ground, one arm numb beneath him
and the other held almost as helplessly in a tight tangle of forked branches, while both legs
were pinned beneath the fallen mass. His heavy shooting-boots had saved his feet from being
crushed to pieces, but if his fractures were not as serious as they might have been, at least it
was evident that he could not move from his present position till some one came to release
him. The descending twig had slashed the skin of his face, and he had to wink away some drops
of blood from his eyelashes before he could take in a general view of the disaster. At his side, so
near that under ordinary circumstances he could almost have touched him, lay Georg Znaeym,
alive and struggling, but obviously as helplessly pinioned down as himself. All round them lay a
thick- strewn wreckage of splintered branches and broken twigs.

[5] Relief at being alive and exasperation at his captive plight brought a strange medley of pious
thank-offerings and sharp curses to Ulrich's lips. Georg, who was early blinded with the blood
which trickled across his eyes, stopped his struggling for a moment to listen, and then gave a
short, snarling laugh.

5. one who roams from place to place making attacks and raids
6. before

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 "So you're not killed, as you ought to be, but you're caught, anyway," he cried; "caught fast. Ho,
what a jest, Ulrich von Gradwitz snared in his stolen forest. There's real justice for you!"

And he laughed again, mockingly and savagely.

"I'm caught in my own forest-land," retorted Ulrich. "When my men come to release us you will
wish, perhaps, that you were in a better plight than caught poaching on a neighbor's land,
shame on you."

Georg was silent for a moment; then he answered quietly:

[10] "Are you sure that your men will find much to release? I have men, too, in the forest to-night,
close behind me, and THEY will be here first and do the releasing. When they drag me out from
under these cursed branches it won't need much clumsiness on their part to roll this mass of
trunk right over on the top of you. Your men will find you dead under a fallen beech tree. For
form's sake I shall send my condolences to your family."

"It is a useful hint," said Ulrich fiercely. "My men had orders to follow in ten minutes time, seven
of which must have gone by already, and when they get me out — I will remember the hint.
Only as you will have met your death poaching on my lands I don't think I can decently send any
message of condolence to your family."

"Good," snarled Georg, "good. We fight this quarrel out to the death, you and I and our
foresters, with no cursed interlopers7 to come between us. Death and damnation to you, Ulrich
von Gradwitz."

"The same to you, Georg Znaeym, forest-thief, game-snatcher."

Both men spoke with the bitterness of possible defeat before them, for each knew that it might
be long before his men would seek him out or find him; it was a bare matter of chance which
party would arrive first on the scene.

[15] Both had now given up the useless struggle to free themselves from the mass of wood that
held them down; Ulrich limited his endeavours8 to an effort to bring his one partially free arm
near enough to his outer coat-pocket to draw out his wine-flask. Even when he had
accomplished that operation it was long before he could manage the unscrewing of the stopper
or get any of the liquid down his throat. But what a Heaven-sent draught it seemed! It was an
open winter, and little snow had fallen as yet, hence the captives suffered less from the cold
than might have been the case at that season of the year; nevertheless, the wine was warming
and reviving to the wounded man, and he looked across with something like a throb of pity to

7. Interloper (noun) a person in a place or involved in a situation where they are not wanted
8. Endeavor (noun) an attempt to achieve a goal

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 where his enemy lay, just keeping the groans of pain and weariness from crossing his lips.

"Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?" asked Ulrich suddenly; "there is good wine
in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if tonight one of us
dies."

"No, I can scarcely see anything; there is so much blood caked round my eyes," said Georg, "and
in any case I don't drink wine with an enemy."

Ulrich was silent for a few minutes, and lay listening to the weary screeching of the wind. An
idea was slowly forming and growing in his brain, an idea that gained strength every time that
he looked across at the man who was fighting so grimly against pain and exhaustion. In the
pain and languor that Ulrich himself was feeling the old fierce hatred seemed to be dying down.

"Neighbour," he said presently, "do as you please if your men come first. It was a fair compact.
But as for me, I've changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be
helped, as though you were my guest. We have quarrelled like devils all our lives over this
stupid strip of forest, where the trees can't even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here
to-night thinking I've come to think we've been rather fools; there are better things in life than
getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbor, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I
— I will ask you to be my friend."

[20] Georg Znaeym was silent for so long that Ulrich thought, perhaps, he had fainted with the pain
of his injuries. Then he spoke slowly and in jerks.

"How the whole region would stare and gabble9 if we rode into the market-square together. No
one living can remember seeing a Znaeym and a von Gradwitz talking to one another in
friendship. And what peace there would be among the forester folk if we ended our feud to-
night. And if we choose to make peace among our people there is none other to interfere, no
interlopers from outside... You would come and keep the Sylvester night beneath my roof, and I
would come and feast on some high day at your castle... I would never fire a shot on your land,
save when you invited me as a guest; and you should come and shoot with me down in the
marshes where the wildfowl are. In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we
willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I
think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour. And you offered me your
wineflask... Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend."

For a space both men were silent, turning over in their minds the wonderful changes that this
dramatic reconciliation would bring about. In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in
fitful gusts through the naked branches and whistling round the tree-trunks, they lay and
waited for the help that would now bring release and succour10 to both parties. And each

9. talk rapidly and unintelligibly

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 prayed a private prayer that his men might be the first to arrive, so that he might be the first to
show honourable attention to the enemy that had become a friend.

Presently, as the wind dropped for a moment, Ulrich broke silence.

"Let's shout for help," he said; he said; "in this lull our voices may carry a little way."

[25] "They won't carry far through the trees and undergrowth," said Georg, "but we can try.
Together, then."

The two raised their voices in a prolonged hunting call.

"Together again," said Ulrich a few minutes later, after listening in vain for an answering halloo.

"I heard nothing but the pestilential11 wind," said Georg hoarsely.

There was silence again for some minutes, and then Ulrich gave a joyful cry.

[30] "I can see figures coming through the wood. They are following in the way I came down the
hillside."

Both men raised their voices in as loud a shout as they could muster.

"They hear us! They've stopped. Now they see us. They're running down the hill towards us,"
cried Ulrich.

"How many of them are there?" asked Georg.

"I can't see distinctly," said Ulrich; "nine or ten,"

[35] "Then they are yours," said Georg; "I had only seven out with me."

"They are making all the speed they can, brave lads," said Ulrich gladly.

"Are they your men?" asked Georg. "Are they your men?" he repeated impatiently as Ulrich did
not answer.

"No," said Ulrich with a laugh, the idiotic chattering laugh of a man unstrung with hideous fear.

"Who are they?" asked Georg quickly, straining his eyes to see what the other would gladly not

10. assistance or aid, particularly in times of distress

11. In this context, "pestilential" means very annoying or irritating.

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 have seen.

[40] "Wolves."

"The Interlopers" by Saki (1919) is in the public domain.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete
sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best summarizes a major theme of the text?
A. Good fences make good neighbors.
B. Some feuds just cannot be resolved and it is better to leave them be.
C. No one "owns" land because nature is indifferent to human ownership.
D. There is no pride in holding on to petty grudges.

2. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "the dispossessed party had never acquiesced in the judgment of the
Courts, and a long series of poaching affrays and similar scandals had
embittered the relationships between the families for three generations."
(Paragraph 2)
B. "And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action a deed of
Nature's own violence overwhelmed them both." (Paragraph 4)
C. "'When my men come to release us you will wish, perhaps, that you were
in a better plight than caught poaching on a neighbor's land, shame on
you.'" (Paragraph 8)
D. "'Lying here to-night thinking I've come to think we've been rather fools;
there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary
dispute.'" (Paragraph 19)

3. PART A: What does the term "affrays" most likely mean as used in paragraph 2?
A. misunderstandings
B. debates
C. disputes
D. divisions

4. PART B: Which of the following phrases from paragraph 2 best supports the answer
to Part A?
A. "the judgment of the Courts"
B. "similar scandals"
C. "for three generations"
D. "The neighbour feud"

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5. PART A: Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between
Ulrich and Georg?
A. Due to their families' longtime feud, they both consider each other
enemies and trespassers.
B. They were once friends, but after inheriting their families' squabbles they
have turned against one another.
C. Their families always thought each saw the other as an enemy, though
they both privately want to end the feud.
D. Though Georg accepts Ulrich is the forest's legal property owner, he
continues to poach anyway, making himself a nuisance for Ulrich.

6. PART B: Which of the following best explains how this relationship furthers the plot of
the story?
A. As the accepted property owner, Ulrich takes his men into the forest to
catch Georg poaching.
B. Their refusal to make amends over the property feud is what brings them
into the forest with the intent to kill the other.
C. Their refusal to make amends over the property feud is what prompts
their men to abandon them in the forest.
D. Both Georg and Ulrich wander away from their men with the intent of
meeting each other in the forest to discuss peace between them.

7. How does paragraph 19 affect the development of the story?

A. Georg begs Ulrich to spare his life and offers for the two of them to
become friends rather than stay enemies.
B. Ulrich tries to save his life, should Georg's men arrive first, by pretending
he will spare Georg when his men arrive.
C. Ulrich sets a trap for Georg by pretending to make peace with him and
end their feud.
D. Ulrich admits to a changing point of view and a desire to make peace
rather than feud with Georg.

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8. What effect does the author's choice of resolution have on the passage's overall
meaning?

9. How does the natural setting contribute to the meaning of the story?

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be
prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. An interloper is someone who becomes involved in a situation in which they do not

belong. Who are the real interlopers in this story? Explain your answer.

2. Considering the circumstances, why do you think Ulrich asks Georg to be his friend?

3. Some people say that there is a fine line between friendship and enmity. Do you
agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your answer.

4. In the context of this story, what does it mean to be a friend?

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