This did for some time , as there were found a few reckless fellows , who wished to earn this good payment . But they never got it , for in the morning , they too had disappeared like the rest . So it had gone on for something like a whole year ; every night a sentinel had been placed beside the chest , either by compulsion or of his own free will , but not a single one of the sentinels was to be seen , either on the following day or any time thereafter . And so it had also gone with one , on the night before a certain day , when a merry young smith came wandering to the town where the king 's castle stood . It was the capital of the country , and people of every king came to it to get work . This smith , whose name was Christian , had come for that same purpose . There was no work for him in the place he belonged to , and he wanted now to seek a place in the capital . There he entered an inn where he sat down in the public room , and got something to eat . Some under-officers were sitting there , who were out to try to get some one enlisted to stand sentry . They had to go in this way , day after day , and hitherto they had always succeeded in finding one or other reckless fellow . But on this day they had , as yet , found no one . It was too well known how all the sentinels disappeared , who were set on that post , and all that they had got hold of had refused with thanks . These sat down beside Christian , and ordered drinks , and drank along with him . Now Christian was a merry fellow who liked good company ; he could both drink and sing , and talk and boast as well , when he got a little drop in his head . He told these under-officers that he was one of that kind of folk who never are afraid of anything . Then he was just the kind of man they liked , said they , and he might easily earn a good penny , before he was a day older , for the king paid a hundred dollars to anyone who would stand as sentinel in the church all night , beside his daughter 's chest . Christian was not afraid of that he was n't afraid of anything , so they drank another bottle of wine on this , and Christian went with them up to the colonel , where he was put into uniform with musket , and all the rest , and was then shut up in the church , to stand as sentinel that night . It was eight o'clock when he took up his post , and for the first hour he was quite proud of his courage ; during the second hour he was well pleased with the large reward that he would get , but in the third hour , when it was getting near eleven , the effects of the wine passed off , and he began to get uncomfortable , for he had heard about this post ; that no one had ever escapeed alive from it , so far as was known . But neither did anyone know what had become of all the sentinels . The thought of this ran in his head so much , after the wine was out of it , that he searched about everywhere for a way of escape , and finally , at eleven o'clock , he found a little postern in the steeple which was not locked , and out at this he crept , intending to run away .
At the same moment XXXXX he put his foot outside the church door , he saw standing before him a little man , who said , ` Good evening , Christian , where are you going ? '
about as before down during in near of so that