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CROCKETT Author or "thb gray mai^' " tOCHIKVAR " BTO. ^ TT/TJy ILLVSTBATIONS Bf FRANK RICHARDS §1 u t» c a; a- Q •< K O D » HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS N E W , Y O R K AND L OTf I^ O li " TORONTO : THE OOPP, OLABK COMPLY, LDflTSD / 1899 i y ' > V Oonniglit, UOS, by Hurm ft BrtmdMoonliiiKtoAetol the FiuUMMiit of OuiMla, in tha ywr on* ^boiHUMl tight hundnd mmI nlMty-ti^t, by HAim * Bmobu, ia ttMOOMol tha HinliUroCAgiloaltara. ILLtHSTEATTONB nrc x> "SVT JOBIAN AND I DBOVB TBBM STBABILT BAdK" A«I|Nqi(«m "DUKR OABnaB PAUSED BEFOBB HIH" Faekltp. 10 "«HB LTTTLB MAID CAME NEARER TO THE BED" . ." 18 "ONE HAND WAS STBOKINa THE 8IDB OF HIS head" . . . ^ (i og "'HUGO OOTTFBIED, MAKE TOUB HEAD BBADT FOB THE 8TBIKEB'" , _ « jjq "I SAW MISTBE88 TSOLINDB LISTENma" . . . . " 66 "SHE WENT INTO THE SITTINO-BOOM " " 84 ' "l SAW AEB STANDING FBNSITELT BY THE WIN- DOW " « j^ "SHE POT OtJT BOTH HANDS TO HEIiBNB" .... " 108 "' I COMMIT YOU TO HIM ' " «< Uj "WE COULD ONLY BEE THE WOLFSBERG ITSELF" . " 128 "THE BASOAL HAD BEEN OBAWLINO TO HELENE'B »X»'" " 188 "A* THE CLIFF EDGE HE LEAFED HIGH INTO TH» ^" " 164 " 'THE PBINOESS LOTES YOU I' HE SAID, AT LAST" " 182 "SHE WALKED ON, PLUCKING AT A MARGUEBITB" " IQO "'TBEACHEBYl' CRIED VON DB88AUBB AND I TO- GETHEB" i< 2ti "COMFORTABLY ASWING WBBE OUB LATE FOES" . " 880 ' "' ^^J^^^ *?' ^ yiGUBB DARK AaATTTff r T H E ■"" " 840 / AMNJ or THE OERTBB I BEHELD— HELBNE" . . " 980 / ^ /"-fe*d^'jx>'*',.-^'--^^"i ▼t ILLUSTRATIONS "HBB lilPfl OPEN, SQUARBC WITH HORKOB" . . . rae(mep. 270 " FACING EACH OTHER IK A POSITION OF MUTUAL DEFIANCE " " 2W "AND IN THK MANNER DIED GOTTFRIED GOTT- FRIED" • • " 810 "'IT IB TIMET HE BAID, CURTLT" " 888 " ' I CLAIM HELBNE TO BE MY ■Wipe r " " 846 "FT WAS A STRANGE MARRIAGE NIGHT, THIS OF . OURS" " 864 " ' I HATE SAVED MY SOUL, HUGO GOTTFRIED I' SHE OBIBD" " CONTENTS I. Duke Casdob Ridbs La.tb j II. Thr Littlb Platkatb Comes Home 9 in. The Red Axe of the Wolfmabk 15 IV. The Prince8s Helens 21 V. The Blood-houndb are Fed 28 VI. Duke Casdob's Fahiliab 34 Vn. I Become a Tkaitor 4J Vm At the Bab o» the White Wolf 43 IX. A Hero Carries Water in the Suk . .... 66 X. The Lubbeb Fiend 02 XL The Vision in the Cbtbtal gg Xn. Etes of Emebald ! 78 Xin. Christian's Elsa 87 XIV. 81B Amobous is Pleased with Himbblf . ... 9a XV. The Littlb Playmate Settles Accounts ... 100 XVI. Two Women— AND a Man * ! . 107 XVII. The Red Axe is Left Alone 113 XVm. The Pbime of the Mobnino 119 XIX. Wendibh Wit 126 XX. The Eabth-dwellbbs of No Man's La«d . . . lai XXI. I Stand Sbntbt . 188 XXIL Helene Hates Me .142 XXin. Hugo of the Bboadaxb 148 XXIV. The Sortie 154 ^^^SV7 MBfS HoBrKuHB^s Last Raot . . ^ - - j^^ ^VI- Pbinob Jehu Millbr'sJ^ jg^j XXVn. Ahothhb Man's Coat O''. ...... 173 CONTENTS \ XXVIII. Tot Prinob'b CoJflucT •.• lou , XXIX. LoVbb Mb— Lovbs Mb Not \ 187 XXX. iNsW A»D Challbw^d V^ XXXI. I Find a. Second . W' XXXII. Thb Wolvbs of the Ma»k ^^ XXXm. The Flight of the Ltttm Playmate . . . 818 •XXXIV. The Golden JTe(6klace 223 \ XXXV. The Decent B^vitob 28ft. XXXVI. Ysolinde's Fa^well . . • XXXVII. Captain Karl Milleb's Son. XXXVIII. The Black Rxdees **" XXXIX. The Flag on the Red Towbb 261 XL. The Trial /op the Witch . . XLI. The GABHteT of the Red Tower XLII. Princess /Playmate . .:, • • XLIII. The Trial for yTrrcHCBAFT ..../.•• 280 XLIV. Sentence of Death / ... 287 XLV. The Message from the White Gat XLVl. A Woman Scorned .' / ... 297 XLVII. The Red Axe Dies Btandinq Up ./.... 806 XLVIII. Hdgo Gottfried, Red Axe of the wolfmabk 818 XLIX. The Serpent's Strife ..../..•• 820 L. The Dungeon of the Wolfsber« .... 826 LI. The Night Before the Morn . / 886 LII. The Headsman's Right • • / **® LIII. The Lubbeb Fiend's Rbtubn /. 848 LIV. The Crowning of Duke Oth* .868 LV. The Lady Ysolindb Saves Her Soul ... 860 LVI. Helena, PaiHCBfls of Plabbwiburo .... 866 THE KED AXE CHAPTER I DXJKE CA8IMIE BIDES LA.TB Weil do I, Hugo Gottfried, remember the night of snow and moonlight when first they brought the Little Play- mate home. I had been sleeping— a sturdy, well-grown fellow I, ten years or so as to my age— in a stomacher of blanket and a bed-gown my mother had made me before she died at the beginning of the cold weather. Sudden- ly something awoke me out of my sleep. So, all in the sharp chill of the night, I got out of my bed, sitting on the edge with my legs dangling, and looked curiously at the bright streams of moonlight which crossed the wood- en floor of my garret. I thought if only I could swim BtraightNip one of them, as the motes did in the sun- shine, I shaiild be sure to come in time to the place wh^re my mother was— the place where all the pretty white things canae from— the sunshine, the moonshine, the starshine, and the snow. And there would be children to play with up there —hundreds of children like myself, and all close at hand. I should not any longer have to sit up aloft in ^ed Tower with nonff t© sprat to me-— alT alone^a" ^top of a wall— just because I had a crtmson patch 1ii§n on my blue-corded blouse, on my little white shirt. / THE RED AXE embroidered in red wool on each of my warm winter wristlets, and staring out from the front of both my stockings. It was a pretty enongh pattern, too. Yet when- ever one of the children I so much longed to play with down on the pftved roadway beneath our tower caught • sight of it he rose instantly out of the dust and hurled oaths and ill-words at me — aye, and oftentimes other missiles that hurt eveil wowe — at a little lonely boy who was breaking his heart with loving him up there on the tower. " Come down and be killed, foul brood of the Bed Axe !" the children cried. And with that they ran as near as they dared, and spat on^the wall of our house, or at least on the little wooden panel which opened in- ward in the great trebly spiked iron door of the Duke's court-yard. But this night of the first home-coming of the tit- tle Playmate I awoke crying and fearful in the dead vast of the night, when all the other children who would not speak to me were asleep. Then pulling on my comfort- able shoes of woollen list (for my father gave me all things to make me warm, thinking me delicate of body), and drawing the many-patched coverlet of the bed about* me, I clambered up the stone stairway to the very top of the tower in which 1 slept. The moon was broad, like one of the shields in the great hall, whither I we/t often when the great Duke was not at home, and when old Hanne would be busy cleaning the pavement and scrub- bing viciously at the armor of the iron knights who stood on pedestals round about. " One day I shall be a man-at-arms, too,'* I said once to Hanne, "and ride a-foraying with Duke Ironteeth." But old Hanne only shook her head and answered: "111 foraying shalt thou make, little shrimp. Sucli^ work as thine is not done on horseback — keep wide from me, toadchen, touch me not !" DUKE CASIMIR BIDES LATE For even old Hanne flouted me and would not let me approach her too closely, all because once I had asked her what my father did to witches, and if she were a w?tch that shfe crossed herself and trembled whenever she passed hfife in the court-yard. , Now, having little else to do, I loved to look down from the top of the tower at all times. But never more so than when there was snow on the ground, for then tfe City of Thorn i^y apparent beneath me, all spread out like a painted picture,, with its white and red roofs and white houses bright in the moonlight— so near that it seemed as though I could pat every child lying asleep m its little bed, and scrape away»the snow with my fin- gers from every red tile off which the house:fires had not already melted it. The town of Thorn was the chief place of arms, and high capital city of all the Wolfmark. It was a thriving place, too, humming with burghers and trades and guilds when our great Duke Casimir would let them alone; per- ilous, often also, with pikes and discontents when he swooped from the tall over-frowning Castle of the Wolfs- berg upon their booths and.guilderies— "to scotch the pride of rascaldom," as he tbld them when they com- plained. In these days my father was little at home his business keeping him abroad all the day about the castle-yard, at secret examinations in the Hall of Judg- ment, or in mysterious vaults in Ihe deepest parts of the castle, where the walls are eighteen feet thick, and from which not a groan can penetrate to the outside while the Duke Casimir's judgment was being done upon the poor bodies and souls of men and women his prisoners. In the court-yard, too, the dogs, fierce russet-tan blood- $°-«ndB» ravinedjOT jt^^^^^ fearsome food. An44n theae - days there was plenty of it, too, so that they were yelliX and clamoring all day, and most of the night, for that which It made me sweat to think of. And beneath the 8 THE RED AXE rebellions city cowered and m^ttered, while the bnrghera and their wives shivered in their beds as the howling of Duke Casimir's blood-hounds came fitfully down the wind, and Duke Oasimir's guards clashed arms under their windows. So this night I looked down contentedly enough from my perched eyrie on the top of the Red Tower. It had been si]|Owing a little earlier in the evening, and the brief blast had swept the sky clean, so that even the brightest stars seemed sunken and waterlogged in the white floods of moonlight. Under my hand lay the city. Even the feet of the watch made no clatter on the pavements. The fresh-fallen snow masked the sound. The kennels of the blood-hounds were silent, for their dreadful tenants were abroad that night on the Duke's work. ^ Yet, sitting up there on the Wolf sberg, it seemed to me that I could distinguish a muttering as of voices full* of hate, like men talking low on their beds the secret things of evil and treason. I discerned discontent and rebellion rumbling and brooding over the city that clear, keen night of early winter. Then, when after a while I turned from the crowded roofs and looked down upon the gray, far-spreading plain of the Wolfmark, to the east I saw that which appeared like winking sparks of light moving among the black clumps of copse and woodland which fringed the river. These wimpled and scattered, and presently grew bright- er. A long howl, like that of a lonely wolf on the waste when he calls to his kindred to tell him their where- abouts, came faintly up to my ears. A hound gave tongue responsively among the heaped mews and doggeries beneath the ramparts. Lights shone in windows athwart the city. Red nightcaps were thntsi ontof^ hastily opened casements. The Duke's standing guard clamored with their spear - butts on the uneven pavements, crying up and down the streets : " To DUKE CASIMIR RIDES LATE yonr kennels, deyirs brats, Duke O^Munir comes riding home!" « Then I tell yon my small heart beat furiously. For I knew that il I only kept quiet I should see that which I had never yet seen — the home-coming of our famous foraying Duke. I had, indeed, seen Duke Casimir often enough in the castle, or striding across the court-yard to speak to my father, for whom he had ever a remarkable affection. He was a tall, swart, black-a-vised man, with a huge hairy mole on his cheek, and long dog-teeth which showed at the sides of his mouth when he smiled, almost as pleasantly as those of a she-wolf looking out of her den at the huntei^s. But I had never seen the Duke of all the Wolfmark come riding home ere daybreak, laden with the plunder of captured castles and the rout of deforced cities. For at such times my father would carefully lock the door on me, and confine me to my little sleeping-chamber— from whence I could see nothing but the square of sm^th pavement on which the children chalked theic/^mes, and from which they cried naughtily up at mejthe poor hermit of the Red Tower. But this night my father would be with the Duke, and I should see all. For high - or low there was none in the empty Bed Tower to hinder or forbid. As I waited, thrilling with expectation, I heard be- neath me the quickening pulse-beat of the town. The watch hurried here and there, hectoring, threatening, and commanding. But, in spite of all, men gathered as soon as their backs were turned in the alleys and street openings. Clusters of heads showed black fbr a moment in some darksome entry, cried "U-g-g-hh !"with a hate- ful sound, and vanished ere the steel-clad veterans of the Dflke^ pafd^ conld come npn tHm. It w^ hide-and-seek which I used to pla|j||b;h Boldo, my b hound puppy, among the dusty wlBPaf the lumber^ ^l^h lod- im ^ THE RED AXE over the Hall of Judgment, before my father took him back to the kennels for biting Christian's Elsa, a child who lived in;the lower Guard opposite to the Red Tower. But this was a stranger hide-and-seek than mine and Boldo's had been. For I saw one of the men who cried hatefully to the guard stumble on the slippery ice; and lo I or ever he had time to cry out or gather himself up, ther men-at-arms were upon him. I saw the glitter of stabbing steel and heard the sickening sound of blows stricken silently in anger, Then the soldiers took the man up by head and heels carelessly, jesting as they went. And I shuddered, for I knew that they were bringing him to the horrible long iheds by the Red Tower through which the wind whistled. But in the moonlight the patch whi^ch was left on the snow was black, not red. After this the crooked -alleys were kept clearer,^ and I could see down the long High Street of Thorn right to the Weiss Thor and the snow-whitened piniAcles of the Palace,, out of which Duke Casimirhad for the time be- ing frightened Bishop Peter. Black stood the Gate Port against the moonlight and the snow when I first looked at it. A moment after it had opened, and a hundred lights came ^crowding' through, like sheep through an entry on their way to the shambles— which doubtless is their Hall of Judgment, where there waits for them the Bed Axe of a lowlier degree. The lights, I^y, came t^hronging through, the gate. For though it ma moonlight, the Duke Casiroir loved to come home amid the red flame of torches', the trail of bitumipous reek, and with a dashing train of riders clat- tering up to the Wolfsberg behind him, through the 'Streets of Thorn, lying black and cowed under the shadows of its thousand gables. So the procession undulated towards me^ turbjd and tmnultnous.. First a reckless pour of riders urging wearied horses, their sides white -flecked above with 8 - * DUKE qASIMIR RIDES LATE blown foam, and dark beneath with rowelledi blood. Many of the horsemen carried marks upon them which showed that all had not been plunder and pleasuring upon their foray. For there were white napkins, and napkins that had once been white, tied across many brows. Helmets swung clanking like iron pipkins from saddle-bows, and men rode wearily with their arms in slings, drooping haggard faces upon theiy chests. But all passed rapidly enough up the steep street, and tum- bled with noise and shouting, helter-skelter into the great court-yard beneath me as I watched, secure as God in heaven, from my perch on the Red Tower|» Then came the captives, some riding horses bare- backed, or held in place before black-bearded riders — women mostly these last, with faces white-set arid strange pf eye, or all beblubbered with weeping. Then came a man or two also on horseback, old and reverend. After them a draggled rabble pf lads and half -grown girls, bound together with ropes and kept at a dog's trot by the pricking spears of the men-at-arms behind, who thought it a jest to sink a spear point-dee^ in the flesh of a man's back — " drawing the claret wine " they called it. i'oT these riders pf Duke Casimir were every one jolly companions, and must have their merry jest. After the captives had gone past — and sorry I was for them— the body-guard of Duke Casimir dame riding stead- ily and gallantly, all gentlemen of the Mark, with their sons and squires, landed men, towered men, free Junkers, serving the Duke for loyalty and not servitude, though ever "living by the saddle"— as, indeed, most of the Ritterdom and gentry of the Mark had done for genj- erations. Then behind them came Duke Casimir himself. The stland blood ^he. had acquired from hirPolisfr showed as he rode gloomily apart, thoughtful, solitary, behind the squared shoulders of his knights. After him 4 ■ • 7 THE RED AXE another sqoadron of ridei-a in ghastly armor of black-and- white with torches in their hand and grinning skulls !fT *if 'f/^«^^«' «io«ed in the array. The great gate of the Wolfsbergrwas oppn now, and, leaving behind h^m the hushed and darkened town, the master rode into hfii ' castle. The Wolf was in his lair. ^But in the' streets' many a burgher's wife trembled on h^r bed, while lier goodm^nltfjeered cautiously over the leads by the side of a gargoyleUnd fancied that already he heard the clamor ot the partisans thundering at his door with the Duke's mvitation.to meet him in the Hall of Judgment ^... / / CHAPTER n THE LITTLE PLAYMATE 00ME8 HOKE But there was to be "no SeBsion in the Hall of Judg- ment that night. Thfr great court-yard, roofed with the vadlt of stars and lit by the moon, was to see all done that remained to be done. The torches were planted in tHe iron "hold -fasts round about. The plunder of the captured towns and castles was piled for distribution on the morrow, and no man dared keep back so much as a Brandenborg broad-piece or a handful of Bohemian gul- , den. For the fear of the Duke and the Duke's dog-ken- nels was upon every stout fighting-kerl. They minded the fate of Hans Pulitz, who had kept back a belt of gold, and had gotten himself flung by the heels with no more than the stolen belt upon him, into the kennels where the Duke's blood-hounds howled and clambered with their fore-feet on the black-spattered barriers. And I ii^^y say that the belt of gold was all that was ever seen again of the poor rascal. Hans Pulitz— who had hoped for so many riotous evenings among the Fat Pigs of Thorn and so many draughts of the slippery wine of the Rheingau careering down the poor thirsty throat of him. But, alas for Hans Pulitz 1 the end of all imagining was no more than five minutes of snapping, snarling, horri- ble Pandemonium in the kennels of the Wolfsberg, and the scored gold chaiu on the ground was all that remain- ed to tell his tale. Verily, there were few Achanp in )uke Oasimir's camp. ^ ad it is small wonder after this, that soamtlmd sparse 9 THE RED AXE *t> i were the jests played on the grim master of the Wolfs- berg, or that the bay of a blood-hound tracking on the ' downs frightened the most stout-hearted rider in all that retinue of dare-devils. Going to the side of the Red Tower, which looked tow- ards the court-yard, I saw the whole array come in. I watch- ed the prisoners unceremoniously dismounted and hud- dled together against the coming of the Duke^»'.There was but one mau among them who stood erect. The torch-light played on his face, which was sometimes bent down to a little child in his arms, so that I saw him well. He looked not at all upon the rude men-at-arms who pushed and bullied about him, but continued tenderly to hush his charge, as if he had been a nurse in a babe- chamber under the leads, with silence in all the house below. ' • It pleased me to see the man, for all my life I had loved children. And yet at ten years of age I had never so much as touched one — no, nor spoken even, only looked down on those that hated me aud spat on the very tower wherein I dwelt. But nevertheless I loved them and yearned to tell theni so, ejen when they mock- ed me. So I watched this little one in the man's arms. Then came the Duke along tl>e line, and behind him, like the Shadow of Death, paced my father Gottfried Gottfried, habited all in red from neck to heel, and car- rying for his badge of office as Hereditary Justicer to the Dukes of the Wolfmark that famous red-handled, red- bladed axe, the gleaming white of whose deadly edge had never been wet save with the blood of men and women. The guard pushed the captives rudely into line as the Duke Casimir strode along the front. The women he passed without a sign or 96 much as a look. They were kept for another day. Bnt tTie men were judged sharp and sudden, as the Duke in his black armor passed along, the Wolfs- ing on the ' in all that ooked tow- in. I watch- i and hud- te^|r'. There rect. The (times bent V him well, -arms who d tenderly in a babe- the house (' k' ^■^-: — t \ •^vS3 THE LITTLE PLAYMATE COMES HOME and that scarlet Shadow of Death with the broad are over his shoulder paced noiselessly behiad him. For as each man looked into the eyes of Casimir of the Wolfsberg he read his doom. The Duke turned his wrist sharply down, whereupon the attendant sprites of the Red Shadow seized the man and rent his garment down from his neck — or the hand pointed up, and then the man set his hand to his heart and threw his head back in a long sigh of relief. It came the turn of the man who carried the babe. Duke Casimir paused before him, scowling gloomily at him. " Ha, Lord Prince of so great a province, you will not set yourself up any more haughtily. You will quibble no longer concerning tithes and toils with Casimir of the Wolfmark." And the Duke lifted his liand and smote the man on the cheek with his open hand. Yet the captive only hushed th? .child that wailed aloud to see her guardian smitten. He looked Duke Casimir steadfastly in the eyes and spoke no word. " Great (Jod, man, have you nothing to say to me ere you die ?" cried Duke Casimir, choked with hot, sudden anger to be so crossed. The elder man gazed steadily at his captor. " God will judge betwixt me, a man about to die, and you, Casimir of the Wolfmark," he said at last, very slowly— "by the eyes of this little mai^ He will judge \" "Like enough,*' cried Casimir, sneeringly. "Bishop Peter hath told me as much. But then God's payments are long deferred, and, so far as I can see, I can take Him into my own hand. And your little maid— pah 1 ■"^"^^gy J ^y JgE ^QJ^ J^OB ^^ J^he mothflr, T, in jnnyL„ idrn, will take the daughter and make her a titbit for the teeth of my blood-hounds." 11 IT THE RED AXE The man answered not again, bnt only hushed and fondled the little one. Duke Casimir turned quickly to my father, showing his long teeth like a snarling dog : "Take the child," he said, "and cast her, into the kennels before the man's eyes, that he may learn before he dies to dread more than Qod's Judgment Seat the vengeance of Duke Casimir 1" Then all the men-at-arms turned away, heart-sick at the horror. But the man with the child never blanched. High perched on the top tower, I also heard the words and loved the maid. And they tell me (though I do not remember it) that I cried down from the leads of the Red Tower : " My father, save the little maid and give her to me — or else I, Hugo Gottfried, will cast myself down on the stones at yonr feet 1" At which all the men looked up and saw me in white, a small, lonely figure, with my legs hanging over the top of the wall. "Go back \" my father shouted. "Go back, Hugo I Tis iny only son — my successor — the fifteenth of our line, my lord \" he said to the Duke in excuse. But I cried all the more : " Save the maid's life, or I will fling myself headlong. By Jesu-Mary, I swear it I" For I thought that was the name of one great saint. Then my father, who ever doted on me, bent his knee before his master : "A boon I" he cried, "my first and last, Duke Oasimir — this maid's life for my son I" But the Duke hung on the request a long, doubtful moment. " Gottfried Gottfried," he said, even reproachfully, " this is not well done of you, to make me go back on my word." _^ ___[ * "Take the man's life," said my father — ''take the man's life for the child's and the fulfilling of your word. Mid by the Bword of St. Peter I will smite my best 1" 1» THE LITTLE PLAYMATE COMES HOME " Aye/' said the man with the babe, ** even so do, as the Red Axe says. Save the young child, bnt bid him smite hard at this abased neck. Ye have taken all, Dnke Gasimir, take my life. But save the young child alive V So, without further word or question, they did so, and the man who had carried the child kissed her once and separated gently the baby hands that clung about his neck. Then he handed her to my father. . " Be gracious to Helene," he said ; '* she was ever a sweet babe." Now by this time I was down hammering on the ^oor of the Bed Tower, which had been locked on the outiftide. Presently some one turned the key, and so soon as I got among the men I darted between their legs. " Give me the babe 1" I cried ; ** the babe is mine ; the Duke himself hath said it." And my father gave her to me, crying as if her heart would break. Nevertheless she clung to me, perhaps because I was nearer her own age. Then the dismal procession of the condemned passed us, followed by my father, who strode in front with his axe over his shoulder, and the laughing and jesting men- at-arms bringing up the rear. As I stood a little aside for them to pass, the hand of the man fell on my head and rested there a moment. "God's blessing on you, little lad !" he said. " Cherish the-babe yon have saved, and, as sure as that I am now about to die, one day yon shall be repaid." And he stooped and kissed the little maid before he went on with the others to the place of slaughter. Then I hurried within, so that I might not hear the dull thud of the Bed Axe on the block nor the inhuman bowlings of the d ogs in the kennels afterw a rds. When my father came home an hour later, before everT he took off his costume of red, he came up to our cham- ber and looked long at the little maid as she lay asleep. 18 THE RED AXE r- Then he gazed at me, who watched him from under my hda and from behind the shadows of the bedclothes. But his^quick eye caught the^leam of light in mine. ' " You are a^ake, boy !" he said, somewhat sternly. I nodded up to him without speaking. "What would you. with the little maid r he safd. " Do yoq know that you and she together came very near losing me my favor with the Duke^and it might be my • life also, both at one time to-night?" I put my hand on the maiden's head where it lay on the pillow by me. "She is my little wife I" I said. ".The Duke gave ^- her to me out in the court-yard there !" And this is the whole tale of how the Little Playmate came to dwell with us in the Eed Tower. CHAPTER m THE BED AXE OF THE WOLPMAEK Just as clearly do I remember the next morning. The Little Playmate lay by me on my bed, wrapped in one of my childish night-gowns—which old Hanne had sought out for her the night Jbefore. It was a brisk, chill, nippy .daybreak, and I had piled most of the bedclothes upon' her. I lay at the nether side clipped tight in my single brown blanket. It was perishing cold. Out of the heaped coverings I saw presently a pair of eyes, great and dark, regarding me. Then a little voice spoke, sweetly and clearly, but yet strangely sounding to me who had never before heard a babe speak. "I want my father-tell him to sendGrete, my maid, to attend on me, and then to come himself to sit by the . bed and ampse me I" : Alas ! hej- father— well I knew what had come to him —that whidh in the mercy of the Duke Casimir and in the crownirig mercy of the Eed Axe, I had seen come to so many. The dogs did not howl at «11 that morning They, too, wiere tired with the hunting and sated with the quarry. \ All the sanie, I tried to answer my companion. "Little Mfidr said I, "let me be your maid and your father. I will gladly, get you all you want. But your good fat% ias^fofi^^on^irweary jonns^ aiidlt wfll^ be long ere heca^ hope to return.'' " Well," she said,. " send lazy Grete, then. I will scold ^ 15 THE RED MKE I her soundly for not bringing the Bop of hot milk-and- bread, which, indeed, is not food for a lady of my age. Bat my father insists upon it.* He is dreadfully ob- stinate.'' Now there was no one but our old deaf Hanne in the kitchen of the Red Tower. She stayed only for cook- ing and keeping the house clean.^ My. father never paid her wages, and she never asked any. She did her work and took that which she needed out of the household purse without check or question. It was long before I guessed that Hanne also owed her life to my father's care. I had noticed, indeed, when he had upon him the red headman's dress, which fitted him like a flame climb- ing up a tall back log on the winter's fire, that old Hanne trembled from head to foot and shrank away into her den under the stairs.. Many a time have I seen her peep- ing round the corner of the kitohen-dobr and tottering back wh«fti she heard him come down the stair from, the garret. And I gnessed so well the reason of her fear that I used to cry to her ; " Come out, good Hanne ; the Red Axe is gone." Then would she run, pattering like a scared rabbit over the uneven floor, to thfr window, and watch my father stalking, grim and tall, across the open spaces of the yard towards the Judgment Hall of Duke Casimir, the men-at-arms avoiding him with deft reverence. For though they hated him almost as much as did the fat burghers, they feared him, too. And that because Gottfried Gottfried was deep in the confidence of the Duke ; and, besides, was no man to stand in the ill-graces of when one lived within the walk of the Wolfsberg. So this morning, it Was to the ancient Hanne that I Tfttt down and ^oip^ h» bewy aa qu i ckl y as she might. she must bring muk and bread to the little one. ** But," said she, " there is none save that which is to be sodden for your father's breakfast and your own." 16 *. THE RED AXE OF THE WOLFMARK Dur own. "Do as you are bid, bad Hanne !" cried I, being, like jHolitary children, quickly made angry, "or I will tell m^ father to drive you before him when next he goes forth clad in red to the Hall of Justice.'* At which the poor old Woman gave vent to a sharp, screechy cry and caught at her skinny throat with twitch- ing, bony fingers. " Oh, but you know not what you say, cruel boy !" she gasped. " For the love of God, speak not such words in the house of the Red Axe 1" But, like an ill-governed child, I was cruel because I knew my power, and so made sure that Hanne would do what I asked. " Well, then, bring the sop quickly," said I, " or by Peter-and-Paul I will speak to my father. He and I can I well be doing with beaten cakes made crisp on the iron [girdle. In these you have great skill." This last I said to cheer her, for she loved compliments )n her cooking. Though, str^ge to tell, I never saw [her eat anything herself all the years she remained in [onr house. When I was gone up-stairs again I looked about for the [Little Playmate. She was not to be seen anywhere. There Was only a tiny cosey-hole down among the blank- ets, which was yet warm when I thrust my hand within it. But it was empty and the top a little fallen in, as if the occupant had set her knee on it when she crawled [out. A baby stocking lay outsid^it on the floor. " Little maid 1" I cried, " where are you ?" But I heard nothing except a hissing up on the roof, l^d then a great slithering rumble down below, which [boomed like the distant' cannons the Margraf sent to [besiege us. I listened and shuddered ; but it was only 16 snow from the tall roof of the Red Tower #fiicli h^' Islipped off and fallen to the ground. Then I had a vision [of a slender little figure clambering on the leads and the » 17 TEyE RED AXE treacherons snow striking her out into the air, and then -^he cruel stones of the pavemerit. " Little maid, little maid 1" I cried out again, begin- ning to weep myself for pity at my thought,*" where are you ? Speak to me. You are my playmdt^' , Then I' ran to the roof, and, though they«J|Mies chilled me to the bone and the frost-bitten iroA hasps of the fastenings burned me like fire, I opened tt© trap-door and looked out. There above me was the crow-stepped gable of the Red Tower, with the axe set on th^ pinnacle rustily bright in the coming light of the morning — all swept cleail of snow. But no little maid. I ran to the verge and pe<^^ down. I saw a great heap of frozen snow fallen on ^' edge and partly canted over, h^lf, covering a deep red stain which was turning black and l]U>rrid in the daylight. But no little maid. Then I ran all ov6r the house calling to her, but could not find her anywhere. I was just beginning to bethiAk me that she might b6 a fairy child, one that ■came at night and vanished like the dream gold which is forever turning to withered leaves in the morning. At last I bethought me of my father's room, where even I, his son, had never been at night, and indeed but seldom in the day. For it was the Hereditary Jnsticer's fancy to lodge himself in the high garret which ran right across the t6p of the Red Tower, and was entered only by a lit- tle ladder from the first turning of the same staircase by which I had run out upon the leads. I went to the bottom of the garret tnnq)ifce. The lit- tle barred door stood open, and I heard — I was sure that I heard — light, irregularly pattering footsteps moving about above. It gave me strange shakings of my heart only to listen. iPor, though I was nowi^ afraid of my father myself , yet since I had never seen any man, woman, or child (save the Duke only) who did not quail at his approach, &ata*. he air, and then nt again, begin- ght,«" where are bieygWies chilled oft hasps of the id tn© trap-door he crow-stepped b on th^ pinnacle he morning — all 1. . I saw a great id partly canted lich was turning no little maid. ;o her. But could ining to bethlAk le that ■came at which is forever ling. At last I lere even I, his d but seldom iu sticer's fancy to ran right across ed only by a lit- ame staircase by npike. The lit- -I was sure that >otsteps moving rt only to listen. r father myself, voman, or child At his approach, .-*■> I r » THE RED AXE OF THE WOLFMARK it was a curious feeling to think of the lonely little child skipping about up there, where abode the axe and the block— the axe which had done, I knew so well what, to her father only the night before. -, . So I mustered all my courage— not from any fear of Gottfried Gottfried, but rather from the uncertainty of ■ what I should see, and quickly mounted the stair. I shall never forget what I saw as I stood with my feet on the rickety hand-rail of the ladder. The long dim garret was already half-lighted by the coming day. Red cloaks swung and flapped like vast, deadly, winged bats from the rafters, and reached almost to the ground. There/twws no ^lass in any of the windows of the garret, for my father minded neither heat nor cold. He was a man of iron.^. Summer's heat nor winter's cold neither vexed nor pleasured him. So it was no marvel that at the chamber's upper end, and quite near to my father's :bed, lay a wreath of snow, with a fine, clean-cut, untram- [pled edge, just as it had blown in at the gable window When the storm burst from the east. My father lay stretched out on his bed, his head thrown back, his neck bare— almost as if he had done justice on himself, or at least as if he waited the stroke of another Jted Axe through the eastern skylight which the morning was already crimsoning. His scarlet sheath- mgs of garmentry Jay upon a black oak^n stool, trai line across the floor lank and hideous, one of the cuflEs which had been but recently dyed a darker hue making a wet ^ sop upon the boards. ^ All this I had seen many a time before. But that iwhich made me tremble from head to foot with more and worse than cold, was the little white figure that danced about his bed-for all the world like a crisped ae^ late autumn which ?«hiri* and turns, mwm- Ithis way and spinning that iti the wanton breezes it [was the Little Playmate. %t I could not form a word ■•^:f 'I . 'ti;"i 1 J ^ ■ A Y ' .' ' \*J ■ ' %. ^#.>':'^ 'J o^ ^c# THE RED AXE U wherewith to call her. My tongue seemed dried to the. roots. Bhe had taken the red eye-mask which came across my father's face when he did his greater duties and tied it about her head. Her great, innocent, childish eyes looked elfighly through the black socket holes, sparkling with a fairy merriment, and her tangled floss of sniiny hair escaped from the string at the back and fell tumultuously upon her shoulders. And even as I looked, standing silent and trembling, with a little balancing step she danced up to the Red Axe itself where it stood angled against the block, and seizing it by the handle high up near the head she stag- gered towards the bed with it. Then came my words back to my mouth with a rush. "For the Holy Virgin's sake, little maid, put the Red Axe down 1" I cried, whisperingly. " You know not what you do !" Then even as I spoke I saw that my father had drawn himself up in bed, and that he too was staring at the strange, elfish figure. Gottfried Gottfried, as I remem- ber him in these days, was a tall, dark, heavily browed man, with a shock of bushy blue-black hair, of late sil- vering at the temples — ^grave, sombre, quiet in all his actions. But what was my surprise as the little maid came nearer to the bed with her |)retty dancing movement, carrying the axe much as if it had been an over-heavy babe, to see the Duke's Justicer suddenly skip over the far side of the bedstead and stand with his red cloak about him, watching her. d dried to the. CHAPTER IV THB PBIKCESS HELENE he said, frowning at "What devil's work is this ?' 1 her severely. And I confess that I trembled, but not so the little [ maid. " Do not be afraid, mannie,'* she said, laying down the [axe on the stock of the couch, against which its broad red blade and glass-clear cutting edge made an irregular patch of light. " Come and sit down beside me on your ' Bd. I shall not hurt you indeed, mannie, and I want to alk to you. There is nothing but a little boy down-stairs. [And I like best to talk with men.** " I declare it is the dead man's brat I saved last night [for Hugo's sake 1" I heard my father mutter, " the maid I with the girdle of golden letters." Presently a smile of amusement struggled about his I mouth at her baimly imperiousness, but he came obedi- ently enough and sat down. Nevertheless he took away the heavy axe from her and said, " Put this down, then, or give it to me. It is not a pretty plaything for little I girls 1" The small figure in white put up a tiny fat hand, and solemnly withdrew the red patch of mask from before I the wide-open baby eyes. "I am not a little ^tW, remember, mannie/' she md, I ** I am a Pri aoeaiB and a great lad y . " My fother bowed without rising. V I ihall not forget," he said. 81 44 THE RED AXE " You should stand up and bow when I tell you that/* said she. "I declare yQu have no more manners than the little boy in the brown blanket down-stairs." "Princess," said my father, gravely, "daring my life I have met a great many distinguished people of your rank ; and, do you know, not one of them has ever com- plained of my manners before." "Ah," cried the little maid, "then you have never met my father, the Prince. He is terribly particular. You must go so " (she imitated the mincing walk of a court chamberlain), "you must hold your tails thus" (wagging her white nightrail and twisting about her h^ad to watch the effect), "and you must retire— so r With that she came bowing backward towards the well of the staircase, so far that I was almost afraid she would fall plump into my arms. But she checked herself in time, and without looking round or seeing me she tripped back to my father's bedside and sat down quite confidingly be- side him. "Now you see," cried she, "what you would havehad to put up with if you had met my father. Be thankful then that it is only the little Princess Helene that is sit- ting here." "I think I had the honor to meet your father," said Gottfried Gottfried, gravely, again removing the restless baby fingers from the Red Axe and kying it on the far side -of thfe couch beyond him. "Then, if you met him, did he not make you bow and bend and walk backward r asked the Playmate, looking up very sharply. * "Well, yoii see. Princess," explained my father, "it was for such a very short time that I had the honor of converse with him." -— "Alr,tlwfr ddw not matter,'^ enM the maiay^^^tiii^"^ he would be most difficult when you came running in just for a moment. Why, he would straighten you up mm ^ ^ THE PRINCESS HELENE and make you do your bows if you were only racing after a kitten, or, what was worse, he would call the. Qpurt Ohftmberlain to show you how to do it. But when I am grown up— ah, then !— I mean to make the Chamberlain bow and walk backward ; for you know he id only tak- ing care of my princedom for me. Oh, and I shall have you well taught by that time, long man. It is cold- cold. Let me get into your bed and I will give you your first lesson now." ^ So with that she skipped into my father's place and drew the great red cloak about her. "Now then, first position," she commanded, clapping her hands like a Sultana, "your feet together. Draw back your left— so. Very well ! Bend the knee— stupid, not that one. Now your head. If I have to come to i you, sir— there, that is better. Well done I Oh, I shall have a peck of trouble with you, I can see that. But (you will do me cre^t before I have done with you." In a little while she tired of the lesson. ' " Come and sit down now"— she waved her hand gra- ciously- "here on the bed by me. Though I am a Prmcess really, I am not proud, and, as I said, I may make something of you yet." My father came forward gravely, wrapped himself in another of his red cloaks, and sat down. I sliivered in my blanket on the stai|ihead, but I could not bear to move nor yet reveal myself. This was better than any play I had ever watched from the sparred gallery of the palace, to which Gottfried Gottfried took me sometimes when the mummers came from Brandenburg to divert Duke Oasimir. " My father, the great Prince, took me for a long ride iMt nigh t . T her a waa much aoise aud many bonfirer— behind us as we rode away, and some of the men spoke roughly, for which my father will rate them soundly to- day. Oh, they will be sick and sorry this morning when 88 ^ J. ji'v 1^ .' ; >i w.. CM^^ \ tai*i The red axe ; / the Prince takes them to task. I hope you will never make him angry," she said, laying her hand warningly on my father's ; "bat if ever you do, come to me and I will speak to the Prince for you. You need not be bash-, ful, for I do not mind a bit speaking to him, or indeed to any one. You will remember and not be bashful when yon have something- 16 fisk ?" " I will assuredly not be bashful," said my father, very solemnly. " I will come and tell you at once, little lady^ if I ever have the misfortune to offend the most noble Prince." Then he bent his head and raised her hand to his lips. She bowed in return with exquisite reserve and hauteur; and, as it seemed to me, more with her long eyelashes than with anything else. "Do you know. Black Man," she said— "for, you know, yon are black, though you wear red qlothes— I am glad you are not afraid of me. At home every one was afraid of me. Why, the little children stood with their mouths "^ open and their eyes like this whenever they saw me." And she illustrated the extremely vacant surprise into which her appearance paralfzed the infantry of her na-. tive city. " I am glad my father left me here till he should cqpie back. Do you know, I like your house. Ther6 are so many interesting things about it. Thiat funny axe over there is nice. It looks as if it could cut things. Has it ever cut anythmg ? It is so nicely polished. How do you keep it so, and can I help you ?" " I had just finished^olishing and oiling it before I feir asleep," answered^ottfried Gottfried. " You see, little Princess, I had very many things to cut with it last night" ^ Whafc a pity ihe PrinM had not timrto wairsnd^Bee yon I He is 80 very fond of going out into the forest witft the woodmuL 'Once he took me to see the taUest tree in U f w-aitand«Be~ THE PRINCESS HELkNE 7 all onr woods cut down with jusfsuch an axe as that only it was not red. Hare you ever seen a hijrh tr^ cut downr "I have cut down some pretty tall ones myselM** said the Duke's Justicer, smiling quietly at her. "Ah, but not as tall as my fatKer ! It i^ beautiful to see him strip his doublet and lay to. They\pay there is not a woodman like him in all our land." Helene looked at^my father, whose arms were folded in his great cid&k."' " But you have fine strong arms too,'* she said. " You loo^ if you could cut things.. Did piy father ever see you cut down tall trees ?" "Yes," said Gottfried Gottfried, slowly, "once I" "And did he say that you cut well ?" the little maid went on, with a strange, wilful persistence .in her idea. "He neither said that I did well nor yet that I did ill " replied Gottfried Gottfried. ' - "Ah r said Helene, "that was just like the Prince. He was afraid of flattering you and making you unfit for your work. But if he said nothing, depend upon it he was pleased." . r , . " Thank you. Princess," said my father. " I think he . was well enough pleased." Just then there came a noise that I knew— a sound which chilled every bone in my body. It was the clear ring of a steady footstep upon the pavement without. It came heavily and slowly across the yard. The outer hasp of our dopr clicked. The door opened, and the footstep began to ascend the stair. There was but one man in the wprid who dared make 80 free with the Red Tower and its occupant. Our vis- Jtorwas withou t doubt the D uke Oas imir himself ^e Hmtlmel saw my father manifestly discon- certed. ; The Uttle maid's life mi^ht ba worth no more than a twn ballad if Duke Oasimir happened to be in evil ;14, ■immiimM'M I. •* ,° A. Iti THE RED AXE humor or had repented him of his mercy of the past night. I saw the Red Axe look aimlessly about for a hiding-place.' There was a niche round which certain cloaks and coverlets were hung. " Come in here/' he said, abruptly. " Why should I hide, whoever cpmies ?" asked the Lit- tle Playmate, indignantly. "It is the Duke Casimir," whispered my father, hur- riedly, stirfea as I had never seen him. " Come hither quickly r But the little maid struck an attitude, and tapped the floor with her foot.^ ; "I will not," she said. " What is the Duke Casimir to me that am a Princess ? If he is good; I will giv6 him my hand to kiss 1" • ^ut at this point I rushed from the ladder-head, and, taking her in my arms, I sped up the turret, stairs with "her out upon the leads, my hand dver her mouth all the time. And as I ran I could hear the Dt^ke trampling upward not twenty tfteps in the rear. I opened the trap-door and went out into the clear morning sunshine. And only the turn of the stair prevented Casimir from seeing me" go up the narrow turret corkscrew with my little white burden. • Then I heard voices beneath, and I knew, as if I had seen it, that my father stood up straight at the salute. Presently the voices lowered, and I knew also that the Duke Casimir was unbending as he did to none else in his realm save to the Hereditary Justicer q|4bie Wolfmark. But I had my hands full with the flttle Princess. I dared not go down the stairs. I dared not for a mo- inent take mj-pahn off her mouth. i*or Samite as n&T she would call out for the Duke Casimir to come and deliver her from my cruelty. So I stuck to my post, even though I knew that I angered her. Hi • ^THK PRINCESS HEIENE The morning was warm for a winter's day in Thorn, and I pniled open my brown blanket and wrapped her coseyly within it, chilling myself to the bone as I did so. It seemed ^es before the Duke strode down the stair \ again, and took his way across the yard, with my father, fn black, after him. For ao^he was used to dress when ^ went to the Hall of Judgment, to be present and assist at tjie discovery of crime by meaiis of the Minor and Ex- treme Questions. Then, so soon as they were fairly gone, I took my hand f rom.tne month of the Little Playmate, and carried her dowi^stairs ; which as soon as I had done, she slapped my face soundly. " I ^1 never, never speak to you any more so long as N I live, rude boy — common street brat 1" she said, biting her under-lip in ineffectual, petulant anger. " Listen, never as long as I live 1 So d6 not think it ! Upstart, bo to treat a lady and a Princess f" And with that she burst into tears. . • ^ • Si • » y ■ A . •v V f - .- ' V - N ■^ * . t?fd«.Wi^^,ei,\i; bi;y';'i&-%liL'S ^ mi I ■* If ill CHAPTER V THE BLOOB1-HOUND8 ARE FED But the Princess-Playmate spoke to me again. I was even permitted to call her Helene. Me she addressed nniformly as " Hqgo Gottfried." But neither her name nor mme interfered with our plays, which were whofly happy and undisturbed by qnarrelling— at least, so long as. I did exactly what she wished me to do. On these terms life was made easy for me from that day forth. No longer did I wistfully watch the children of the street from the lonely window of the Red Tower They might spit all day on the harled masonry at the foot of the wairfor aught I cared. I no longer desired their society. Had I not that of a real Princess, a^d if my companion was inclined to be a little wayward and" domineering— why, was not that the very birthright of aU Princesses ? , Helene and I had great choice of plays within the walls of the solemn castle. So long as we kept to the outer yard and did not intrude upon the Duke's side of the enclosure, we were free to dome and go at our pleas- ure. For even Oasimir himself was soon well accustomed to see us run about like puppies, slapping and tumbling, and mmded us no more than the sparrows that pecked in the litter of the stable^yard. Indeed, I think he had forgotten all about the strange home-coming of the Little Playmate. Tke kennelflijl the hlood-hoanda «^eoially were foil oF- fttoination for us. That fatal deep-mouthed clamoring ' THE BLOOD-HOIINDS ARE FED at nioHi and even drew us like a magnet. Helene, in particalar, never tired, of gazing between the chinks of the fence of cloven pine-wood at the great russet-colored beasts with their flashing white teeth, over which the heavy dewlaps fell. And when my father, with his red livery upon him and a loaded whip in his hand, once a day opened the tall, narrow door and went within, we thought hii© brave as a god. Then the way the fierce beasts shrank cowering from him, the fashion in which they crouched on Jheir billies and heaved their shoulders up without taking their hind quarters off the ground, eq^nally delighted and surprised us. " Your fatlfer is almost as great a man as my father," said the Princess Helene, who, however, was rapidly for- getting her dignity. Indeed, already it had become little more than a fairy-tale to her. And that was per- haps as well. One day, when I was about thirteen, o^ a little older, . my father came out with a new short maiitle in his hand, red like his own. " Come hither, Hugo Gottfried !" he 'said, for he had learned the trick of the name from Helene. I went to him tardy-foot, greatly wondering. " Here, chick," he said, in his kindly fashion, « it is time you were beginning to learn your duties. Come wi«i me to-day into the kennels of the blood-hounds." , , But I hung back, shifting the new mantle uneasily on my shoulders, yet not daring to throw it off. " I do not want to go, father," said I, edging away in the direction of the Playmate. "What, lad !" he cried, slapping me on the shoulder ; " they will not hurt thee with that cloak on. They know their masters better-as their fathers and mothers knew our father s. Ha ve we, the Gottfrieds, b een the Hereditary Jnitrcere ortSTV^If Mart for six firinared " years to be afrtid jiow of the blodd^ounds that are kept ',i;pi J THE RED AXE to huht the Duke's enemies and to feed on the Dnke'a carrion ?" " It is not that I am afraid of the dogs, father," I made answer to him. "I would quickly enough.' go among them, if only you would let me go without this ' scarlet cloak." My father laughed heartily and loudly — that is, for him. A quick ear might have heard him quite three feet away. " Silly one !" he exclaimed, " do you not know that even the Duke Casimir dares not set foot in the kennels— no, nor I myself, save in the garb they know and fear— as in- deed do all men in this state." Still I hung my head down and scraped the gravel with my foot. ".Haste thee," said my father, roughly. "Once it is permitted to a man to be afraid ; to fear twice, and fear the same thing, is to be a coward. And no Gott- fried ever yet was a coward. Let not my Hugo be the first." Then I took courage and spoke to him. " I do not wish to be executioner," I said ; " I would" rather ride a-sqldiering far away, and be in the drive of battle and the front of danger. Let me be a soldier and a man-alarms, my father. I am sure I could become a war-captain and a great man !" Gottfried Gottfried stared blankly at me, and his blue- black hair rose in a crest— not with anger, of which he never showed any to me, but in sheer astonishment. He continued to rub it with his hand, as if in this manner he might possibly reach an^xplanation of the mystery. " Not wish to be Hereditary Executioner ? Why, are you not a Gottfried, the only son of a Gottfried, the only son of his father, who also was a Gottfried atfd Heredi- -tary Bed AxffTjfthe Wol^arkfWEy, lad, before therr was a Duke at all in the Wolfsberg, before he and his ./ * 80 THE BLOOD-HOUNDS ARE FED folk came out of the land of the Poles to fight with the Ritterdom of the North, we, the Gottfrieds of Thorn, wore the sign of the Red Axe and dwelt apart from all the men of the Mark. For fourteen generations have we worn it I" "But," said I, sadly, " the very children on the street hate me and spit on me as I pass ; the maids will not so much as speak to me. They scurry in-doors and slam the picket in my face. Think you that is pleasant? And when as^ lad of older years I set out to woo, whither shall I berake me ? For what door is open to a Gottfried, to him who carries the sign of the Red Axe ?" "Ah, lad," said my father, patiently, " life comes and life goes. It is nigh on to forty years since even thus my father held out the curt mantle for me. And even so said I. Time eats up all things but the hearts of men. And they abide ever the same — ^yearning for that which they cannot have, but nevertheless accepting with a sharp relish the things which are decreed to them ; even as do the Duke's carrion-eaters yonder, which, by-the-way, are waiting most impatiently for their meal while we thus stand arguing." He was aboul to move away when his eye fell on Helene. At sight of her he seemed to remember my last words, about going a- wooing. He considered a moment and then said : " You afe young yet to thilik of courting, Hugo, but have no fear either for the love-making or the' wedding. Sweet maids a many shall surely come hither. Why, there is one grow- ing up yonder that will prove as fair as any. I tell you the Gottfrieds have married great ladies in their time- dames and dainty damsels. They have had princesses to be their sweethearts ere now. Come, then, lad—no more . words, but follow me." And f orthar^me I went «tef him 6T)eaientIyenougBr" but all the same my heart was^febellioi^ within me. And / THE RED AXE ?.'■■■ ' I determined that if I had to ran to the ends of the earth, I should never be Hereditary Executioner nor yet handle the broadaxe on the bared necks of my fellow-men. We went in among the doga — great, lank, cowering, tooth -slavering brutes. I followed my father till we came to the feeding-troughs. Then he bade me to stand where I was till he should set their meat in order. So he vanished behind the barriers. Then, when he had prepared the beasts' horrid victual, though I saw not what, he opened the narrow gate, and the howling, clam- bering throng broke helter-skelter for the troughs, crack- ing and crunching the thigh-bones, tearing at the flesh, and growling at one another till the air rang with the ear-piercing din. And outside the little Helene flung herself frantically at the split pines of the enclosure, crying, bitterly, "Take off that hateful mantle, Hugo Gottfried ! I hate it— I hate it I Take it off!"' 9 My father stood behind the dogs, whose arched and bristling backs I could just manage to see over the fence of wooden spars, and dealt the whip judicially among them — ^at once as a warning to encroachers and a pun- ishment for greed. Then all nnharmed we went out, and as soon as my father had gone up to his garret-room in the tower, I tore the red cloak off and trampled it in the 'dirt of the yard. Then I went and hid it in a little blind window of the tower opposite the foot of the ladder which led to my father's room. For, because of my father's anger, I dared not destroy the badge of shame altogether, as both Helene and I wished to do. Day by day the Little Playmate (for so I was now al- lowed to call her — the Princesshood^ being mostly forgot- ^ j ten) grew^eat and taII7 her fair, almosfTinf-wMte liadf f "] darkening swiftly to coppery gold with the glint of ripe whe»tapoii it, _ . '51- • |w. « m . W THE BLOOD-HOUNDS ARE FED ' Old Hanne followed her about with eyes at once wjst- fol and donbtfnl. Sometimes she shoo^ her head sadly. And I wondered if ever the poor old stumbling crone, wizened like a t^o-year-old winter apple, had been as light and gay a thing as our dainty rose-leaf girl. Oile day I was laboring at the art of learning to write, along with Friar Laurence — a scrawny, ill-favored monk, who, for good deeds or misdeeds, I know not which, was warded in a cell opening out of the lower or garden court I of the Wolf sberg, when I heard Helene dance down the { stairs to th« kitchen of the Red Tower. " Hannchen !" she cried, merrily, " come and teach I me that trick of the broidering needle. I never can do lit but I prick myself. MeVertheless, I can fashion the 3d Axe almost as clearly as the pattern, and far finer see." Friar Laurence raised his great, softly solid face, blue Ibont the jowls and padded beneath the eyes with craft. " That little maid is over much with old Hanne," he Psaid, as if he meditated to himself ; *' she will teach her [other prickings than the needle-play. The witqh-prick- [ing at the images of wax was what brought her here. I Aye, and had it not been for your father wanting a house- keeper, the Holy Office would have burned the hag, and [sent her to hell, flaming like a torch of pine knots." Now this was the first I had heard with exactness of 'the matter of old Hanne's haying been a witch. And now that I knetv it for certain I began to imagine all sorts of unholy things abo^^t the poor wretch, and grew greatly jealous of Helene being so often in the kitchen. Whereas before I had thought nothing at all about the matter, save that Hannchen was a dull, pleasant, mntter- ingt^flhnfflj iri £:^f noted 4?ld- wom a o^ ^h» cou l d mahe iwrft. good cream-cakes when you got her in the humor. And that was not often. i m «3ti^ I CHAPTER yi ♦ DUKB OASIMIB's FAMILIAB ^ I MWD it W48 some tale of years later that I got my fiwt glimpse below the surface of things in the town of Thorn, mi especially m the castle of the Wolf sberg. Duke Oasimir continued to move, as of yore, in <»val- cade through his subject city. The burghers bowed as obsequiously as ever when they could nk avoid meeting him. Oniere were the old lordly perquisitions-thunde^ mgs at iron-studded doors, battering-rams set between posts, and the clouds of dust flying from the driven lin- tels, the screams of maids, the crying of women, a stray corpse or two flung on to the street, and then the pro- cession as before, arms and legs, with a mercenary soldier between each pair, fore and aft. All this was repeated and repeated, till the duU monotony of tyranny began to wear through the long Teutonic patience to the under- qmck of Wendish madness. It chanced that one night I could not sleep. It was no matter of maida that kept me awake, though by this time I was sixteen or seventeen and greatly grown-running It is tone, mostly to knees and elbows, but nevertheless oiy of limb and stark of bone, needing only the muscle laid on m lumps to be as strong as any. I had begun to steal out at nights too-not on any ill errand, but that I might fai^ve the company of those about my own ^e-^'prentioe lads and the wilder sons of burgh- wa^o tuid no objeotip n to my p a rentog e , and thoug h t ^ n»«ter a fine thiig to be hand-i^-ilove^Hth the wn of V/ DUKE CASIMIR'S FAMILIAR the Red Axe of Thorn. And there we played single- Btick, Bmite-jacket skittles, bowls-aye, and drank deep of the city ale-the very thinnest brew that was ever passed by a bribed and mnzzy ale-taster. All this was f55*?^.^^®*^* *•* "'*• ^°' «o «oo» « they knew that ' i^t ,! Tt^ ^ ^^ * '^^^^^'^ *°d °ot ti^e Red Axe of the Wolfmark, they complimented me greatly on my spirit Well, as I lay awake and waited for the chance to slip down a rope from my bedroom window, whose foot should I hear on the turret steirs but that of my Lord Duke Oasimir I My vSry heart quailed within me. For the ^Zl A ? "*. ^T^ '''' ^^^^ °^° »^d woman in the wl ^.i^fV^^ children-why, as far as the Baltic shore and the and of the last Ritters, mothers frightened Ss LdTxe ' ^"^* **' *^* "^om^rg and So now„the Duke and the Red Axe were to be in con- ference-as indeed had happened nearly every ^ ^d night since I could remember. So that^ople called mv father the Duke's Private Devil, his PaSliL sTirit SI Evil Gemus. But I knew other of it^and Sis St o! all nights in the year, I was to know bitter stil.^ ' JlJTv. * 'rT "^d'^'ght-not like the one I told of when the story began, white with snow and glitterin' with the keen polish of frost. But a soft ««ii !^ l^* drowsy yet sleepless, with an i1,h of\hVnt; tSg^^^^ I crouched and nestled in the hole in the waU where I lad ong ago hidden the hated red cloak, ^HW^J knees up nncomf ori»bly to my chin. And ™ Zmw ^1 :^r-g!{ -?' ^"ottod as if a smith hadCete^ , ft.^ . .V _,./ : .. -' " " Buuhu nag mage them J t^ r oug bw it h^^ waaing hamp er aM tad forgotten to reduce them with the file afterwards. At1l»iTmeI was thoroughly ashamed of my knees. 85 ) l. ..JiAkKSf^ *,\# m^i'v .'rf !►. THE RED AXE r^ Dnke (Jasimir passed But no matter for them now. in and shnt the door. ^ '* Gottfried," I heard him say, " I am a dead man 1" These words from the great Duk^ Oasimir startled me, and though I knew w^U enough that Michael Texel, the Burgomeister^s son, was waiting for me by the corner of the Jew^s Port, -I decided that, as I might never hear Duke Oasimir declare his secretest soul again, I should even bide where I was ; and that was in the crevice of the wall among the old clothes, which gave off such a famt, musty, sleepy smell I could scarcely keep awake. But the Duke's next words effectually roused me. "A dead man I" repeated Oasimir. "I hate not a fnend in all the realm of the Mark besides yourself. And there is none of all that take my bounty or eat my bread that is sorry for me. See here," he said, querulously, " twice have I been stricken at to-day— once a tile fell from a roof and dinted the crown of my helmet, and the second time a young man struck at my breast with a dagger." "Did h« wound you, Duke Oasimir ?" asked my father, speaking for the first time, but in a strangely easy and equal voice, not with the distance and deference which he showed to his lord in public. "Nay, Gottfried," replied Duke Oasimir; "but he bruised my shirt of mail into my breast." And I heard pkinly enough the clinking of the tings of chain-armor as the Duke showed his hurt to my father. Presently I heard his voice again. "And the Bishop has touched me in a new place," he said. "He declares that he will lay his interdict upon me and my people— ill enough to hold in hand as they are even now. When that is done they will rise in re- ^^^^^^' My very men-at-arms and knightg j oannot do- pend upon— only upon yon and the Black Biders.' "In the matter of the Bishop's inteB^ict, or in other 86 or in other ' D,UKE CASIMIR'S FAMILIAR ^ matters, do you mean that you can trust my counsel, Duke Casimir ?" asked my father. " 'Tis in the burial of the dead that the shoe will pinch first with these burghers of Thorn and among our soldiers at the Wolfsberg. For mass, indeed, they care not a do^^ip^ping— but that the corpse shouM be car- "ed to jMJ grave, that they cannot away with. Eed Axe, I HPftVe shall haye the State of the Mark about our ears in the slipping of a hound's leash— and as for me, I know not what I shall do." " Listen, and I will counsel you, Duke Casimir 1 Care you not though the east wind brought Bishop Peters whirling over the Mark, as many as the January snow- flakes that come to us from Muscovy. I, Gottfried Gott- fried, tell'you what to do. In every parish of the Mark there is a parson. Every clerk of them hath a Presbytery, in which he dwells with those that are abiding with him. Bid you the soldiers that are obedient to you to carry all the corpses of the dead to the Presbytery, and leave them there under guard. Then let us see whether or no the parsons will give them burial. What think you of the counsel, Duke Casimir ?" I could hear the Duke rise and pace across the floor to where my father sat on his bed. And by the silence I knew that the two men were shaking hands. "Red Axe," said the Duke, much moved, "of a truth you are a great man— none like you in the Dukedom. These beard-wagging, chain-jingling gentry I have small notion of. And would you but accept it, I would give you to-morrow the collar of gold which befits the Chan- cellor of the Mark. None deserves to* wear it so weU as thou." My father laughed a low scornful laugh. , ** Beg a nie I bid yea teaeh tfa»^ par s ons their owtt re- - ligion, am I to be made Chancellor of the Mark ? A great gray wolf ont of the forest were as saitable a Ohan- m -\ THE RED AXE ' °fo|o' tl^e Mark as Gottfried Gottfried, the fonrteenth hereditary Red Axe of Thorn I" . Then I heard him reach over his bed for something. iBtole out of the hole in the wall and crouched down IJ- ^L^^T '"'*/? ** *^^ ^'** ^«*°^«* ^ole through , which the tang of ieather to lift the bolt ordinarily goes. I could see my father sitting on his bed and the Illd Axe ying across his knees. He took it in hand, dangling it hrLT/ ; ?' 'T''^ ^' ^ >' '^'^'' and ran hip thumb lovingly along the shining edge. ^''^V/ he said "my beauty, 'tis you and not your Tis you that have held the power of life and death, and laid the spirit of rebellion any time these twenty years. And w^^l mdeed wouldst thou look with a red robe about thee (here he reached for a cloak that swung from the w?i7.T*'^u°''' *° ^" ^^^'^JJ ''» ^oWe presence wouldst thou be m a tun-bellied robe ai^d a collar of shining gold I Bravely, great State's Chancellor of the Wblfmark wouldst thou then lead the processions and preside at the diets of justice-as indeed thou dost most- ly as it IS." , And he made the Bed Axe bow like a puppet in his hands as he swept the cloak of red out behind the handle I could see Dttke.Oafiimir now. He had drawn up a stool and sat opposite my father, with his elbows on his knees. One hand was stroking the side of his head, and his haughtiness had all fallen from him like a forgotten overmantle. He looked another man from the cruel, relentless Prince who had ridden so sternly at the head Of his men-at-arms and looked so callously on at the death of men and the yet more bitter agony of women. He stared at the floor, absorbed in his own gloomy thoughts, whik^my4athef regarded him m i h^hitnyeri^ though he had been a lad in his 'prentioing who needed encouragement to persevere. e fonrteenth something, ached down ole thrctugh. inarilj goes, the Bed Axe dangling it and ran hip i not yonr this realm, death, and enty years. [ robe abont Lg from the e presence a collar of )llor of the ssions and dost most- -< '\\ % fi ^t ppet in his he handle, rawn np a owB on his head, and forgotten the cruel, i the head on at the ^.: i S' \ .- < I DUKE CASIMIR'S FAMILIAR "Duke/* he said, gteadily, " you have borne the rule many years, and I Uayei stood behind you. Have I ever advised you wrong ? Make peace with thp young man, y6ur nephew ; he is now only the Count von ^uss, but one day, he will be Duke Otho. And if he be rightly guided, he may be a brave ruler yet. But if not, and he gather in his hand the° various seditions and confused turbulences in the Dukedoni, whj^ a worse thing jnay befall.^ " Ton advise me,*' said the Duke, lifting his head and looking at his Justicer, " to recall my nephew and risk all that threatened us ere he fled to the Prince of Plas- jMnbnrg— Earl, the Miller's Bon.** Gottfried Gottfried continued to run his thumb to and fro along the edge of the Bed Axe. " Even so,** he replied, without raising his hea4; ** P'^® him the command of the Black Biders of the Guard, who, as it is, adore him. Let him try 'his 'prentice hand on Bamberg and Beichenau^ ' And if he offend, why, then it will be time to apply for further tidvice to this chancellor in the Bed Bobe^ whose face so shines with wisdom.*' The Duke rose^ "Well, '^H 1 "* .1 THE RED AXE Presently came my father in again, and I heard his foot climb* steadily up to my room. The door opened, and never was I in so deep a sleep. He tamed down the coverlet to see that I was undressed — ^bnt that I had seen to. Whereat he departed fnlly satisfied. Nevertheless this interview left m6 with a great feel- ing of inflecurity. If the Puke Oasimir were thns full of fears, doubts, misgivings, whence came the fierce and cruel courage with which he dominated his liege burgh- ers and harassed the country round abQut for a hundred leagues ? The cunnmg of a w$ak man ? Say, rather, the contrivance of a strong servant to hide the frailty of a weak master. ^ Then first it was that I saw that my father Gottfried Gottfried was the^ue ruler of the Wolfmark, and that the man who had carried me on his shoulders and placed with the little Helene was — at least, so long as Duke Casimir lived — the greatost man in all the Dukedom and first Oouncillor of State, whether the matter were one of peasfoit or ELaiser. y ■s * 'riX' CHAPTER Vn 1 BBOOMB A TBAITOB MuoH was I fl^ttTred, and very natnrilly bo, when Michael Tewl^ade so manifest a work about pleasing me and^ing me for his comrade. For though I was now nKeteen, he was five years my senior, and hie father, being both Burgomeister add Chief Brewer, was of the first consideration in the town of Thon^. " Hugo," said Michael Texel, " there be many lads in the city that are well, and well enough, but none of them please me like you. It may be that your keeping so great- ly to yourself has made you passing thoughtful for your age. And whereas these street-comer scraps of rascal- dom care foy nothing but the pleasing of pothouse Gretchens, we that are men think of the concerns of the State, and make us ready for the great things that shall one day come to pass in Thorn and the Wolfmark." I nodded my head as if I knew all about it. But, in- deed, in my heart, I too preferred the way of the other lads— as the favor of maids, and other lighter matters. But since one so great and distinguished as Michael Texel declared that such things were but useless gauds, unworthy of thought, I considered that I had better keep my tongue tight-reined as to my own desires. I shall now tell the manner of my introduction to the famoas society of the White Wolf. From the yery first time that ever I saw him, Michael Texel had much to say about a certain wondrous league of the young men'of Thorn and the Wolfmarjc. He told 41 /■. THE RED AXE "^ me how that every man with a heart in him was en- rolled among them : the sons of the rich and great, like himself; the sons of the folk of no accoant (like my- self, doubtless) ; the soldiers of the Duke — nay, it was whispered very low i^ my ear, that even the yoiing Count Otho von Reuss, the. Duke's nephew and heir, had taken high rank in the society. I asked Michael what were the declared objects of the assoeiation. " See," he cried, grandly, with a wave of his hand, " this city of Thorn. It lies there under the Wolfsberg. With a few cannon like Faul Grete, the Margrave's treas- ure, Duke Casimir could lay our houses in ruins. There- fore, in the mean time, let hs not break out against Duke Oasimir*^ But one day there will come an end to the tyrant Duke. ,Tiles will not always break harmless on helmets, nor the point 6f steel always be turned aside by links of chain-armor. As I say, an hour will come for Casimir as for other malefactors. And then — why, there is the young Otho. And he has sworn the vows of the White Wolf to make of Thorn a free city with a Stadt- holder— one with power and justice, chosen freely by the people, as in other Baltic cities. Is there a man of us that has not been plundered ? — a maid that does not go in fear of her honor while Casimir reigns ? Shall this thing be ? Not surely forever. The White Wolf shall see to it. She has many children, and they are all dear to her. Let the Duke Casimir take his count with that I" 5 So, as was natural, I became after that more than ever e&ger to join this most notable league of the White Wolf. One night I had sat late talking to the Little Play- mate, who was now growing a great maid and a beautiful — ^none like her, «o far as I could see, in all the city of Thorn — a circumstance which made me more ready to be of Michael Texel's opinion with regard to any flighty and 42 ,.^ ^ I BECOME A TRAITOR imBponsible courting of the maids of the town. For ^ ouA / ^^''^'^ ^""^ *^« >««* «* them all at^ home and went to open the wicket. '^ F"*t, that we had a^eed to meet at the inn of the Whitf o ft T -^.f 2"°^ ^'"^ ^°- ^ P'-^^ented him in form to the Little Hamate, who had quite forgotten her house-angel of the^ed Tower atHTniir'T'''* ^.^'i ^^°^^^^ ^^^«1 '^^^ astonished at Helenes beauty, as indeed well he might be. But she Z^^"" ^fn ^l^^^ '"^ """^^ ^' g^^°««d at him, though rla^k^h : r^7"-^°^" ''''''' ^"^"^'^^ with nothing ; olr ^? "'^i ^^'.^ "^^^ P"'^ ^^^^ ^* ^««h the samf - color as his complexion, and a cut on one side of his up- p^sllon ''' """'^'' "^^*' ^""^ ^^ * «^««"^« «^- ' asKnt *W iT^^ T''" ^^'ro^'^^^Uj and courteously, asking her whether she ever went to any of the Guild en- t^^ammenl* for which Thorn was famous. And u 2 moZf"^ T:'r^' ^y ^^''^'^ ^'^ ^°<^ think it fittrg, JJo« *^ i'. ^ ''^' '"'' °* ^<^' °°°« «o«ld forget it Z!n /^ / '''^- ^'' '''^'' '"^ *he history of Thorn has so faar aface graced Burgher dance or Guild festival, m- yet has a foot so light been shaken on the green in any of our sumHaer outgoings.'' •"> Now this was well enough said in its way, but only what I myself had often thought. Not that the Play- If V wl"^ °;*'°' ^' ^'' ^°'^« <>' ^^ in any degree elated, but kept her head bent demurely on her workS the time Michael Texel was with ub. Presently there entered to us, thus sitting, Gottfried 48 : _ m ) THE RED AXE Gottfried, who had come striding gloomily aoroBS the yaid in his black suit from the Hall of Judgment, and at hiB entrance Michael instantly became awkward, ner- vonp, and constrained. must be going," he said ; *' the Burgomeister bade me \\e early within doors to-night."- the noble Bnrgomeister lodging at the White Swan\?" asked my father, with his usual simple direct- ness, ia he went hither and thither ordering his utensils without heeding the visitor. ** No," said Michael, startled out of his equanimity ; " he bides in his olm house by the Rath-house— itie sign is that of the Three Golden Tuns." The Red Axe nodded. " I had forgotten," he said, indifferently, and stood by the great polished platter - frame over the sideboard, dropping oil on the screws of a certain cunning instru- ment which he was wont to use in the elucidation ol the Greater Question. * I could see Michael turning yellow and green, but whether with anger or fear I could not tell. Helene, who loved not the tools of my father, had, upon his en- trance, promptly gathered up her white cobwebs and lace, and had betaken herself to her own room. " I must be bidding you a fortunate evening and wish- ing you an untroubled sleep," said Michael, with studious politeness, rising to his feet. Yet he did not immediately move away, but stood awkwardly fingering his hat, as if he wished to ask a question and dared notJ " It is indeed a fine place for a sound sleep," said my father, nodding his head grimly, " this same upper court- yard of the Wolf sberg. There are few that have once slept here, my noble young sir, who have ever again complained of wakefulness." . At this moment the hounds in the kennels raised their fierce olamor. And, without waiting for another word. T BEC^OME A TRAITOR Michael Texel took himself off down the stairs of the Red Tower. Nor did he regain his composui-e till I had opened the wicket and a Then, as the postern the city fell on his e crying " Fried Fish," the yelling venders of o picked np his conrflge,'a him oat upon the street. id the familiar noises of •ping flat-footed lasses f " Hot Oyster Soup,'* ^ lad — Michael gradaally> proceeded do^ the High Street of Thorn to the retired hostel of the White Swan. " Frederika," he cried, as he entered, "are the lads here yet?" , "Aye, sir, aye— a full muster," answered the old mild- faced hostess, who was busily employed knitting a stock- ing of pale blue in the porch, looking for all the world like the sainted mother of a family of saints. Michael Texel walked Itraight through a passage and down a narrow alley, the beautiful apple - cheeked old woman following us with her eyies as we went. Our feet rMig suddenly on hollow pavement as we stooped to enl^r a low door in the side w&U, almost con- cealed from observation by an overgrowth <^^hl " Halt !" cried ^ voice from the. dusk ahi^P^ ns, and instantly there was a naked sword at each pf bur breasts. We heard also the click of swords meeting behind, ns. I turned my head, and lo I there at my very shoulder 1 saw^the gleam of crossed steel. My heart beat a little faster ; but, after all, I had been brought up with sights and sounds more terrible than these, and, more than that^ I had within the hotir seen Michael Texel, the high-priest of these mysteries, turn all manner <^|irauibow colors at the howling of our blood-hounds and a simple question from my father. So I judged that these mighty terrifi- cations could portend no great ill to one who was the son of the formidable Red Axe of the Wolf sberg. Sometimes it is a mighty comfortable thing to haye a father like mine. H^ i J&. ,t i t s :y THE RED AXE 1 did not hear the question which was asked ofiny guide, bat I heard the answer. " First in charge/' said Michael Texel, " and with him one of the Wolfs litter.'^ So we were allowed to proceed. But in the bare room which received us I was soon left alone, for, with another question as briefly asked and answered, the click of swords crossed and uncrossed before and behind him, and the screechy grind of bolts, Michael passed out of sight within. While a^ for me, I was left to twirl my thumbs, and wish that I had stayed at home to watch the nimble fingers of the Playinate busy at her sewing, " and the rounded slenderness of her sweet body set against the light of eyening, which would at that hour be shining through the windows of the Eed Tower. Nevertheless, it was no use repining or repenting. Here was I, Hugo Gottfried, the son of the Red Axe, ak the inner port of a treasonable society. It was certainly a curious position; but even thus early I had begun to . consider myself a sort of amateur of strange situationi^, and I admit that I found a certain stimulus in the thought that in an hojir I might have ceased to be heir to the office of Hereditary Justicer of the ducai province of the Wolfmark. * Presently through the door there came one c!bthed in the long white garments of a Brother of Pity, the eye- holes dark and cavernous, and the eyes shining through the mask with a look as if the wearer were much more frightened than those who looked upon him. ** Child of the White Wolf," he said, in a shaking voice, " would you dare all and become one of the companions , of the mysteries ?" * ? But the accent of his voice struck me, th^son of Oott- Iried GottfriBd, thb dweller in the ©nolo8Ttr*-trf- the ^ned -^^ Tower, as painfully hollow and pretentious. I had looked upon real terror, even plumbed some of the grimmer I BECOME A TRAITOR mysteries of existence, and I had no fears. On tM con- trary, my spirits rose, and I declared my readinessto fol- low this paltering, knock-kneed Brother of Pity. We stopped and went through another iiarrow passage, \ ' in the midst of which we were stayed by thin bars, which were shot before and behind ns, and by a cold point of iron laid lightly against my brow. In this constrained position my eyes were bandaged by unseen fingers. The starveling Brother of the Wolf took me by the hand and led me on. Then in another moment came the sense of lights and wider spaces, the rustle of many peo- ■ pie settling down to attention ; and I knew that I was in the presence of the famous secret tribunal of the White ^Wolf, which had been set up in defiance otJihe authority of the Doke and against the laws of the Mark. e CHAPTER Vni AT THE BAE OF THE WHITE WOLP v " Who waits at the bar with you, brother ?" said a voice which, though disguised, carried with it a suggest- ion of Michael Texel. The announcement was made by the officer who brought me in. v{;«* "'Tis one Hugo Gottfried, son of Goltfrfed Gottfried, hereditary executioner to the tyrant." I could hear the thrill of interest which, pervaded the assembly at the announcement. And for the first time I thought almost well of the honorable office to which I had been born. "And what do you Here, son of the Red Axe, in the place of the Sacred Fehme of the White Wolf ?" The qoMtion was the first addressed directly to me. " I came," said I, as straightforwardly and simply as I could, "with Michael Texel, because he asked me to come. And also because 'I heard that there was good ale to be had for the drinking at the White Swan of Thorn, where we are now met." A low moan of horror went about the assembly at the frivolity of my answer, which plainly was not what had been expected. ** Daring mocker !" cried a stern voice, " you speak as one nnacquainted with the dread power of the White. •Wolf, which has within. her grasp the keys of life and death — and has suckled great efli^ires at her dugs. Be- 48 AT THE BAR OF THE WHITE WO: . ware, tempt not the All-powerful to exerols6 her right of axe and cord 1" . " I do not tempt any," answered I, boldly enough— yet with no credit to myself, for I could iiave laughed aloud at all this hollow pretence, having been brought up with- in the range of that which was no mockery. "I am willing to become a loyal member of the Society ^f the White Wolf for the fjir<^erance of any honest purpose. All things, I admit, are not well within the body politic. Let us, in the city of Thorn, strive after the same rights as are possessed by the fVee Cities of the North. If that be your object, the soj^^yof the :^d Axe is with • you — with you to the death, if need be. But for God's sake let us take off these masks and set ourselves down to the tankard and the good brown bread with less mummery — a sham of which others have the re- ality." '* Peace, vain, ignorant fly 1" cried the same speaker, one with a young voice, which he was trying, as I thought, to make grave and old ; " terror must first strike your heart, or you cannot sit down with the,JBociety of the White Wolf. You stand convicted of blasphemy against this our ancient and honorably institution— blasphemy which must be suddeaiy and terribly punis^^ed. Hugo Gottfried, I command you — make your head ready for the striker. Bare the neck and bow the knee 1" But I stood as erect as I could, though I* felt hands laid upon my shoulders and the breathing of many close ' about me. " Knights and gentlemen," said I, " I am not afraid to die, if need be. But ere you da your will upon me, I would fain tell yon a tale and give you a warning. Here I am one among many. I am also of your opinion, if your ==opiBi^ be a gai ns t tyranny. But for Ged'a a ak e seek i t-^ as wise men and not as posturing knaves. As for Michael Texel— " V !FJl 1 Hi r THE RED AXE " Name not the mortal nandes of men in this place of ^la^White Wolf I" said the same grave voice. M^whi• ■? I i r 1 « '1 u w s E- 01 :- -^ 5 w i ts t" i « 1 1 o b >< < H 1 K a ■< » h-l a "^ p o X , « , ;4 < ;f ■.. S I ]i Q* a M Ph ' ^ti 1: ■«i I'l^ o (, l|H ,« '^^ufl o *^^^l o ' • ^^^1 t> B. * ^ AT THE BAB aV THE WHITE WOLF t(t 'Ten TOBU, aooounted strong, held Hana PoJit*. Ten n>eu could scarce lead him through the court-yard to the chair on which sat Duke Oasimir. I saw him judged. Was he not of the- White Wol£ ? Did the White Wolf save Mm ? Have her teeth ravened for those that con- demned him*-? Or have you that are of that nohle bo- oiety kept close in your halls and played out your puppet shows, while poor Hans, wh6 was faithful to ,you to the end, went—whither r ; A sough of angry whispering filled the room, rising presently iiifco a roar of indignation. v,- "Traitor! Murderer I Spy I" they cried. "lffay,«saidl, "'fore God, Hugo Gottfried was more sorr^for the poor deceived slave *hlh any here. For in the^esence of the Duke, I curled out against the horror. JBut^bemg no more than a boy, I was stricken to silence by the hand df a man-at-arms. Then I saw Hans Pulitz ^t loose. I saw him seized by one man— even by the Bed Axe— raised high in the air, and flung over the bar- neys among. the jpvening and leaping blood-hounds. I hwrd the hideous noises that followed— the yells of a man fighting for his life in a place of fiends. I shut my ears with my hands, yet could I not shut out that clan- g«r of hell. I shut my eyes, closer than you har« shut them fqr me now. I fled, I knew nDt where, terror pur- suing mv Ai^ y«iliffl«^ and do now see, the, Duke ?**^''?jif^'**^^^« #;!« »* prayers, and the Bed iUest^ngmotionle^he^eithe men-at-arms, point- ing^ith one hand to the Duke's vengeance ! Shall I tettfounowwhylamnotafraidPm '- t , < After hearinif tW words it" was smalkwoid^that they cried yet morragainst me. ^^ , /* Death to the traitor-^bloody death-TBUke that which. h o I ma r ojoi oed ia^----Y-~V ^^ J " ~ "Nay, my friends," 'saiV I. "itms because" of th«> dMth Ql lltti^Paliti and that of 61 i '' «i .^ --Jt>^^-*! kS?: Scar*. v> -y I - THE RED AXE •tr«ngtli«n the hands of liberty and make an end of tyranny. Bnt not, an' it please yon, with child's playg and the oast-off garmentry of tyrants. What can yon do to me in the Inn of the Swan that can eqnal the end of poor Hans Pulitz— of whom they found neither bone nor hair, too^ np no fragment of skin oi' nail, save'the golden chain only, tooth-scarred and besmvered, which he wore about his waist. And the belt yon may see for yourselves any day if you give me your company within the Red To^wer.'* Now, as may wdl be understood, if the Society of the White Wolf was angry before, it was both angry and, frightened now, which is a thing infinitely more dan- gerous. ■ *' L^t him die straightway I Let the taunting blas- phemef die j" they cried.' And again, for the .third time, the holitf?>" voice pronounced my doom. ^^ " It is well,'' I shouted amid the din. " Ir is thrice well. But look ye to it. By the morrow's mom there shall not be one of you in your l^eds — aye, and those* whoB9 heads are rolled in the dust shall count yourselves the fortunate ones. For they at least will escape the fiite of poor Hans Pulitz." Now sorely dfo I wonder, at this distance of time, that they did not slay me in good earnest. But I have learned from that night in the Inn of the Swan that ^hen de- fiance has to be made, it is ever best to deal in po half- measures. And, besides, coming from the Red '^ower of the Wolfsberg, their precious Society of the White Wolf, with its mummery and flummery, fille^ bound wrists to my brow and tried to push the bandage '' back. ^^^ was firmly tied, and it was but dimly that I saw. ^j^wll o' ^^^ White Wolf filled with the armed men of unpnWs body-guard, boisterously laughing, with their Han(|B o^. their sides, or kicking over the mock throne -Covered with white^ £loth^ the cpilt of rope, ihe painted|EOod, and the other properties of this very faint* hearteo^ehmgericht. ' " Bati^hat have we hue f" thoy^Hed; when they o»md ■v I I is". ■T^^ >■- vp&n ine, tiiotiiid and helpleis, with the bandage only half pushed off my eyes. h^ '* H^ave him np on his pins, and let ns look at hhn/* qnoth a bnrly guardsman. " I trust he is no one of any account. I want not to see another suoh job done on a poor scheming knave 4ike that last, when the Duke Oasi- mir settled accounts yrith Hans Pulitz I'' . ^ Ha ! ha I" laughed' his companion ; " a rare jest, i' faitih ; 'tis the son of our own Bed Axe— a prisoner of the White Wolf and re«dy for the edge. We came luJb mo- ment too soon, youngster. What do you here f*^^^ ' %Why," said I, "it chanced that I spoke slightingly of IbMr j^recious nonsense of a White Wolf. But they dared ffdt do me harm. They were all more frightened . than a giggling maiden is of the dark, when no man is withher.'^ / ^^% ■. — ..' ^ Then I saw my fath^ at the en0pt the hall. He came towal^i^m. olaijn his bteck Tribi$ial costume. *' Weliip^lM, quaiiitty, like one that has a jest with ^ himself ^wbich he will not tell, "have you had enough of marching lu^^in-glove with treason £^ 1 wot this mum- meary of tBwjrraite Wolf y^ serte jomior some time.'* I was proceeding to tell Him liU that hailiipasse^ but he patted me on.Jhe shonldiil^V ' * ^*^ " I heard if all, la^y^d yon did 'well enough-— save for yonr windin^ss aboi||^p|rte and fhe Free Cities — which, .^ as I see it^arf by ft^OP w*"t tyrannies^ But, after all, you spoke as beoami^ja Gottfried, and one day, I doubt not, yon tfhall worthily learn the secrets, bear the burden, and enlarge the honoirs of the fourteen Bed Axes of the WoIfmaJk." '^^ •■ \') \.. I imo< I CHAPTER TX A HEEO CABBIES WA-tER IN THE SUK With all which adventnring and bepraisefment back a^d forthjlos those who know nineteen will ret^ily be assured, I went home no little elated. iFor had I not come'^without dishonor through a new and vemarkabte ^perience, and even 4gfied the Mystery of the White %ro^. at perhaps more risk to myself than at the time I haJHtaagined. For, as I found afterwards, there were thosl^mong the company at the Swan tluit night of sterner mould and more serions make than Miohael Texel. * Bi^t) at all events, home to the Bed Tower I strode, whistling, and in a very cooksare hnmor.^ The little Helene was going abont her hoose silently and distantly when | came down from my room on the forenoon of the morrow. She did not dbzne forward to be kissed, as had been her wont .every moom- ing^ver since I carried her, a little forlorn maid, up to mine ^wn bed that ohill winter's night. "A good-morrow. Little Playmaie I" I bade her,igajly. For my heart was singing a good tune, well pleased with itself and willing to be at amity with every one else — oonnting indeed, as is the wont of brisk hearts, -a gloomy face little less than a personal insnlt. — Btit^he maid did^iot answer, neitiNr^iBdied seem to have heard me. ** I bade yon fair good-morning, Helene,'* said I, again, stopping in my walk across to my braakfaat^plattor. 65 ■■# .f Irf V THE RED AXB Bnt still she was silent, casting sand upon the tiled floor and sweeping it np with great vigor, all her fair body swaying and yielding to the grace of movement at every stroke. Strange, it peemed she was now just about the age when I developed those nodosities of kniee and elbow which troubled me so so'te, but yet there was noth- ing of the kind about her, pnly delicate slimness mi featly rounded grace. I went over to her, and would have set tny palm af- fectionately on her shoulder. But she escaped, just as a bird does when you try to put your hand upon it. It does not seem to fly off. It simply is 'not ^ere when your hand reaches the place. ** Let be," she said, looking upon me haughtily. " By what right do you seek to touch m6, sir ?" ''Sweetheart," said I> following her, and much aston- ished, ''because I have always done it and yon never objected before." "When I was a child, and when you loved me as a child, it was well. But now, when I am neither a child nor yet do you love me, I would have you cease to treat me as yon have done." "Yon are indeed no longer a child, but the fairest of sweet maids," I made answer. " I will do nothing you do not wish me to do. For, hearken to me, Helene, my heart is bound up in you, as indeed you know. Bnt as to the second word of accusation — that I do not love yon any more — " " You do not— you cannot 1" she interrupted, " or you would not go out with Michael Texel all night to drink* ing-plaoeS;, »nd worse, keeping your father and those that do love awake, hurting their hearts here " (she pi^iier hand on her side), "and all for what — that you may drink and revel and rnn into danger with/yonr tni> IriiidsP "Sweetheart," I began — ^penitently. S6 A HERO CARRIES* WATER IN THE SUM -^■i-^i The Little Playmate made a gesture of infinite im- patience. - "Do not oall'me that," she said ; *' you have no ri^. I am not your sweetheart. Yon have no heart at i^ to love, any one with, or you would not behave as yon have done lately. Yon are naught but a silly, selfish boy, that cares for nothing but his own applause and thinks that he has nothing to do but to come home when his high mightiness is ready and find us all on our knees before him, saying : * Put your foot, great sir, on our necks — BO shall we be happy and honored.*" Now this was so perilously near the truth that I was mightily incensed, and I felt that I did well to be angry. "Girl," I said, grandly, "you do not know what you say. I have been abroad all night on the service of the State, and I have discovered a most dangerous conspir- acy at the peril of my life I" For I thought it was as well to put the best face on the matter ; and, besides, I have never been able, all the days of me, to hide my light under a bushel, as the clerks prate about. ' But I was not yet done with my adventuring of this eventful day. And in spite t>f my father setting me, like a misbehaving bairn, to the drudgery of the water-carry- ing, there uras more in life for me that day than merely hauling upon a handle. For that is a thing which galls an aspiring youth jrc^^an any other labor, being so terribly mouotonoff >' As for me, I did noifiajcis kindly to it at all — ^not even thongh I oonld see mine own image deep in the pails of water as they came np brimming and cool out of the fem-growp, dripping darkness of the well. Aye, and thongh the image given back to me was (I say it only of that time)^A likely enough picture of » lad-^with she orifped locks that curled whenever they were wet, cheeki like apples, and skin that hath Always been a trouble to m ^' 'li a ■r 1 THE RED AXE me. For I thought it nnmanlj and like a girl's. An4 that same skin of mine is, perhaps, the reason why all my days I never could abide your buttermilk-and-roses girls, having a supply about me enough to serve a dozen, and therefore thinking but little of their stock-in-trade. Now in the Wolfmark this is the coi^mon kind of beauty— not that beauty of any kind. is ^ter-common. For our maids— especially those of the country— .look too ..muchasif they had been made out of wooden pillows such as laborers use to lay their heads on of nights— ^ne large bolster set on the top of two other fittle onep> and all three well wadded with ticking and feathers. But I hope no one will go back to the Wolfmark and tWl the maids that Hugo Gottfried said this of them, or of a sujrety my left ear will tingle with the running of their tongues if there be any truth in the old saw. ' ' It was three of the clock and the sun was very fierce ■« on the dusty, unslaked yard of the Wolfsberg, glaring down upon us like the mouth of a wide smelter's oven. 'Fat Fritz, the porter, jn hii.arm-chafr of b cell, had well- pigh dissolved into lard and running out ai his own door. " The Playmate's window was open, and I caught the waft . ^ A HERO CARRIES WATER IN THE«f8UN her feet on a stool ^d a cool jug of cnrds at her elbow, while I sweated and labored in the snn. Very decidedly it must be Texel j deyil fly up with him and scraftch him among the gargoyles of the min- ster I The fan wagged on. It looked distraot^ngly cooj, with- in; But then my father— filial obedience was very dis- tinctly a duty, and, also, Gottfried Gottfried, though kind, was a man not to be disobeyed-«-even at nineteen, and after defying the White Wolf. It wasi as I have said, about three by the sundial on ^ the yall,. the arch of which cast a shadow like jet on the 8ca^, -that my father came out through the narrow doo4^ from the Judgment Hall, opening it with his own key.' Fot he had the right of entrance and outgoing «f every mar iiftthe palace, not even excepting the bedchamber of Duke Oasimir. . " Hugo," he said, ^come hither, Jad. I did not mean to keep you so long at work in the sun. You must have filled all the cisterns in the place by this time I" I thanked him sincerely, but did not pArsue the sub- ject. For, indeed, I had not worked quite so hard as in his haste my father had supposed f^bi my appearance. "Go within," he said ; " don qu^JWy your saint's-day dress, and betake yourself do^ni to the house of Master Gerard von Sturm, the city chamberlain, and tell him all that he asks of you — readily and truly." " ,"; "But, father," said I, "suppose he asks of me that which mi|ht condemn one who has trusted me, what am I to say r ; "Tut, boy," said my father, impatlahtly, "you mea»i young Michael Texel. Fear not for him. He was the first |o inform. He waff at Master von Stnwn's by eight thia morning, elbowing half a dozen overs', all burning and shining lights of 'the famous Society of the White Wolf. You ore th« hero of the day doWn'lihera, it . 11 i-'^ % ■C:]4 *• ' ., THE RED AXE " And lo 1 here I am flouted by a sfripling girl, and set to carry water by the hour in the broiling sun 1" I said within myself. I possessed, however, though with- out doubt a manifest hero, far too much of the unheroio quality of discretion to say this aloud to my father. - "I thank you, sir," I said, respectfully. "I will go at once and put on my finest coat and my shoes of Bilk.'* My father smiled. "You need not be particular as to the silk shoes. 'Tis to see Master von Sturm, not to court pretty Mistress Ysolinde, that I asked you to visit the lawyer's house by the Weiss Thor.'* ^ But I was not sorry to be able to proclaim my destina- tion as Icmd'^s I dared without causing suspicion. "Hanne,"I (pried down the turret stairs, "I pray you bring me the silken shoes with the ribbon bows of silk. I am going down to Masjter von Sturm's house! ; also my gold ohain and bonnet of blue velvet with the golden feather in it which I won at the last arrow-shooting." I saw the fluttering of the fan falter and stop. A light fo6t went pattering up the stairway and a door slammed in the tower. Then I laughed, like the vain, silly boy I was. ' " Mistress Helene," I said to myself, " you will find that poor Hugo, whom you flouted and despised, can yet pay his-debts 1" So I put on the fine clothes which I wore on festal days and sallied forth. Now, though the lower orders still hated my father and all that came out of the Bed Tower, or indeed, foj the matter of that, out of the Wolfs- berg, withliardly concealed malice — yet there were many in the city, specially among those of the upper classes, who began to think well of my determination to try an- other way of life than that to which I had been bom. For I made no secret of the matter to Michael Texel and •noU of his comrades as joined ns in oar gatherings. 60 ^ '5 A HERO CARRIES WATER IN THE SUN Indeed, now, when I come to think of it, it seems to me that my father was the only person of my acquaint- ance who did not suspect that I was resolved never to wear either the black robe of Inquisition or the crimson of Final J&dgment. * Yet it wore round to within two years, and indeed rather less, of the time for my inittation into the mys- teries of the Red Axe, and still I remained at home, an idle boy, playing at single-stick and fence with the men- at^rms, drinking beer in the evening with my bosom cronies, and in the well-grounded opinion of all honest . people, likely enough to come to no good. But I, Hugo Gottfried, had my eyes and my books open, and knew that I was but biding my time. So it came about that I carried no taint of the dread associations of the Wolfsberg about V0 sa I we^ down the bustling street to the Weiss Thor tjp Jail on that learned and well -reputed lawyer. Master Gerard von Sturm. So great was the fame of Master Gerard that he was often called in to settle the mercantile (Jnarrels of the burghers among themselves, and lyai even chosen as 'arbiter between those of other towns. » For,^4;hough accounted severe, he had universally the name of a just and wise man, who would not' rob th§ litigants of all their valuable^ and then decide in favor«of neither, as was too often the way with the "justice" of the great nobles. As for Duke Oasimir of the Wolfmark, np man or ^ . woman went near him on any plea whatsoever, save that , of asking mercy or favor. And ftnless my father chanced to be at hand, mostly they asked in vain, For, as I now knew, he had to keep up the common bruit of hiniself throughout the country a»Na crilel, fearless, and Impla- cable tyrant. Besides, his Tears were so constant and 80 great, perhaps also so well- founded, that often he dared not be mer(;|^al. . - f Isl i ili^ I '\l ^BAPTER X THE liUBBEB FIEND At five of the clock I lifteJ the great wolf's -head koocker of shining brass which frowned above the door of Master -Gerard von Sturm in the port of the Weiss Thor. Hardly had I let it fall again when a small Wicket, apparently about two feet above my head, opened, and a huge round head with enormous ears at either side peeped out. So vast was the head and so small the aper- ture that one of the lateral wings of the chubby face caught on the sill, and the ownei* brought it away suc- cessfully with a jerk and a perfectly good-humored and vaudible "flip." ' " Who are yotf, and what do"you w^ant r said a wide- gashed mouth, ^which, with a squat, flattened-oul< nose and two merry little twinkling eyes, completed this won- derful apparition. ' The words were in themselves somewhat rud^. On paper I observe that they have an appearance almost truculent. But spoken as the thing framed in the win- dow-sill said them, they were equal to a song of Bruder- shaft and an episcopal benediction rolled in one. " I am Hugo Gottfried of the Red Towet, come to see Master Gerard,'' I replied. " Who may you be that asks so boldly?" ; " I'll giye you a stalk of rhubarb to suck if. you can guess," was the unexpected answer. As I. had faeverHn my life s^en anything & the least like the prodigy, it was clearly, impossible for Ae to ^arti \ e 0^ THE LUBBER PIENi) the tart snccnlence of the Bummer vegetate on Buch easy terms. • .. J "I should s#/' I replied, " if the guess savor not of insolence, that one might be forgiven for mikakine von for the Fool of the Family I" s j The grin expanded till it wellnigh circumnavigated the vast head. It seemed first of all to mJb straight for^the ears on either side. Then, quite suddenly, find- ing these obstacles insurmountable, it dodged under- neath them, and the scared observer could almost im- agine its two ends meeting with a c^k somewheriin the wUderness at the back of that unseen hemisphere of hairy thatch. ' ,, . . " Pinked in the white, first tim^^no jtrial shot l" cried the object m the doorway, cheerily. "I am the Fool of the Family. But not the only one !" At this moment somethiijg happened behind— what I could not make out for some time.' The kad abruptly disappeared. There was a noise as of floor-rugs being vigorously, beaten, the door opened, and the most ex- traordinary figure was shot out into the street. The head which I hadyieen certainly came fif st, but so lengthy a-body followed that it seemed a vain tiding to expect Ws in addition. Yet, fihally, Uo appeared, each of which , wonld have made a decent body of itsejf-,and went whirl- rng across the street till the whole m"onstro$ity . came noleritly into collision with the wajls df the house oppo- Bite, which seemed to rock to its very foundations under the sssanlt. ci^»/®°®°*^®'^^'^^ ■"**"* in a semi-dotftorial iivery of blac^ cloth, with a large white collar laid far over his Bhouldel-B, and cuffs, of thfe ame upon his wrisfa, stood iii the open doorwiij and smiled apologetycally at the yia- itbr. He was rather red in the face and parted with his ' exertibna. * ' T - ' W" " X *^lMk your pardon, young'sir,^' be jiaid. . "That lod. *.•• -4Vr- .•<%«. "I- -^^ i'iUi^.'d; 'b 1 ;j; i" • THE REb AXE Jan Lubber Fiend^ will ever be at hig tricks. 'Tis my .yonng mistress that encourages him, more is the pity I For poor serving-men are held responsible for his knavish OQ-goings. Why, I had just set him cross-legged in the yard with a basket of pease to shell, seeing how he grpws as much as a foot in the night — or near by. yBat so soon as my back is turned he will be forever auiffdring the door and peeping out into thip street to gather the mon- grel boys about iiim. 'Tis a most foul Lubber Fielid to l^eep about an honest house, plaguing decent folks withal I" "By this time thiS great oaf had come back to the door of the house, and now stood alternately rubbing his el- bow and rear, with an expression ludicrously penitent, at once puzzled and kindly. "Ah, come in with you, will you?" said the 'man. "Oertes, were it not for Mistress Ysolinde, I would set on the little imps of the street to nip you to pieces and eat you raw." The angry serving-man held the door as wide as pos- sible and stood aside, whereat the Lubber Fiend tucked his head so far down that it seemed to disappear into the cavity of his chest, and scurried along the passage bent almost double. As he passed the door he drew all the 'latter part of h|is body together, exactly like a dog that fears a kick in the by-going. The respectable maidser- vant stirred not a muscle, but the gesture told a tale of the discipline of the house by the White Gate at times when visitors were not being admitted by the main door, and when Mistress Ysolinde, favorer of the Fool Lubber Fiend, was not so closely at hand. It was a grand house, too, the finest I had ever seen, with hangings of arras everywhere, many and parti-col- ored — red hunters who hunted, green foresters who shot, puff-cheeked boys blowing on hunting-horns; a house with mysterious vistas, glimpses into dim-lit rooms, wafts of perfume, lamps that were not extinguished even in W *f, \ THE LUBBER FIEND the daytime, burning far witHin. All in mighty strik- ing contrast to the bare stark strength of our Red Tower on the Wolfsberg with its walls fourteen -feet thick. As I followed the servipg-man through the halls and stairways my feet fell without noise on carpets never woven in our bare-floored Germany, nor yet in England, where they still streW rushes, even (so they say) in the very dining-rooms of the great— surely a most barbarous and unwholesome country. Nevertheless, carpets of wori- drous hu6 were here in the house of Master Gejard, . scariet and blue, and so thick of ply that the foot sank . into them as if reluctant ever to rise again. \ As I came to the landing-place at, the head\of the stairway, one passed hastily before me and above me, y with a sough and a rustle like the wind among tall pop-T lar-trees on the can^edges. I looked up, and^lo !^ girl, not beautiful, but, as it /- were, rather strange and^fascinating. She was lithe like ' a serpent and undulated in her walk. Her dress was sea-green silk of a rare loom, and clung closely about her. It had scales upon it of dull gold, which gave back a lustrous under -gleam of coppery red as she moved. She had a pale, eager fac6, lined wiih precision enough, but filled more with passion than womanly charm. Her eyes were emerald and beautiful, as the sea is when yqn look down upon it from a height and the white sand shines up through the "blear depths. : • Such was Ysolinde, daughter of Gerard von Sturm, favorer of Lubber Fiends and creator of this strange - paradise through which she glided like a spangled Orient serpent. As I made my way humbly enough across to Master Gerard's 1-oom his daughter did not speak to me, only followed me boldly, ai^d yet, as it seemed to me, somewhat wistfully too, with her^sea-green eyes. And as the door " -5ra8 closing upon me I saw her beckon the serving-man. ■ 65 - i5!i il IV' y THB RED AXB Bat I, on the^ inner side of the door, and with Master Gerard von Sturm before me, had enough to do to tell my tale and answer his questions without troubling my head about green-eyed girls. Master Geiiard was as remarkable looking to the full as his daughter, wit£ the same luminously green eyes. But the drbs which in the maid shone as ^teadily clear as the depths of the sea, in the father glittered opalescent where he sat in the dusk, like the eyes of Grimalkin cornered by dogs in some gloomy angle of the Wolfsbe'rg wall. As soon as I had set eyes on him I knew that I had to do with a man — ^not with a walking show like my Lord Dhke Casimir. It struck me that for good or evil Master Gerai;d could carry through his intent to the bitter end, and that in council he would smile when he saw my father change his black vesture of trial for the red of beheading. >^ The Docttfi* <}erafd was little sden in the streets of Thorn. Many citizens had neyer so much as set eyes on him. Nevertheless his hand was in everything. Sdine said he was a Jew, chiefly because none knew ptghtiy what be was or whence he had come. Thirty years had gone by since he had suddenly appeared one day in the noble old house by the Weiss Thor, from which Griit^ the wizard and his wife had be^n burned out by the fury of the populace. Twenty years of artistic labor had, made this place what it now was. And the little impish maid who used to break ui/dxpectedly upon thte workmen of Thorn from behdnd doors, or who clapped hands upon their shoulders in \dus]i^ recesses, scaring them out of their wits with' suggestions of witch-masters long dc and damned, had grown into this maid of the sea-gr eyes and silken draperies. " A gpod-da^ to you, HngQ Gottfried I" said Ma Gerard, quietly, looking at me keenly across the ^able. He wore a skull-cap on his closely cropped h^ad. Oste V ~J . Tm ^ 4 THE LUBBER FI,BND br two betraying looks oJF gray apjpeiftredyH|idr it in front, but did not conceal a flat lofehead,flH|b ran bact^^at such an angle that, with the Inminous^es beneath it, it gave him the look of a serpent rearing his yellow Hjead a little back in act to strike. This was a lopk. his daughter had also. But in her the gesture was tempered hj the free-playing curt^s of .a beautiful throat ^nd thft»forward' thrust of a rounded chin— advantages not pdisseBsed by the angular anatomy and bony jaw ef the famous doctor of law. Master Gerard, clad in a long robe of black velvet from head to heel, sat bending his fingers gracefully together and looking at nie. His head was thrown back, I have said, and the lights of the colored windows striking on his gra^air and black skull-cap, -caused him to look much lore like some lean ascetic ecclesiastic and prince of the church than the chief tmrjer of the ancient capital of the Wolfmark, " You were present at thig child's play yester-eye^ in the hostel of the White Swan?" he asked, boring into me with his uncomfortable, triangular eyes. «§ " Aye, truly," said I, " and much they made of me 1" , For since my father said that I was accounted, a hero in this house, I had determined not to hide away my deeds in my leathern scrip. I had had enough practice in playing at modesty in the Tower of the Red Axe. Master Gerard shook his shoulders as though he would have'made me believe that he laughed. " You were over many for them, I hear ; great silly fellows — children playing with fire yet afraid to burn themselves. Why, since ten" this morning I have had them all here — stout burgomeister's sons, slim scions of the Burghershaft, moist-eyed corporation children, each more anxious than another to prove that he had nothing to ^o with any treason. He had but called in at the White Swap for a draught of Frederika's famous stone 91 6 \ \ ,,' •« ■* . . "^ ■ \ ■ r If ' ' 1 ' .' * -' \. - 1 • - ■ ■ / / » /' V V, " s / ■ m^^^^^ji Ik:.., .... .. \ ,■^*•■ •I .■?■' .,,* I / v. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ♦-I* X /, {./ ^ .^. ^ /. 4Uo fA LL 1.25 2.0 U 11 1.6 T»" / ■^ JL Phntngranhir ^Sdeices Corporation 23 WfST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 145S0 (716) •72-4503 W- *iWIW *V «,■**' ".^.'^Ah ' vS*ij *-rf W' THE RED AXE ale, and so — well, he found himself somehow in the rear, and, all againair his will, wm dragged into the Lair of the White Wolf!" ^ He looked at me quietly, without speaking, for a while. "And you. Master Hugo, did you go thither to distin- guish yourself by breaking «p.their child's folly, or, like the others, to taste the stone ale f* It was a question I had not expected. But it was best to be very plain with Master Gerard. "I went," I replied, "along with Michael Texel, be- cause he askld. me. I knew not in the least what I was to see, but I was ready for anything." "And you acquitted yourself on the whole extremely well," he nodded ; " so at least they are afl very ready to say, hoping, I doubt not, for your good offices with the Duke when it comes to their turn. > You flouted them right manfully and defied their mystery, they told me." At this moment I became conscious that a door oppo- site me was open and the curtain drawn % little way back. There, in the half-light, I saw Mistress Vsolinde listen- ing. She leaned her head aside as though it had been heavy with its weight of locks of burned gold. She pil- lowed her cheek against the door-post, and let her dreamy sea-green eyes rest upon me. And the look that was In them gave me a sense of pleasure strange and acute, as well as a restless uneasiness and vague desire to escape out under the blue sky, and mingle with the throng of every-day mea on the streets of the city. % ^ -_rf CHAPTER XI ' ■ ^ THE VISION IS THE CET8TAL Master Gerabd, however, did not seem to be aware of her presence, for he continued his catechism steadily. " Yon mocked at their terrors, did yon not, and told them that yon, who had seen the teeth of the Dnke's hounds, had nothing to fear from the bare gums of the White Wolf ?" " I knew that they but plaved,** I answered, "and that I had little to fear." For with Ysolinde von Sturm watching me with her eyes I could not for very shame's sake make myself great. "You told them more than that," the girl cried, sud- denly flashing on me a look keen as the light on a sword when it comes home from the cutler. " You told *bem that you too desired a freer commonwealth I" .^ " I did," said I, flushing quickly, for I had thotight to keep my thumb on that. Nevertheless I was not going back on my spoken word, even in the presence of Duke Oasimir's inquisitor. Be- sides which I judged that my father had influence enough to bring me out scathless. "That is well and bravely said I" he replied, smiling with thin lips which in all their constant writhings showed no veatige of teeth within ; "but the sentiment itself is somewhat strange in the son of the Red Axe and the future Executioner of Justice in the Wolf mark." Then for the first time I permitted my eyes to rest on the lithe figure of the girl in the doorway. Methought «9 .% THE RED AXE she inclined her head a little forward to catch my an- swer as if it had been a matter of interest to her "I am indeed son of the Bed Axe," said I, " but my own head would underlie it rather than that I should ever be Hereditary Juaticer of the Mark." A smile that was meant for me passed over the mrl's face and momently sweetened her lips. She straightened her body and set a hand more easily to her waist. Acer- tarn kindness dwelt in her emerald eyes. "Never be Duke's Juaticer I" cried' Master Gerard, lookmg up with his hand on a skull. " This is unheard • L u i"**^.^^" *'^^ only son of Gottfried Gottfried, nght hand of Dtake Oaaimir, highest in favor^ith his u-race f And within two years, according to the law of the headsman, must you not also don the Bed^and the Black and stand at the Duke's left hand, as yotir father at his nght, when he sits in judgment ?" I bowed my head for answer. dMb "Even 80," said I; "but long bef o«i|Pime I shall be either m a far country waging tl»e wSs of another ^ lord, or in a country yet farther-that' td which the men Of toy race have directed so many untimeously " " Have you at all thought.of the land or the lord to whom you would transfer your allegiance ?" said Gerard von 8turm,^careles8ly rapping with his fingers on the bare white of the skull before him. " I have not," I replied as easily. *i,^® J??^?"^ ^°'^.* moment, and drew his bUck robe thoughtfully over his knee as if turning the matter over m his mind. " What thtnk you of Plassenburg and the semee of Prince Karl r he said at last. "The place is too near and the man a usurper," I re- phed, brusquely. t^ > «HT "^""L^ *'''®*" ^*^®'* ^^^^ mused, slowly, that it might not be advantageous to ^ide n^r home. Duke Oaamur u mortal, after all^long a&d prdEeroualy 3: ! THE VISION IN THE CHYSTAL 3: I may he lire !" (Here he inclined his head pionsly, while naming his master.) /'Bat who knows how long he may be spared to reign over a loving people. And after that, why, there may be more nsnrpers. For by the name 'nsnrper' the ignorant mostly mean men of the strong heart and sure brain, who can hold that which they have with one hand and reach pnt for more with the other." While he spoke thns he looked at me with his green eyes half closed. *' Bat,'' said I, calmly enongh, though my heart beat fast, " I am but a lad antried. I may never rise beyond a private soldier. I may be killed at the first assavlt of iny virgin campaign." Master Gerard Jpoked np quickly. He beckoned to his daughter. For though by no faintest gesture had he betrayed his knowledge of her presence, he had yet clearly known it all the tim&. ** Ysolinde," he said, " bring hither thy crystal !" The maid disappeared 'and presently returned with a ball in her hand of some substance which looked: like misty glass. "^ " I have been looking in it already," she said, " ever since Hugo Gottfried came out of the Bed Tower." Her voice was soft and even, with the same sough in it as of the wind among poplar-trees which I had heard in the rustle of her silken dress as she came np the stair. ** And what," asked her father, ** have you seen in the crystal, child of my heart ?" He looked up at me with some little shamefacedness, or so I imagined. " I am a dry old man of the law," he went on, "dusty of heart as these black books up yonder — ^books not of magic but of fact, of crime and pain and penalty. But this my daughter Ysolinde, wise from a child, solaoei 71 ' if THE RED AXE mr«"ndtrW«l-'^*'' ^""r^* magfc, such aa helps cmtel baJlIn .f l',T ""'' '**'^^'« ^"««' '^d held the ' o7hS v-S ? *\' ^°"°^ °' ^«^ ^^^^' against the sable or thnl 'f 'V ^'^^ P*«««^ <>"« ha^ ophidian brow. ^ " When you have all things ready," he said, *' come to \ me for the letter of introduction, and also for that which may obtain you ft worthy outfit for your journeying to Plassenburg. Qr, if you are already Sir Proud-Heart, ydu can repay me one day, with usury if you wUl. I care not to stand on observances with you, nor d4|ke that you should feel any obligation to a feeble old man." " I am^iot proud," I said, " and my sense of obligation IS already greater than ever I can hope to discharge." "I thank you; my lad," he said. "Often hare I wished for a son of the flesh like yon as you passed the window with your companions— but go, go I" And with his hand he pushed me out upon the stair- head and shat the door. For a space I knew not where I stood. For what with the turmoil of my thoughts and the myriad of impres- sions, hopes, fears, visions, regrets to leare ftie Bed Towey, the city of Thorn, the hope of seeing again that high- j)oised head of burned gold of the Lady Ysolinde, I paused stock-still, moidered and dazed, till ft light hand touched me on the shoulder and the soft, even voice spoke in my ear. V THE VISION. IN THE CRYSTAL ''^ (( Master Hngo,« aaid the Lady Yeolinde, bendW kindly to me, "I am glad, yery glad-^e, though yoS LTi°!f1f °? ^T^ »ch6» (here she nodded blamef^Uy and laid her hand upon her heart as if that ached too)- it ^rr k' V JT* '^^^ '''^^ *^"^°« y°" 'o't'ine. Oh, It li the best of fortunes, and sure to come true. Be' ZT i7n '"'" L* ** "' ^'"^^''^ *>' » Thursday in the time of full moon/' "Come hither," she said, beckoning me; "we shall ILT *r7.l^ ""^ '^ ^'^' '^ «P^*« «' *h« headache. It may be that there is more that concerns you for me to see m the ink-pool.« ^ aI!!'^J^'\ '^'\*°°^ "^^^^ ^""^ »J°^o«t Polled me h«r .' f '' ^^ ^"'''- ^^ ^« ^«^J^ I «»^ the wild head and staring eyeballs of Jan. the Lubber Fiend peer- ing at us. He was lying on the back staircase, prone on his stomach, apparently extending from top to bottom down the swirl of it, and with his chin poised o^ the topmost step. But as we came down the Lr thj^ad seemed to be wholly detached from any body. TgSid r ttn "J;*^;"yfi^Pf d/ith mirthful pleasure aid antic J^ - could see both the beginning and end of that smile. ' Lubber Jan said she, "go and sit in the yard. The servants will be complaining of thee again, that before*!^ ''*°'' ""^ *^' '^''°*''' ^^^'^ ^^^^^^ ^^ iJw ?'/ I do," mumbled the monster, "will you ^LT t Tl°^ *' ^''"* ^^^'^ ^° '^^^ hour, between every stroke of the clock. Else will Jan not stop in the yard, but come within to feast his eyes on thee." -*« ^^\r^J^>" 8^« said, smiling with a gentle complai- fZ ^''t t T^' "^' "^^ ^'^ somewhat better than be- fore, "I wUl look out at least once in the hour." in^l i!tT*L* ^i^^'n^u ' r""^ *«*'" ** "»«' «tiU hold- ing me by the hand. The Lubber Fiend pulled faia fore- W I II THE RED AXE lock, and reaching downward his head, ag if he had the power of stretching out his neck like an arm, he kissed the cold pavement where her foot had rested a moment before. Then he rather retracted himself, serpentwise, then betook him in Christian fashion dowp the stair, and we heard him move out amid a babel of serratorial recriminations into the outer yard. "A poor innocent," said the Lady Ysolinde; "one that worships me, as you see. He is so great of stature and so uncouth that the children persecute him, and some day he m/»;f do one of them an injury". Years ago I rescued him from an evil pack of them and brought him hither. So that is the reason why he cleaves to me »f "An excellent reason, my lady," said I, "for any to cleave to you." "Ah," she said, wistfully, "only fools think of Yso- linde in the city of Thorn. Some are afraid and pass by, and the rest are as the dogs that lick the garbage in the streets. Here J have no friends, sate my father only, and here or elsewhere 1 have never had any that truly loved me." "But yon are young— you are fair," I answered. "Many must come seeking your favor." Thus did I be- gin lumpishly enough to comfort her. But at my first words she snatched her fingers away angrily, and then in a moment relented. " You mean well," she said, giving her hand back to me again, "but it is not pity Ysolinde needs nor yet desires. But that is no matter. Com^ in hither and see what may abide for you in the depths of the black pool." At the curtained doorway she turned and looked me in thff eyes. "If you were as other young men it would be easy for yon to misjudge me. this is mine own work-chamber. TO •^ ( THE vraiON IN THE CRYSTAL and I bid you oome into it, having seen you but an hour ago."^ Yet never a man save my father only hath set hi* foot in it before. Inquire carefully of your 'companion* m the city of Thorn, and if any make pretension to ac- quaintance with the Lady Ysolinde of the White Gate strike him in the face and call him liar, for the sake of the favor I have shown you and the vision I saw con- cerning you in the crystaj." I stooped and kissed her hand, which was burning hot —a thin little hand, with long, supple fingers which bent in one's grasp. "" "The man who would pretend to such a thing is dead even as he speaks," said I ; and I meant it fully. "I thank you— it is well," she answered, leading me in. " I only desired that you should not misjudge me." "That could I never do if I would," I made her an- swer. "Here my every thought is reverence as in the oratory of a saint." She smiled a strange smile. "Mayhap that is rather more than I desire," she said.. " Say rather in theM^en bower of a woman who knows well whom she may! rtist." „, Again I kissed her hand for the correction.- And, as 1 remembered. afterwards, it was at tfi^t hour that the little Princess, Playmate was used to look within my chamber to see that all was ready for me. , And, had I known it, even that night she stooped over and kissed the pillow where my head was to lie. "Dear love PahjB was used to say. Alas that I heted it not then.1 ^ i^'i'ksr- If-J'-'-^vi*^---!'^"*;;.-. \ J 'I: up In. i CHAPTER XII EYES OP EMBBALD \ " - ^ It waa 9, strange little rootn i^to which the Lady Ysohnde brought mei full of quaint, changeful scents, and all ablaze with colore the like of which I had never seen. For not only were rugs and mats of outlandish Eastern design scattered over the floor, but there was vividly colored glass in the small, deeply set windows. Yet that which affected me most powerfully was a curi- ous, clinging, evanescent odor, which came and went like a breeze t|irough an open window. .*I liked it at firet, but after a, little it went to my head like a perfumed wine of Qreece, such as the men of Venice sometimes send to our northern lands with their embassies of mer- chandise. yAltogether, it waaa strange enough apartment for the daughter of a lawyer in the city of Thoiw, within a mile of the bare fetidal strengths of the Red Tower and the Wolfsberg. All this while Ysolinde had kept my hand, a thing which at once thrilled and shamed me. For though I had never been what is called "in love*' with the Little Playmate, nor till that^ay had spoken a word to her my father might not have heard, yet hitherto she had «ljay8 been 'first and sole in my heart whenever I thpught on the things which were to be. The Lady Ysolinde having brought me to her chamber, bade toe sit upon an oaken folding-stool beside a table. ' on which lay weapons of carious design— crooked kniytfi - 78 / :^ J ■^ EYES OP EMERALD and jJbisoned arrows. Then ahe went to nn ivory tju^ board of the Orient (or, u they are called in Holy Writ^ N an ivory palace "), and opening the beautifully fltUni? door, she took from it a amall square bottle of red fflara which she held between her and the light. '^It is well," she said, looking lo»g and carefnllv at it- • "it will flow." ♦HS «"«* "weiuiiy at It, ^ And coHiing to the table and pouring some of a shin- mg black liquid into the palAi df her left hand, she sat down beside me on the stool and gazed steadily into the little pool of ink. . „ It was strange to me to sit thus, motionless beside 4 - ' Vw T TiT? ^^^ '^°^ ^ *^«^ ^'^^^g^t »^«^)-80 near that I could feel the warmth^qf her body strike like jsun- Jhine through the silken fineness of her sea-green gown. I glanced up at her ey,js. They were fixed, and, as it ^ ^ seemed, glazed also. But the emerald In them, usually' lips m^«rd like those of a devotee kneeling in church. Fresently she began to speak. ^ "Hugo^Hugo Gottfried,, son of the Red Axe," she said, in the same hushed voice as before, most like run- ning water heard murmuring in a deep runnel under- ground, "you will live to be a man fortunate, well-be^ loved. You will kijpw love-yes, more than one shall love you. But you will love one only. I^ee the woman 5n whom your fate depends, yet not clearly-it may be. ' because my desire is so great to see her face. But she ■ is^taU and moves like a queen. She goes, clad in white like a bnde and hjbx arms are held out to you. , " 5at another shall love yon, aad' betweeh them two ther^ 18 darkness and hate, from which come bursting ^^;i^:;^r' '^'*^^^^*-«« and anger, anf "Again I see yon, great, honored, and sitting on a high seat. The woman whose laoe I oannot distSiguish ^ ^Iiitt^&i^^^£ ISfr* r Ij ' 1 ' •' 1 ■■■■'■ lli'," ll''i . i II':, i ■'i THE RED AXE is besidd yon, clt)t.hed in a robe of pnrple. And, yes, she wears a crown on her head like jhe coronet of a queen.*' , " Ysolinde irithdrew her eyes gradually from the ink- pool, as if it were a pain to look yet a greater to look away. Then with a quick jerk she threw up her head, and tears were standing in her eyes ready to overflow. 3pt the wetness made them beautiful, like a pebble of luR^ht colors with the dew npc|n it and shorte on by the sunshine of the jnoming. "Yon hurt me," ghe murmured reproachfully, looking at me more like a child than ever I had seen her. She was very near to me. **/ make you suffer I" cried I, greatly astonished. " Howl5an Hugo Gottfried have done this thing,?" For it seemed impossible that a poor lad, and one alien by his birth from the hearts of ordinary folk, should yet fi^ave the power to make a great ladiy suffer. For a great lady I knew Ysolinde to be even then, when her father seemed to be no more in the city of Thorn than Master Gerard, the fount and treasure-house of law and com- |)oser-general of quarrels. But I might have known that he was no true lawyer to be so eager about that last. For upon the continuance and fostering of differences the lasr-men of all nations thrive and eat their bread with honey thereto. As my father often said, "Better the stroke of the Bed Axe than that of the scrivener's goose-quill. My solution is kindlier, sooner over, hurts less, and is all the same in the end \" Ysolinde thought a little before she answered me. "No man ever made me suffer thus before," she said, "though I have seen and known many men. I am older thain yon, Hugo, and have travelled in many oonntries, ihelimcts fiom WMoli the^ thinp came. But true love,^ ^e pain and the pleasure of it, have I never known." 80 ETE8 OFEMERALD She leaned her head on her hand and her elbow on the table, turning thns to look long and intently at me I felt oafish and awkward, as Jan Lubber Fiend might have done before the King. Many things I might have wished to say and do with that slender figure and lissome V waist so near me. But I Qw not how ta begin. Yet \I think the desire came not so much from love or pas- Son, but rather from a natural longing to explore those mysteries concerning which I had read so much after Friar Laurence had done me the service of teaching me French. But it was well that stupidity was my friend For rebounding like a vain, upstart young monkey from my mood of self-depreciation, I must ne^ds hold it for certain that all was within my grasp, and that the Lady Ysolinde expected as touch of me, which thing would have wrought my downfall. "You ride soon to Plassenburg, I heat/' she said, af- ter she had looked at me a long time steadily with the emerald eyes shining upon me. Then it was that I saw clearly that they were not the right emerald in hue so much as of the shade of the stone aqua-marine, which is one not so rare, but a better color when it comes to the matter of maiden's eyes. "It is indeed true, my lady," I replied, disappointed at her words, and yet somehow infinitely relieved, *'that I ride soon to Plassenburg by the favoring of your fa^ ther, who has been gracious enough to promise me his jmterest with the Prince." I saw her lip curl a little with scorn— the least tUt of a rose leaf to which the sun has been unkind. She seemed about to speak, but presently thinkintt bettbr of it, smiled instead. ^ " It is like my father," she said, after » little : " but "nee I a J HO go t hi th e r, y o n sha U be of my etw w fc- -^- sufficient guard accompanies me all the way to the oity and I dare say the arrangement may serve your ooa- >J^ V THE RED AXE venience as well as add to the pleasure and safety of my journeying." "But how will your father do without your company Lady Ysolinde P' I asked. For it seemed strange that father and daughter should thus part without reason in these disturbed times. She laughed more heartily than I had heard her. " My father has been used to missing me for months at a time, and, moreover, is well resigned also. But you do not say that you are rejoiced to be of a lady's escort in so long a travel." "Indeed, I am much honored and glad to have so great a favor done to me. I am but a mannerless, landward youth, to have been bred in the outer courts of a palace. But that which I do not know you will teach me, and my faults I shall be eager to amend." " Pshaw I— psutt I" said Ysolinde, making a little face, "be not so mock-modest. You do very well. But tell me if you have any sweetheart in the city to leave be- hind you." Now this bold question at once reddened my face and heightened my confusion. " N^, lady," I stammered, conscious that I was blush- , ing furiously, "I am over-young to have thought much of the things of love. I know no woman in the city save our old house-keeper Hanne, and the Little Playmate." The Lady Ysolinde looked up quickly. "Ah, the Little Playmate !" she said, in a low voice, curiously distinct from that which she used when she had interpreted her visions to me. " The Little Play- mate I That sounds as though it might be interestinir. Who is the Little Playmate ?" " She is a maid whose folks were slain long ago by the ^nk e in a foray , and jhe little one being left, my father lagged lier life. And she has been brought up with me in the Bed Tower." or 1» BYES OP EMERALD wTb^wS; .£ t ^?' - ' - -""« '"- -- .ge^i """'' '''• ""J' •« » ■"«*'«' of Berenteen yew, of ;; h she pretty ?' w„ the next qaestion. mZlT, ■ °.°' '"'°™« "»" "I"" to my. fta?rX?" "°' """'' ?""y' «>». but beaati. I nodded. " More beautiful than I ?» Tore God I denied not mv love fhnn^v, t many a time been less temnfJ ^ /? ^ """^ ^ *^»^® and forth like .fJ::^^!!^' ' ''' ""''' ''''' ^^ "Yes/'saidl, "Ithinkso." « wTe,''?:;ttJ::air;:,K,^rr^^^ ^"'-.^ none in this city " ^ "" """ Job loved her notwitSirdrg Aif t wl i?" """• *"' ' '"" of doint anrthin'SL, \"^ u° i^" nerer thought ~«g lor my lortone in the oryst AXE a; pool that made her so eager to know all that coneerned me— which none had ever been to importunate to find ' out before. *'l mast come and see this Little Playmate off joni's,'' she said. '* It is an ill-done thing that so fair a maid shonld be shut up in the tower of such a pagan castle-^ the Wolfsberg; it is indeed well named. Word has reached me to-day that the Princess of Plassenburg has^ need of a bower maiden. Now the Princess can make her choice from v^nj noble fomilies. But if the Little Playmate be as beautiful as you say, *tis high time that she should not be left immured in the Red Tower of the Wolfsberg. True, the Duke, like a careful man, neither makes nor mells with womankind. Tis his only virtue. But any questing Bitterling or roaring free companion might bear her off." ^ ''I think not,'' said I, smiling, ''so long as the Bed Axe of the Mark has a polished edge and Gottfried Gott- fried can send it sheer through ^n ox's neok as he stands chewing the cud." I hardly think that I ever boasted of my father's prowess before. And, indeed, I had some skill in the axe-play myself, but only in the way of sport. "All one," said Ysolinde. "Your iather, like great Cesar and Duke Gasimir, is but mortal, and may stum- ble across the wooden stamp some day himself and find his neok - bone in twain I None so wise t^at he can tell when the Silent Bider shall meet him in the wood, leading by the bridle the pale horse whose name is Death, and beckoning him to mount and ride." The Lady Tsolinde paused a while, touching her lips thoughtfully with her fin^^Mrs. "Let vour Pteymate come." she said. "There it room, I warrant, for her and yon both at I^aMenbarg. Yon shall ke^ each other company when joo have tha ■■ ' ♦ 1 . • r w - ■> i - ) t ! t • ■ ■ 1 ■ . I KtES 0^ EMERALD homesickneM and on the jonrney ghe c» ride with ns Bide by side. /Then going to the onrtaii she summoned ihe aerritor who had first opened the door for me. He bowed before the girl with infinite respect. She bade him conduct me upon my way. I will not deny that I had hoped for a tenderer leava-teking. But all at once she ^e^med to have slipped back into the great lady again,%id to be desirous of setting me in my own sphere aad..8tation ere Lrfavow ^ ""^ ^ ^°"^ Vremme overmuch upon Yet not altogether so. For, relenting, a little as I tui^ied to leave hef, she ^tood holding the curtain aside for me to pa^, and, as it had been by accident, in dwp- Su^ 1 I' ^^^™ '®'*^*^ * '"°"^* »«»in8t my cheek. Then the heavy curtain of blue fell into its place, and I found myself following the eminently respectable domes- tic of Master Gerard down the stairs. At the outer door, but before he opened it, the man put a sealed packet in my hand. "^'•0°;' Doctor Gerard von Sturm," he said, bowing respectfully, yet with a certain senfle of being a party in a favor conferred. ■ F't^ty in I thrust the letter into my inner pocket a^id went out into the street, ^he sun was still shining, yet somehow 1 felt that It mqsf be another day, another world. The Ileuses seemed hard and dry, the details of the architect- - nre insufferably mean and insultingly familiar. I longed with all my heart to get away from Thorn into the new world which had opened to me -a world of perfumes and flowers and flower-like scents and Oriental marvels cheekl ^°*''*^' *^°' ^""^ *^^ touching of soft hands upon ^^m the world ^young men there was no greener W^ more simple Simon than I, Hugo Gottfried, as, playinir a tune on the pipe of my own conceit, I marched up Sie . !)t '«ll Wit i^ "I It ? f^ M THE ftED AXE High Street of Thorn to the entrance gate of the Wolfsberg. » v The Little Playmate was standing at the door aa I ap- proached, sweet as a June rose. When she saw me she went into the sitting-room to show that she Had not yet forgiven me. Though I think by this time, as was often the way with Helene, she had forgotten almost what was the original matter of my offending. But I pretended to be, careless and heart-free. And so —God forgive me 1— I went whistling up the steps of the Red Tower to my room without so much as looking within the chamber where my Little Playmate had with- drawn herself. " ■«' Which thing I suffered grievously for or all was done. And an excellent dispensation of Providence it had been if I had lost my right hand, all for making that liftile heart sore, or so much aa one tear drop from those deep gtay eyes. CHAPTER XIII OHRIBTIAN's EL8A It was about this time, and after we had made onr quarrel up, that Helene began to call me " Great Broth- iL T -7^ L ' *^^'"® '' manifest virtue in a name, and the Little Playmate seemed to find great comfort in thus addressing me. And after that I had called her ''Little Sister" once TJr^'V I ""*' ^^^^^^ ^'""'^^ *^<1 treated me quite differently, having ascertained that beiween young men and women there is the utmost safetX such a relation- And as all ways were alike to me,/wa8 willing enough. For indeed I loved her and none other, and so did all the days of my life. Though I know that my actions and conceits were not always conformable to the true dTar maid"^*^ '"^ ™^ ^®*''*' ''^'*^®' '"^'^"^ """'^^^ ""^ "^ But, then, what would you ? Nineteen and the follies of one 8 youth I The mercy of God rather than any virt- ue m me kept these from being not only infinitely more numerous, but infinitely worse. , Yet I had better con- fess them, such as they are, in this place. For it was some such nothings as those which follow that first brought Helene and me into one way of thinking, though by paths very devious in^ed. ^ t!w«VM'^T' 0' *^Wolfsberg op^te, called the Tower of the Captain of the Guard. And the maid-^ 87 './> . if M THE RED AXE name was Elsa, or, as she Was ordinarily called, "Chris- tian's Elsa." She was a comely maid enough, and great- ly taken notice of. And when I went to my window to con over my task for Friar Laurence, there at the oppo- site window would be — strange that it should always be 50— Christian's Elsa. She was a little girl, short and plump, but with merry eyes and so bright a stain npon either cheek that it seamed as if she had been eating raspberry conserve, and had wiped her fingers npon the smiling plumpness there. At any rate, as sure as ever I betook me to the window, there would be Chnstian's Elsa, busy with her needles. And to tell truth I misliked it hot greatly. Why, in- deed, should I ? For there is surely no harm in looking fkjross twenty yards of space at a maid, and as little in the maid looking at you — that is, if neithy of yon come any nearer. Besides, it is much pleasanter to look at a pretty lass than at a vacant Walland twenty yards of un- even cobble-stones. Now the girl was harmless enough — a red and white maid, plump as a partridge in the end of harvest. She was forever humming at songs, singing little choruses, «nd inventing of new melodies, all tunefully and pret- tily enough. And she would bring her dulcimer to the window and pay them over, nodding her head to the in- strument as 4|||e sang. ' <> . It w^s pleasant to watch her. For sQmeiimes,when the mnsio refused to run aright, she would frown at ihe dulcimer, as if the discord had been entirely its fault and it was old enough to know better. Then sometimes she would look across abstractedly to the Red Tower, trying to recall a strain she had forgotten, with her fin- ger all the while making the most bewitching dim{de on ^er plump cheek. It w as mo st s wee t fmd Junooent see. And withal so entirely unconscioas that any one ooald possibly be observing her. ' 88 m CHUISTIAN'S ELSA I confess that I sat often and conned my bopk by the window, long ofter I knew my portion by heart, in order to watch her deft fingers upon the didpimer sticks and the play of her dimples. But on my part also this was m all mnocence and wholly thoughtless of guile. Then would I be taken with a spasm of desire 'to play upon the recorders or the Bavarian single flute, and would pester my father to let me learn. Now I never had any more ear for music than a deal board that has knot-holes in it. I had ears indeed. But the clatter of the mill-wheel and the lapper of water on the stones of the shore were ever better music to me than singing or playing upon instrmnents. Neyerthe- less,,at this time, for some reason or other, I was in a great fret to learn. And, curiously enough, my* desire made the Little Playmate call me "Great Brother'' more assiduously than ever. Though again I knew not why. But Christian's Elsa she could not abide either sight or mention of. Which was passing strange in so sweet and charitable a maid as our Helene/' Also the girl at the guard-house was a good daughter, beaidea being par- ticular of her company; and in that garrison place ua- touched by any breath of scandal. But no ; Helene would have none of her. '*Feech /" she would say, making a little grimaoe of dis- gnst which she had brought with her from her northern hoihe ; " that noisy, mewling cat, purring and stroking her face in the window, I cannot abide her., I know not what some folks can see in her. There are sure^ more kinds of blindness than of those that wait about kirk doors with a board hung ronad their necks, saying, 'Good people, for the loVe of God, put a copper in thu -wooden plsttm^ '^ ~^ ^^~- if '^y» I^it*l« Playmate, what ails thee at the maid? She IS a good maid enough, and, Xam ran, apnt^ one " m . I.. ' ** THE RED AXE So wonld I say to try her. Whereat the lass, bein slender herself, and with a head that sat easily on shoulders, would walk qA like the haughty little Ain, she was, and th'rust her chin so far forward that! the pretty round of it bespoke a pointed scorn. And the poutlets would come and go on her red lips so quick- ly that I wpuLd come from the window, leaving my book and Christian's Elsa, and a thousand Elsas, just to watch them. . "So, Great Brpther,'' Helene would say, "you think sh-e 18 pretty, do y6u? 'Tis interesting, for sure. As for me, I see not an|thing pretty about her. Now, there is Katrin Texel, gjjfiia pretty, if you like. What say you to her ?" . ' J J ^ And this was because the minx knew welL that I never could abide K&trin Texel, a girl all running to seed like a shot stalk of rhubarb, who would end up in the neigh- borhood of six foot in height, and just that "fine figure of a woman " which I never could abide. ''Feechr I would say, copying her Wendish expres- sion. " I would as soon set my feather bolster on end paint It black and white, and' make lo^ to jt as to Katrin " Yoti do wodS^every day of yo^uSHM^ted ene, with pretty spite, tapping the liMlMie point of one delicate foot. , . "And, pray, what do I that is worse r I said, knowing full well what. ■ The Little Playmate was silent a minute, only con- ying t^ tap the fiags with a kind of naughtiness that same her. .1. "?*%'^'^"^ ^<*^^<^ "0* loot at yon* charming as you thmk yourself," she said, at last. " Did she tell you so. Little Sister r said I, drawing a Jaow at a great venturer — The arrow stiruok, and I was content. 80 ,^ 'm (US, beinjifi! B Ail rn. And so qnick- my book to watch ,^* CHRISTIAN'S ELBA " Well," efie answered, somewhat breathlessly, " what if she did ? Purely ev^n yoar vanity can take nothing out of a girl saying that she cannot abide you." But I answered nothing to this, only stroked the mu^ tache which was beginning to thrive admirably on my upper lip. • ^ J -'^Of all the—" begaa Helene, looking at me fixedly. Then she stopped. "Well," said J, pausing in the caressing of iny chin, "what do I worse every day than make love to Kstrin Teiel ?" ; Her eyes fairly sparkled fire at me. They were' "sweetest eyes " no more, but rarely worth looking into all^he same. ' ° " You go ogling and staring at that little she-cat in the window over there, that screeches and becks and pats herself, all for showing off I And you, Hugo Gott- fried, like a great oaf, thinking all the time how inno- cent and sweet and— oh, I have no patience with you I— to neglect and think nothing of-of Katrin Texel, and— ?^ * *, "" ^ «^ «*^^°« and gaping after a thing like tnat I And I declare there were tears in the Little Playmate's ^ eyes. "Dear Little Sister,^hy are you so mindful 'about Katrin Texel ?" said L "Faith, my lass, wait till she comes again, and I will court her to your heart's con- tent. There— there— I will be a very Valentine's true lover to your Katrin." For all that she was not greatly cheered, but edged away, still strangely disconsolate when I came near and tned to pet her. Mysterious and hidden are the trays of women I For once, when I would have put my hand fPQ^t her pretty slflnde' r w^ ifit . she promp tly took me by-^ the wnst, and holding it at armUehgth, she dropped it from her with a disgustful curi of hy lip, as if it had W r ^■' SfSBEBsasBBsaay Wi RU THE RED AXE been an mtrnding spider she had perforce to put forth out of her chamber into the garden. Yet formerly, upon occasion when, as it might he. she WM r«idmg or looking out of the window, if I but ^e behind her and called her -Little 8ieter,« I might eren put my hand upon her shoulder, and so sfend for five mmates at a time and she never seem to notice it put forth fat be, 8fa« bat came ight erea. i for five it. I CHAPTER XIV SIB AM0B0U8 18 PLEASED WITH HIMSELF Fob, as I say, women have cnrions ways, and there Tet ZT? r'^ I' *''" '''''^'^ '^ '^^ book S yet n^e I have observed which I cannot find room for m a chronicle of «d many sad and bad^nd warlike hap- penmgs But none of them all is more notable til women, every one being different in temper, though ht wkT! ""-rr *^^°««> '"^^y women, will permit that which It suits them to be oblivious of, when if yon th«v tm PTT'''' °' '"^'^^ * ''*^<>' 0' the matter, they will promptly fiame sky-high with indignation. So my advice to the young man who honestly go^ a-court^ ing 1. to keep talking earnestly, to occupy his mLr^s attention withal, and progress in her favors dui^Z abstractions of high discourse. <• ^ Ami?"** '\^^'' ^ ''' *" ^***^' '^^^' enterprises. Sir sirrwitr R .r. \'''^'i trading-stock of favor to tt L^^ ?l i^^ ^'*'' ^^' "^"^^^^ 't" ^0* difficult wHfJ" u**^ ^'r' '^^^""°'' "»d' " it were, the sweat of his bram. So at least I am told by those who have proved it. Nevertheless, for myself, I have used ?1"Z "'5«,/?fi'^«»«°^^ but rather taken with thank- fulness such things as came in my way =wTi«rei»-^^ •!• V vi=i uij. jiap«»r<-ioiai wba^ T.?t^ of writing about it and about I But my excuse « that mwiy young lads and gay bachelors will read thit tale, •• I dewre to import what of instruction I can into 4j y,V,l.;f, :*'...-.■>«.;.- A:- ^, I- rli h i-i I*- 8, it J iJ m 30 > O O >^ K Z CD T'Sr -a P 1^ SIR AMOROUS PLEASED WITH HIMSELF TnZl ^f^^^oPP^^t^^ity for more than a word or a touch of her fingers-well, sare once, when her father to fetch, and was some time in finding it. But even Iny or ' '"''' '""''''''^' '°^^°^*^^' ^'^' ^^PP^^^d to But when I came home again that night, you would have thought that the whale happening had been print d mf ooT "fJ"'" J'^ ^^'"^ ^'^^^^'^ would not let me come withm a hundred miles of her. And it was "Keep your distance, sirrah!" Not perhaps said ,n words, but expressed as clearly by the warlike an^e of an arm the contumelious hitch of a shoulder, or the scornful sweep of an adverse skirt. And all about nothing I Mighty Hector I I never saw such thmgs as women. ' " THE RED AXE times' jnBt because it made, my little lass so full 6f moods and tenses — like one of Friar Laurence's -irregular verbs in his cursed Humanities. For there is nothing so va- riously delightful as a woman When she is half in love and- half out of it— more interesting (say some) though less delightful than when she- is all and whole in love. Nevertheless, there are exceptions, and one woman at least I know more various, and more delicious also, since love's ocean hath gone over her head, than ever she was when, like a.timid bather, she shivered on the brink or made little fearful plunges, as it were knee-deep, and so ran out again. But I am not come^ that in the story yet. " Well, on "the afternoon of the next day, who shopld come to the house in the Red Tower but our Helene's - gossip, for this week at least her bosom friend, Katrin Texel. She was even more impressive in manner than 0ver, and also a little pleasanter to behold. For her angles were clothing themselves into curves, and she was learning, perhaps from the Little Playmate, to leave oft bouncing into a room like a cow at tlie trot, and to walk in sedately instead. By-and-by I knew she would com§ sailing down the street like a towered galleon from the isles of Ind. For all that, she looked not ill— an aca- demic study for Juno, one might say. But to make love to— wiiy, as Helene wa^ wont to remark, Feech I And the curious thing about Katrin Texel was that though her corporeal part might be a direct inheritance from her Burgomeister father and his substantial brew- ery, her spirit had been designed for an artful fairy of half her size, in order that it might go pirouetting into airy realms of the imagination. For she was gay enough and lightsome enough in her demeanor. She came in "irtthnkip which would hate i>e«n entranoing i» »oib» elfish mignonne who could dance light-foot on spring flowers without ornsking them. But when this our solid W ,£iifSii^:-JS,.:.-^ / SIB A^'OKOJJS PLEASED WITH HIMSELF Circle of flyiuff skirts in+« » k i, * ^°P »°d » two hundred tt ^e '^^^ IT,T '' ' ^""-A^ of flower to flowe^ ^ ^^^ ^^^''^ *« fitting from And this K^'trin talked in a aniok li^u, • nps and down^ and skips and queers' n i T'' ^'*^ heeled as a chaiiois ^oat on tli« ^1 / • J *^ ^P""^- " Ah, Tiny-cren - Ilr !l ™°"°**'^« of the south. 7is as sweet l^lsee ^t^as ^^d; nV "'^ '^^^^«* ' . have danced all day in th« L k- ^''' ^"^ ^^^^^ ' I should come to s/e you , T. TV"'* '' ^'^^"^ *^** ^ not been to visit me Ih 1^/ '" "' ^^^ ^^^ ^^^e as she is pretty" (ZpeaW t "",^«^°«i««t--as cruel there, our MicLel S 'af l^^'^^^ "^" °'* ^ ^^^ he does not hear herTot onVh!' f.^°°^« desolated that low tells me that he liln« f . ^'"• ^^« ^^olish fel- tie Jenny Wren '^"^ ^^^^ »* "wing lit- «tapid beer-vat! MicZl '^,^1 »" »"»>" that great MiSrd' Z^^ ' ' '''"™'* '«'«■- *» hear „, Playmate ^y, Twonld Z'"! '''' "''' *° *« ""'« like a puncheo/'„, etj ^/ti °» '!" °P«" "'«>» / tag of it. ^ ' *'"' """^ """thmg of the do- ' Mich atl Teiel, ind eed I ^ - "" -" '■""h inaeea i • ^nSTi^rtf Sj;;^3o 2tr^::i *^^« *-« - *« pression which HeSn; had fo-iT^.* ^'" '^ *^^ ^^* ^«»- ^ eiene !iad f oi med concerning that plea^. THE RED AXE I^ ant» harmless little Ohriatian's Elsa over there. I never heard anything so foolish in my life. Bat, then, what women will think and say ^passes the imagination of man. , Michael Tezel indeed I The thonght of that young man of beef and beer re- curred BO persistently and foitibly-to me that for a time I could scarce command myself to speak civilly to his sister. Though, of course, she was quite different, be- ing a woman, and informed with such a quick and dainty spirit that at times it seemed as it had been imprisoned in hef ^oo massive frame and held " in subjection to the flesh/' as the clerics say. God wot, I never knew I had so much religion and morality about me till I came to write. If I do not have a care this tale of mine will turn out almost as painful as a book of devotion which they set children to read on saints' days to keep them fromHSeing over-happy. But I subdued my feelings and drew up somewhat nearer to Katrin. **My Little Sister—" so I began, cunningly, as I thought — " my sister Helene is, indeed, fortunate to have so fair a friend, and one so devoted — " ' " As my brother Michael, yes,'* she twittered, with her most ponderous, cage-bird manner ; *' yes, indeed, he is devoted to her." **No/* said I, hastily (confound the great hulking camel 1), " I mean such a ftuthful friend as yourself. I, alas, have no friend. I im cut off from all, society of my kind. Often and ofte^ have I felt the weight of loneli- ness press heavy upon me in this darksome tower.'' I saw Helen^ rise, go to the window, and glance across with such a j/eculiar smile that I knew as well as if I had seen her that Christian's Elsa was at her window Twith her music, looking across for me between each D«f. I cannot describe the smile which hovered on the face of 98 "*• - ij ' ). I never then, what ination of id beer re- fer a time rilly to his Serent, be- and dainty imprisoned tion to the cnew I had I came to mine will tion which keep them somewhat SIB AMOROUS PLEASED WITH HIMSELF Texel him tightly an },« nLl 7 ^*- ^^^'^^' ^ will Q« „ • "gniiiy an he comes sneak ng to oar ffaf^ f « I thought lave so fair d, with her deed, he is %t hulking )arself. I, ciety of my it of loneli- iower." ance across ifell as if I ler window Q each Wai the face of ,/ ¥■ mmasmmimpt / "sy m [.'^,>- t ^\ CHAPTER XV -' THE LITTLB PLAYMATE SETTLES AOCOTJNTS But I a^d^iii that the smile discouraged me. Never- theless I proceeded galUantlj. ■ "Ah, Jungfrau Texe 1," said^f* yon cannot know how your presence brightens our lives h^ie in the Red Tower. Wherefore w^ll you not come oftener to our grim abode?" I thoughrthat, on the whole, pretty well ; but, look- ing up at Helene, I saw that her smile (so different from that of the lo-Oow Katri'n) had become a whole volumia of scathing satire. God wot, it is not easy to make love to a lass when your ** Little Sister " is listening — espe- cially to a woman -mountain set on watch-springs like Eatrin Texel. But/after all, Eatrin was no ways averse to love-making of any kind, which, after all, is the main thing. And as for the Little Playmate, I did not mind her a bonnet-tag. She had brought it upon herself. Michael Texel indeed I , So I went on. It was excellent sport — such a jest as may not be played every day. I would show Mistress Helene (so I said to myself) whether she would like it any better if I made love to Eatrin than if I went over on an occasional wet day to clean pistolets and oil French musketoons in Christian's guard-house. So I began to tell Eatrin how that woman was the sacredest influence on the life of men, with other things= as I could recollect them out of a book of chivalry which I had been reading, the fine sentiments of which it was 100 LITTLE PLAYMATE 8ETTLE8 ACC0UKT8 - more in h.r way_«, 1 i.,, J«^,'^_ '''•■» 1"— 8 ^ 80 I aired my book of ohiyalry to Katrin Toiel " 'My true love hath my heart and I have hh..' ^^^^"Z^^^^ *o ^er as she it would annf/htt^bl*^^^^^^^^ ^/^^ *'^'^* ■ thing like this r ^«^«"^ea to. |Goes it not some- And I hummed fairly enough : " ' ^^ *™« ^'^^^ ^^^ »y heart and I have his ' " ^ die of the night." "''^""'^^^"g <>» the tiles in the mid- Baid I ; '< ^tis r tly fault fiTt ^t' 'T.^?' "^"^^" Katrin, have a greater SI f . v""'* *>^ ^^^^ '^^^ "And T trnof , ^ ^^^ ^^^^^i*' 80^ J^' M. I think she wa8 7f f hT; • • . ''^** *^ °»»^« <>* with much stuS; nZt^t Tr.*^"\^«^«^« '^'^^ I, « I do indeed love ^«1« •!?'^5f "^^ «*^"" °»»^- eea iove^io,^^8he«iid at last, uncertainly, .\ U' i I. F-f! I hi 1 THE RED A^B - ''bat. Master Hugo, not the kind of which my gossip, Helena, speaks. I loVe 'hest of all a ballad of love, sang ^ sweetly and with a melting expression, as from a lover by ' the wall to his mistress aloft in the balcony, like that of him of Italy, who sings : " 'O words that fall like summer dew on me.' Ho^ goes it P " 'O breath more sweet than Is the growing— the growing—"* She pansed, ^nd waved her hand as if to sammon the words-from the empty air. " * The growing garlic,' jf it be a lover of Italy," cried Holene, still more spitef ally. "This is enoagh and to spare of chivalry, besides which Hugo hath his lessons to learn for Friar Laurence, or else he will repent it on the morrow. Come, sweetheart, let as be going. I will e'en convoy thee home." So she spoke, making great ostentation of her own sn- periority and emiincipation from learning, treating me as a lad that mast learn his horn-book at school Bat I was even with her for all that. '' And^o farew.ell, then, dear Mistress Katrin/* said I. "The delicate pleasure of yoar presence shall be fol* lowed by the still more tender remembrance which, when yon are gone,. my heart shall oontinne to cherish of yoa." That was indeed well-minded. A whole sentence oat of my romance-book without a single slip. Eati4n bowed, with the airy grace of the Grand Duke's monument out in the square. But the little Helene swept majestically off, mattering to herself, but so that I could hear her : _ : ** * wondrongj most wondrous/ quoth oujrjoat f ^i-n . when she saw her Tom betwixt her and the moon." The application of which wise saw is indeed to seek. 108 ^ LITTLE PLAYMATE SETTLES ACCOUNTS So the. two maids went away, and I betook me to the window to Bee if I could catch a glimpse of Chris- tian's Elsa. ■ ■ . But I only 'saw Katrin and Helene going gossiping down the street with tfeeir heads very close together. At first I smiled, well pleased to think how excellently I had played my cards and how daintily I had worked ih those gallant speeches out of the book of chivalry. But by-and-by it struck me that the Little Playmate was ab- sent a most unconscionable time. Could it be— Michael Texdl ? No, that at least was plainly impossible. I got up and walked about. Then for a change I paused by the window. I had stood a good whilQ thus moodily looking out at the casement, when I became aware of two that walked slowly up the street and halted together before the great iron-studded d Hugo r she Z o.t u ^'Y ^'' ^^'' *^*'^ ^P«^ me-irresisti- lir^^S!: "^"^' °' """^^'^ ^^^ '^^^^ *o ^-^^ all ye men who hare never seen my Helene look un thus at you-but only common other eyes, go and W yourselves on high trees for very envy Wdl i I iv^ And t:?i 7r '"^- «^« ^ 'P* o/lookTntup at m^ " Dear minx, thrice wicked one r I exclaimed, " where- fore do you torment me-break my heart r },«r l^^'T^''^ ^'^ '^^' escaping as soon as she had gained her pretty rascal way, "you think yourself so cCer Hugo, such an irresistible person, that you must be fnr' ever returning to this window and getting ThL book o" chivalry by heart. Now you are going to be cross ^ain Oh, shame, and with your little sisterl ^ '• 'That never did you any harm, But killed tho mice In your father's bam.'" 105 THE RED AXE *f tw 'Now/* she said, setting her head to the side, "what a nice sweet Great Brother 1 Let him sit down here on the great chair." So I sat down, well pleased enough, not knowing what mischief the pranksome maid had now in her head, but judging that the matter might turn out well for me. Then Helene stole round to the back of the uhair, and, taking me by the ears, she gave first one and then the other of them a pull. "That,** she said, pulling the right, "is for listening to the little cat over the way that squalls on the tiles ! And that" (giving the other a sound tug) "is for being a dandiprat when my gossip Katrin was here 1" She paused a moment as if to summon courage, then she stooped quickly and kissed me on the neck. "And that for Michael Texel 1" she cried, and ran out of the room before I could get clear of the wide arms of the chair, and so run after and catch her. She turned in the doorway and wafted me a kiss from her finger-tips, airily and a little mockingly. ^ "That for Hugo Gottfried 1" she said, and was off to her own chamber with ihQ frou-frou of a light skirt, the slam of a door, and the shooting of a bolt. And after all this, it was heart's pity that ever any- thing should have come between us again, even for a moment. Though, indeed, it was bub for a moment. i I ^ ')' CHAPTER XVr 'TWO WOMEK— ANDA MAW Jn.^'V^^ ^''T''^° ^* * ^°°^*y' » ^°"^ «leepy time in aU countries, and one difficult to get overpast I was m usual busy with my accoutrement, recently bought with he loan of Master Gerard. The Little Playmate wa^ ust returned from the cathedral, and had indeed scared La? thT 'T' -;^«>7hen there came a loud knock- ing at the outer gate of the Eed Tower. Then one of , ^orien^!'' ^^"'^^ '^^"^ *'^ ^^^^«* *o *^« «^- ' tpJllJr?- ""*'*' ^°'' ** *^^ postem,« said he, and so tramped his way unceremoniously back to his post. l^y Ysohnde. So I rose, and hastily settinir mv fin- ger, through my hair, went to the ga J There,^atTe'iided iLJy Y^Zd^^ ^^'^^*°^' ^-' " ' ^^ -P-ted, the T "?°^^-°»o^row," she said very courteously to me and I duly returned her greeting with a low obefsancrof ^ spect and welcome. ove?L?JLll"'!!-^™?.V"^'"°^^ "^« «» °»«^'« «Ioak, whnii 1^ attjre-which, with a hood for the head whoUy enveloped her figure and descended to her feet ^^,^^gm^^J^^imaed^to.see &b Little ph»y^ ^ ihl^ ''"'' ^^' ^"* ^'^^ ^ ^« P»«ed togeth^ aorops the wide upper court under the wondering eves of the men of the Duke's body-guard ^ T "Pray remember. Lady Ysolinde," said I, with miioh . . *^ "^ / u* i. rM^ THE RED AXE III; ; eagerness, *' that I have as yet said nothing of the mat- ter to Helene, and that my father only knows that I am to ride to Plassenburg in order to exercise myself in the , practice of arms, before becoming his assistant here in the Red Tower and in the Hall of Judgment across the way." My visitor nodded a little impatiently. She who knew so many things, of a surety might be trusted to under- stand so much without being told. In the inner doorway Helene met us. And never had it been my fortune to see the meeting of two such wom- en. The Little Playmate had in her hands the broid- ered handkerchiefs, the long Flemish gloves, and the little illuminated Book of the Hours which I had given her. She had been about to lay them away together, as is the fashion of women. And when she met th« Lady Ysolinde I declare that she looked almost as tall. Hel- ene was perhaps an inch or two less in stature than her visitor, but what she lacked in height she more than made up in the supple erectness of her carriage and' the vivid and extraordinary alertness of all her movements. " Lady Ysolinde,'' said I, as they met with the mutu- ally level eyfeshot of w«men who measure one another, '* this is Helene^— whom, for love and kindliness, we of the Wolfsberg call the 'Little Playmate.'" -^ The daughter of Master Gerard impetuously threw back the gray monk's hood which shrouded the masses of her tawny hair. She put out both hands to Helene, held her a moment at arm's-length to look into her eyes, even as she had done with me, but in a different way. Then, drawing her nearer, she leaned forward and kissed her on the brow and on^Sotn cheeks. Now I am not ordinarily a close observer, and many things, specially things that pertain to the acts of wom- ^aj^ywr by me nnno t ioed^ Bat I «tw 4ir«" moment that- there was not, and never could be, more than tiie'sem' blance of cordial amity between these two women. ' 108 1 i -i I % the mat- that I am elf in the^ I ere in the the way." who knew to nnder- aever had ach wom- ;he broid- , and the lad given ^ether, as th« Lady ill. Hel- than her Lore than } and the amenta, be mntn- another, 388, we of ily threw le masses I Helene, her eyes, rent way. ad kissed nd many of wom- lent that - tiie'sem-' an. ' r« *.i- I n % \ *- TWO WOMBN-AND A MAN I noted the Little Playmate instinptively quiver like a taken bird when she was tlins embraced. It was, I think, the undymg antipathy of Eve for Lilith, a hatred which. 18 mostly on the side of Eve, the Mother-Woman -Its place being -taken by sharper and more dangerous envy m the breast of Lilith-without-the wall There, face to face^ stood the two women who were to make my life, ruling it between them, as it were, strik- ,ing It out between the impact of their natures, as under- neath the blows of twosmiths upon the ringing anvil the iron, hissing hot, becomes a sword or a ploughshare. It was impossible to avoid contrasting them. f«™ !T' ""l,* ^fi^^ ^'^'^^y infinitely more full of temptation, bloomful with radiant health, the blaph of Touth and conscious loveliness upon her lips andlook- mg out under the crisp entanglement of her hair, all simple purity and straightness of soul in the fearless in- nocency of her eyes; \he Lady Ysolinde, deeper taught m the mysteries of existence, more conscious of power not so beautiful, but oftentimes giving the impression of beauty more strongly than her fairer rival, compact of swift delicate graces, half feline, half feminine (if these two be not the same). All these passed like clouds over the ^unquiet se^ of her nature, reflecting the changing skies of circumstance, and were fitted to pAduce a fas- cination ever on the verge of repulsion even 'J^en it was strongest. Ysolmde was the more ready of speech, but her words were touched constantly with dainty malice and clawed with subtlest spite. She catspawed with men and things,-often setting the hidden spur under the velvet foot deeply into the v^ry cheek which she seemed to cW Such as I read them the;n, md largely as even now. I understand them, were the two women who mould- -fld b e tw een th em my Hfe% histo ry. — — I suppose it is because I am of this Baltic North that I must need think things round and round, and prose of 10» ■■ijt^, ' THE RED AXE reasons and explanalions-even when I write ooncemine beantiful maids-forever dreaming and dividing, instead of gomg straight, sword in hand, for their hearts, as is the way of the folk from the English land over-seas, or, more simply shll, lying about thei^ favors, whiqh, I hear IS mostly the Frenchman's way. But enough of intolerable theory. the Eed rower m a manner and tone very different from that which I had ever before heard herLpb^a once more equal and more guarded. -I was told by Master Hugo Gottfried here (whose acquaintance I made at my father's house on the day after his foolish boy s prank of the White Swan) that fn the Bed Tower of the Wolfsberg dwelt one of mine own age, like myself a maid solitary among men. So to-day i have come to solicit her acquaintance, and to ask her «b be kind to me, who have ever been in this city and country as a stranger in a strange land." " . ton! Jr ^r""l """^^^^ '^'^' ^""^ ^" Helene, easUy' touched and perhaps a little ashamed of hor first stiff ness, put out a hand which the other quickly and secnrl ton sL™ f '? ^'' *^" "* '^^^^ *«^«*^'^- YBolind" von Sturm kept her eyes fixed on the Playmate, but our shy and slender Helene looked steadily past her T T *^^*°^^l«"i '•^d roofs and peaked Ales S the city of Thorn to the gray Wdfit plaiS which look *'''' '''''^''''^ ^^^ * P^°*"« i^ a mf f 'Il*^Tf "'/t''^ *"*"* ""^^ **»« ^o^'of their mid-day meal, the blood-hounds howled in the kennels, and by their tone I knew that my father had left the Hall of Judgment where he had been detained all the morning Also I knew very well that the Lady Ysolinde wished .^a^a^^^^^dsewbere. In order that she might - talk alone with her companion. But I nw also the ap- 110 ^ TWO WOMEN*-AND A MAN peal in the eyes of the Playmate, and I was resolved not to give her the chance. « Are yon never weary in this dull tower r asked the lawyer's daughter, Btill holding the Playmate's hand " It is not dull," replied Helene. " I have my work There are two men as shiftless and helpless as babes to attend to, and. none to help me but old Hanne." •^'Let men attend to themselves,*^ cried Ysolinde • - that is ever my motto. They ought to be our servants' not we tneirs." ^ It was said smilingly, yet there was bitterness under the words as well. "But," said Helene, smiling back at her with a fresh directness all her own, "o^je of the men saved my life and brought me up as his 6wn daughter, and the other IS— IS Hugo, here." ' And as she spoke of my father and of me I saw the eyes of the Lady Ysolinde fixe^ upon her, as it had been to read her inner soul. " And, by-the-way," she said! at last, after a long pause, "you have heard how this same Master Hugo proposes to himself to escape from the prison-house of this city for a season to exercise himself in arms, and so in roving adventure fulfil that which is not granted to a maid, his 'wandering years.' He goes (so my father tells me) to the Court of the Prince of Plassenburg, with the promise ■Z" f;^."?*''^ *o command. And I am glad, for I shall ride thither under his escort. Indeed, and in truth mv home 18 far more there than here in Thorn. But I would fain have a companion of my own sex. So I have come to beg of you. Mistress Helene, that you will accompany me. ihe Pnncess, I know, has great need of a maid of honor near her person, and will gladly welcome a friend of mi n e f or th e poBt >" The Little Playmate lijoked up astonished, as well she might, at thifl direct assallt, which was moreover s^ken 111 '^ f- I i «ge in tie thing offered t w„ . f "° "" '"^ !»>'«>"- of the m«mer ff ^Sng ™ " '«"* '=»""»"y kept o,t -oas in thinking at ^1 5 me wiU Z""' ""■"' ^<"" """d- At this oritiL momenTrl :?JT'™.'"^''«»t.» more than grave ar.) .„ ,"^ '""■«■■ '", lookinit that he uz: iirgTth: b:i 'j^''^' «* -- found his post of chief adLr L?i? I ^T"^'' ^""^ ^*d cult. I knev. it cou d be no 2f. '^/f ^'^« *^^ di®- worried him, for that dav he wn 1°^^^' "®^^ ^^ch white Friesland cloth and tL K ^ ^^^^^^ «**«'« «' loved best to see him Ther« 1 '^ ^°""'* ^" ^^^^^ I about him anywhert Je a m^ 2 Tl' °' ^^« ''^"^'"^ h. left breast like a CZtlri^^af:'^^!'''^' "^^^ -i: * . ,' > J- 1 i^n , CHAPTER XVn THE BED AXE 18 LEFT ALONE ^^ ♦ Gottfried Gottfried bowed to the guest of his house with the noble manner which comes to every seri- ous-minded man who deals habitually in the high mat- ters of life and death. I made his introductions to the Lady Ysolinde, and as readily and gracefully he returned his acknowledgments. For the rest I allowed Master Gerard's daughter to develop her own projects to him, which, indeed, she was no long time in doing. As she proceeded I saw my father change color and becotae as to his face almost as white as the Frieslaud -cloth in which he was dressed. Presently, however, as If struck with the sound of a well-known, name, he looked" up quickly. "Plassenburg, said you, my lady ?" he inquired. The Lady Ysolinde nodded. "Yes, to Plassenburg, "where the Princess has great need of a maid of honor.'' "Her Highness is often upon her travels, I hear it re- ported," said my father, "while the Prince keeps him- self much at home." "He esteems his armies more than all the marvels of strange countries," replied Ysolinde, "and thus he holds the land and folk in great quiet." "And your fat her, M aster Gerard,, would hav emysofl ^»^|» witfe^thts Pi'iitee Karrtof a^space. ^Well, I think ~" It may be good for *iie lad. nFor I know well that the shAdOw of the Bed Tower stalks after him through this \ «(► I i ; ! ' THE RED AXE , city of Thorn, and there is no need that he ehonld lie down under it too soon. But this of my little maid 18 a matter apart, and means a longer and a sorer part- ing/' ^ ^ "Fear not, my father,'' cried the Playmate, eagerly, "I would not leave you alone, even to be the Princess of Plassenburg herself." My father took another strange look from one to the other of the two women, the import off which I under- stood no^ then. "I know not," said he ; "I think this thing also might be for the best. As I see it, there are strange times oommg upon us in Thorn. And the town of Plassen- burg under Karl the Prince is a defenced city, set in a strong province, content and united. I| might be wisest that you also should go, little one." "I cannot go," said Helene, "and leave you alone." Gottfried Gottfried smiled a sad smile, wistfully pleasant. *' "Already I am welluigh an old man, and it is the nature of my profession that I should be alone. I work among the issues of life and death. Every man must be lonely when he dies, and I, who have lived most with dying men, am perforce already lonely while I live." It is well -4 a clearer air for the young bird I But yet it will be linesome to miss you when I come in— the empty pot wanting the flower; the case without the jewel ; si- lence above and below ; your voice and Hugo's, that have changed the sombre Red Tower with your young folks' pleasantries, heard no more. Ah, God wot, I ha^ thought— I had dreamed far other things." He stopped and looked from one to the other of us, and I saw that Ysolinde of the White Gate read his thought. Whereat right suddenly the Little Playmate blushed, and as for me I kep|;,,w atohing the dulj/^ ld flitoh vu the^pangles of our guest's waist-belt, which was J14 THE E^I> AXB IS LEFT ALONE in form like a live serpent, with ohangefal scales and eyes of rttby red. '^ My father went over to wtiere Helene sat. She rose to meet him and cast her arms about his neck. He laid his right hand on her head — that terrible hand that was yet not dreadful to ns who loved him. " Little flower,** he said, in his simple way, ** God be good to yon in the transplanting I It is not fair to yonr youipg life that my red stain should lie upon your lot. I haVe given yon a quiet hermitage while yon needed it. Hut now it is right that my house should again be left unto me desolate. It is already late summer with Gott- fried Gottfried, and high time that the young brood should fly away.** He turned to me. "With yen, Hugo,-it is a thing different; you wefe bom to that to which yon are born. And to that, as I read your horoscope, you must one day return. But in the mean time care well for the maid. I lend her to yon. I give her into your hand. Cherish her aa your chief est treasure. Let her enemies be yours, and if harm come to her through your neglect, slay yourself ere yott come again before me. For, by the Lord CLod of all Righteous Judgment, I will have no mercy !'* I saw the eyes of the Lady Ysolinde glitter like those of the snake in her belt as thus my father delivered Helene over to me. But my father had yet more to say. "And if any,** he went on, in a deep, still voice, keeping his hand upon the downcast head of the Little Playmate — " if any, great or small, prince or pauper, harm so much as a hair of this fair head, by the great God who wields His Axe over the universe and sits in the highest Halls of Judgment, whose servant I am— I, Gottfried Gottfried, JBre a r that he shall teste the v e ng ean c e^ the Bed Ai»= I and drink to the dregs the cup of agony in hi^ own blood I*^ 116 v'^ *|. * 1 ' 4 * M ^ \t THE RED AXB ' So saying, he kissed Helene and stalked ont without tnrnmg his head or making any further obeisance or farewell. We sat mazed and confounded after his departure* The Lady Ysolinde it was who first recovered herself. She put out a kindly hand to Helene, who stood wet- eyed and drooping by the window, looking out upon the roofs of Thorn, though well I wot she saw nothing of spire, roof, or pinnacle. "God do so to me and more also," she said, in a low. solemn voice, " if I too keep ngt this charge." And I think for the moment she meant it. The trouble was that the Lady Ysolinde could not mean one thing for very long at a time. As, indeed, shall after- wards appear. ^0 it was arranged that within the week Helene and I should say our farewells to the Red Tower which h^d Sheltered us so long, as well as to Gottfried Gottfried, who had ever been my kind father, and to the little Hel ene more than any father. f But in spite of all we wearied day by day to be gone. hoT, indeed, Gottfried Gottfried said right. The shadow of the Red Tower, the stain of the Red Axe, was over us both so long as we abode on the Wolfsberg. Yet what it cost us to depart-at least till we were out of the gates of the city-I cannot write down, for to both of us the nrst waygoing seemed bitter as death. I remember it well. My father had been busy all the morning with^his grim work on the day when we were to ride away. A gang 6f malefactors who had wasted a whole oountiy-side with their cruelty had been brought m. And, AS it was suspected that other more important villains were yet to be caught, there had been therepeat- jBd pain^pf t h e litreme Quest io n, a n d how fehTTi^ - main^d b?t th^ falling of the Red Axe to settle all ac counts. So that when he came to bid us farewell he had 110 t . ;.;v l.^"***** - ont withont obeisance or ^Artnre. ered herself. ) stood wet- mt upon the ' nothing of id, in a low, nt it. The ot mean one shall after- [elene and I which h^d ! Gottfried, e little He! to be gone, rhe shadow was over ns STet what it •f the gates h. of ns the may all the we were to 1 wasted a m brought important the repeat- "^ there rp^ ttle all ao- rell he had t ■ i P. o o iHt-^i. ..■.,. « .. ^ THE RED AXE IS LEFT ALONE bpt brief time to spare. And of necesaity he wore the fearful crimson, which fitted his tall/spare figure like a glove. u^T^."^ *^^ ^^^' ^^**^® ^^® '" ^^ ««'d, first to HelMie. Not thus, had the choice lain with me, would I have bidden thee farewell. But when it shall be that I meet ypu a^in I will surely wear the white of -the festa day. tit you to Him whose mistakes are better than our leeds, whose judgments are kinder than our tender- rercies." So he kissed her, and reached a hand oyer her shoulder "Son Hugo » he said, "go in peace. Yon must re- turn to succeed me. I see it like a picture-on the day when I he dead you shall stand with the Red Axe in your hand waiting to do judgment. It is well. Keep this maid more sacred than your life-«nd, meantime, fare you well I" ' So saying he left us abruptly. Our horses were saddled in the court-yard, and as I rode last through the rarely opened gateway, I saw Duke Oasimir looking out from his window upon the lower en- closure, as was his pleasure upon the days of execution. I heard the dull thud, which was the meeting of the Red Axe and the redder block as that which had been be- tween fell apart. And for the last time I heard the blood-hounds leap and the pattering of their eager feet upon the barriers as they leaped up scenting the Duke'a carrion. ® Thus the latest I heard of the place of my nativity was fitting and dreadful. I was mortally glad to ride away into the clear air and the .invigorating silence. But ^ my W tberestill lay he av y t he Wioe-rep eateTpye: - diction of my father and of the Lady Ysolinde, that I Bhonld yet return and hold the Red Axe in his place. But I resolved rather to die in the honest front of bat. ill THE RED AX|k tie; Nevertheless, had I known the future, I woild have seen that they and not I Vere right. I was indeed fated to return and stand ready to exe- cute doom, with the Bed Axe in my hand and my father lying dead near by. t .:': CHAPTER XVm . THE PBIMB OP THE MOBNIKO • Now SO strange a thing is woman that, so^soon as we were started down the High Street of the city of Thoni,x the Little Playmate dried her eyes, turned towards me in her saddle, and straightway began to take me to task as though I had been to blame. "I have left," said she, " the only home I ever knew, , and. the only man that ever truly loved me, to accompany a young man that cares not for me, ftnd a woman whom I hare seen but once, to a far land and an unkindly folk " _ "It IS not fair," I said, " to say that I love you not. *'or, as God sees me, I have ever loved y6u-loved you' best and loved you only, little Helenchen I And Ihough you are Angered with me now, I know iiot why— still till now you have never doubted it.*' ' uA'^/^''^* '* ^^^^^ ®'''*'*8^ ^0^' I know," she said, t'bitterly ; "yet, indeed, I care not whether you or any love me at all." •' And this saying I, was greatly sorry for. It seemed a sad wayfaring from our old Hed>ToWer and out of mv native city of Thorn. .. """ "* ^^ " Helene, little one," said^I, "believi me, I love non? m the whole world but my father and you. Trust me, for I am to keep you safe with my life in the ftir land to w hich ^Q «»" Tirt ««* i-i. 1 ,.... > ^re go, Doj i ot tet^ afr^ttttf f ri r littleBt. ^^ fiefe are only the two of us here that remember the old' man mv Si t'llwte!"^ "*"^ '"**"" ^ ^^''^ you came as a babe. 110 ,.#n 4^ ii:: CV I I !. THE RED AXE So presently she was somewhat pacified, and reached me a hand from the back of her beast, on pretence of leaning over to avoid a swinging sign in on« of the nar- row streets near by the White Gate, where we were to meet the Lady Ysolinde. ^ "And yet more. Little Playmate," said I, keeping her hand when I had it ; " do not begin by distrusting the noble lady with wl^om we are to travel. For she means well to us both, and in the strange country to which we go we may be wholly in her power." iJ'l^^ "® ^^^^ *^^* y^° ^° ^^* ^°^® *^a* woman, then ? said Helene, without looking at me. For, indeed m many things she was but a child, and ever spoke more freely than other maids— perhaps with being brought up m the Red Tower ih the company of my fether who on all occasions spoke his mind just as it oame to him. "Nay," said I, "believe me, little love, I do not love her at all." And now on horseback Helene looked all charming, and what with the exercise, the unknown adventure, and my reassurance, she had a glow of rose color in her cheeks. She had never before been so far away from ' the precincts of the Wolfsberg. I had even taught her to ride m the court-yard of a summer evening, on a horse borrowed from one of the Duke's squires. We found the Lady Ysolinde waiting for us at her house. Master Gerard talking to her in the doorway earnestly and apart. Both of them had a look of much solemnity, as though the matter of their discourse were some very weighty one. Presently her father kissed her and she came down the «*«!«• I leaped from my h orse to help her to the sa ddle, -*nt v his. shoulder. Then he set h mseff ^f pn 11 hke a horse that starts a load, and presently, ^tZ out apparently distressing himself in the least, he ;aTked away with the young tree, roots and all sheath-knife and trimmed the branches till he had made fhi i n f ®' ^'"''^ ^'^^^ *^«^y bo'i^ i^ his skin, like the shells of so many broken eggs/' Then laughing a little, and seeing that nothing could Z'^^V^' '^"^^' *^« ^*^y Ysdinde rod fn Tnd be r^^llf- ? *^-f * *^-* «"«^7 there would be no difficulty in shaking him off long ere we reached our lodging-piace of the evening, and that he would find his way back to the city of Thorn. But even though we set our horses to their speed it seemed to make no difference to the unwieldy giant He merely stretched his legs a little farther, and caused his ni^ r^ '''t '' ^''' '^^ °*^«' -« f««t « if they had been shod with seven-league boots. So he iiot only through the fields and over the wild country on either aide, as a questing dog does, ever returning to us with T n^W p* 5 ^"'^ r ^'**"' *^^^ ^^' appearance of the lonkW M^^ '"'.^"''"^ *^° well-armed and stanch- looking soldiers waiting for us at a kind of cross-road They were armed with the curious powder-guns which If^''"!S!:!^?^^'^^°^^'*°««- These went off fifteen or twenty paces when the aim was good. The fellows had sworda also, and little polished shields on J las THE PRIME OP THE MOsRNINa their left arms -^altogether Worthy, and nohtbie body- gnarde. "These two are soldiers of the Oiiard from Plassen- burg,"said the Lady Ysolinde, "though now they are travelling as members of a Free Company desiring to enter upon new engagements. But they will make the way easier and pleasanter for us, as well as infinitely safer, hieing veterans well accustomed to the work of gartering and foraging.'* ♦ As indeed we were to find ere the day ended. So we rode on in the brilliant Ught, and the long, long day seemed al^ too brief to us who were young, and scarce delivered from the prison-house of Thorn. And to my shame I admit that my heart rose with every mile that I put between me and the Red Tower. Indeed, I hardly had a thought to spend on my father. The hot quadrangle of the Wolfsberg, ever smelling of horses and the swelter of shed blood, the howling, fox- colored demons in the kennels, the black Duke Oasimir —right gladly I forgot them all. Aye, I forgot even my father, and everything save that I was riding with two fair women through a world where all was love and spring, and where it was ever the prime of a young morning. T The Lady Ysolinde could not make enough of our Little Playmate. She laughed back at her over her shoulder when she let her horse out for a canter. She marvelled loudly at Helene's good riding, and at the un- bound beauty of the crisp ringlets which clustered round her head like a boy's. And our Helene smiled, well 4 pleased, and ceased to watch my eyes or to grow silent if I checked my horse too bng by the side of the Lady JT^dinde. , ^ Mostly we three rode abreast over the pleasant country: So long as we were crossing the plain of the Wolfmark we law f«w tilled fields, and the farm-houses were fewer U8 I ,' 'iii: V. M m Hv I i I' .11 THE RED AXE 2ti/ ^ 'r"" plates upon them and knobs like the points Qf spears beaten blunt. " The Lady Ysolinde, who had often ridden that wav ^ us that these were all in the Duke 0a2S^\^ try, ar^ were mostly possessed by the kin oThfschiS oaptams-^feudal tenants, who for the xightorpo session ZZ,Zr'' '' ^"^^^^ '' -^^^ ^^^- to thTS af'lZ^V'-'" ^}V^'^' "*"^ y^'^ «o°»«to the dominions mdeed a ruler that can make the broom-bush keep the more than I had ever seen in all my life before. on?^.^''' T ^^^^ * ^^""^ °^«^ «"^«g cattle across our path and it was curious to mark how readHy thev drew their swords and couched their lances aTnsf!^^ iBg themselves about this way and thri^a quiil™; till we were quite gone by, which made ns laugh Tr t seemed a strange thing that men so well armed houM two of them maids upon palfreys CHAPTER XIX WBNDISH WIT Tnk gray plain .of the Wolfmark, which we had been traverMng ever since we descended out of the steep Weiss Thor St the city of Thorn, had now begun to break into ridges and monnded hills of stiff red clay.' And I, who had often kept my watch on the highest pinnacle ot the Red Tower, looked with astonishment back upon the city I had left behind. Seen from the plain,*Thom ^iad an aspect almost imperial. 'iT It rose above the colorless flat of gray suddenly, in- expectedly, almost insolently. The city, with its num- berless gables, spires of churches, turreted gate-houses, occupied a ridge of gradually swelling ground which ^ose like a huge whalfe-back from the misty plain. Ibp walls were grim, high, and far-stretching. But as we travelled farther into the Wolfmark the city seemed to sink deeper into the plain and the dark castle of Duke Oasimir to shoot ever higher into the skies. So that presently, as we looked back, we could only see the Wolfs- berg itself, the abode of cruelty and wrong, staadinjr black against the white sky of noon. Its flanking towers stood up above the battlemented wall, their turrets climbing higher and higher towards heaven, till the topmost Red Tower-that in which my fa- _ther;B g arr et ^ a s, a nd in which I had spent my entimifg until this day--8oared straight upward above them all, like a threatening index-finger pointing, not into the clear sky of.» summer'B noon, but into clouds and thick darkness M, l^V* 4 H ■ j \) 4 r r, }v ;5lf THE RED AXE I was glad when at last we lost sight of it. Then, in- deed, I felt that I had left my old life behind me. And, in spite of the Lady Ysolinde's ink-pool prophecy and my love for my father (such as it was), I did not meaS ever to trust myself within that baleful circle of gray and weary plain upon which the Red Tower looked down. Seeing that the maids were inclined to talk the one with the other, or rather that the Lady Yaolinde spoke confidentially with Helene, and that Helene now an- swered .her without embarrassment and with frank, equal glances, I dropped gradually behind and rode with the two stout men-at-arms. The\e I found to be honest lads enough, but of a strangely reserved and taciturn nature, each ever waiting lot the other to an- swer — being, like most Wendish men, much averse to questioning and still more stiff as to replying. "You are men of Plassenburg P' I said to the near- est, simply and innocently enough, for the purpose of improving the cordiality of our relations. Whereupon he turned his head slowly about to his neighbor, as it were to consult him. The glance said as clearly as monk's script : "What shall we answer to this troublesome, inquisitive fellow ?" At first I thought that perhaps they spoke not the common dialect, and that as we were travelling towards regions roughly Wendish and but lately heathen, they might have some uncouth speech of their own. So, as is ever the custom with folk that are not accustomed to. the speaking of foreign tongues, t repeated the question in mine own language in a louder tone, supposing that that would do as well. " Yol9 are men of the country of Plassenburg ?" cried I, as loud as I could bawl. " We are not deaf— we have all onr faculties, praise the 'aiints V said tl&e more distant of the two, looking not at tmm^ V ^:i' <:■'> -,, «! i :¥} 'p^i '■■■i-^'At'i ■a >< is o ^t o towards en, they So, as I wSl We 1 '■/ t^ omed to. juestion ing that j^p^^^^'--- ^*' JmIbIb^ -' ' «l^^^3 Hl^^^E''C''. J l^s ■'^^ r cried " j^^-^BBfi' ' ■ ' - ^ rfn^^^K' ^^^1 oily ■jjk^^^l^i^ffl^y raise the s g not at ied4)aek « A- t . ' / '- ' 1 o i ' " . -..-^^ « I I 1 I V WENDISH WIT at his comrade's reply, as if it had been delicately calcu lated at once to answer my question a||d at the same time not to commit them to any dangerous opinions. I tried again. " Your prince, I hear, is a true man, Iwave, and well- versed in war ?" The shorter and stouter man, who rode beside me, glanced once at my face, and slowly screwed round his head to his companion in a long, questioning gaze. Then as slowly he turned his head back again. *♦ Umph 1" he said, judicially, with a piovement of his head, which seemed a successful compromise between f^ nod and a shake, just as his remark might very well have resulted from an attempt to say "Yes" and "No" at the same time. ^ This was not encouraging to one who, like myself, was in high spirits and much inclined for conversation. But I was not to be so easily beaten off. " The Prince of Plassenburg has a Princess," I said, " who is often upon her travels ?" It was an innocent remark, and, so far as I could see, not one in itself highly humorous. But it broke up the gravity of these red-haired northern bears as if it had been the latest gay sally of the court-fool. "Ha I ha I" laughed the more distant, lanky man, rock- ing himself in his saddle till the pennon on his lance shook and the point dipped towards his horse's ear. "Ho 1 ho I" chorused his companion, slapping his thigh jovially. " Jorian, did you hear that ? ' The Prince of Plassenburg hath a Princess, and she is often upon he'r travels.' Ha 1 ha 1 ha 1 Ho I ho 1 ho I" " He hath said it I Ho 1 ho 1 He hath said it ! He is a wise fellow, after all, this beardless Jack-pudding i>r Tlioi^T^crlea^lkhe otBer7tee.heeihg with laughter till he nearly wept upon his own saddle-bow. I began to get very angry. For we men of Thorn were m • •> »kijaVMi.«,."JitKJ ■ .i iiteiii*i'v^'''^tf,v.i ^ . V[ "r: - ^-"-^ - ■ " , THE RED AXE nuSt accnstomed to be so floated by any strangers, keeping i- » i mostly our own castoms, and reining in the few strangers ! ■ \^ who ventured to visit Duke Casimir's dominions pretty tightly. Least of all could I brook insolence from these Wendish boors from the outskirts of half-pagan Bor- i ^'i rnssia. 1 : ! ** The Prince of Plassenburg hath churls among his 1 retinue/' said I, hotly, "if they be all like you two i j Jacks, that cannot answer a simple question without 1 ! singing out like donkeys upon a common where there are no thistles to keep them quiet." Sir Thicksides, the fat jolter-head nearest me, set his thumb out to stick it into the side armor of Longiegs, i his companion, who rode cheek by jowl with him. " 0"o-oo-ahoo 1" cried he, crowing with mirth, as if I ii had said a yet more facetious <;Mng. "'Tis a simple question — *Hath the Prince of Plassenburg a Princess, i and ia she not oft — ahoo P Boris, prod me with thy » ; lanoe-shaft- hard,, to keep me from doing myself an ill 1 turn with this fellow's innocence." " Hold up, Jorian !" answered the long man, prompt- ly pounding hkn on the back wiUi the butt of his spear. ** Hold up, fat Jorian I Let not thy love of mirth do thee any injury. For thon art a good comrade, and fools were ever apt to divert thee too much. I have seen thee 1^ at this before — that time we went to Wilna, and the fel- li low in motley gave thee griping spasms with his tom- 1 foolery." i i J. ! Then was I mainly angry, as indeed I had sufficient ', y occasion. i "You are but churls," I said, "and the next thing to If ' 1' knaves. And I will e'en inform the Prince when we ar- ',' rive what like are the men whom he sets to escort ladies ' ill' to his castle." But though they were silenter after this, it was not from any alarm at m^Twords, but simply beoaase they «[ rs, keeping f strangers ons pretty From these agan Bor- among his 3 you two n without here there ne, set his Longlegs, tim. 'th, as if I 1 a simple I Princess, ) with thy rself an ill a, prompt- ' his spear. ! mirth do I, and fools 3 seen thee nd the fel- ii his tom- l sufficient Kt thing to hen we ar- loort ladies it was not oaase they WENDira^IT t- had laughed themselves out of plj^ For as I rode on in high dudgeon^alf-way between the women and the men-at-arms, I could see them with the corner of an eye stUl nudging each other with their thumbs and throwing back their heads, and the breeze blew me scraps of their limited conversation. " Ho I ho ! Good, was it notT • The Prince hath a Princess, and she—/ Ho ! ho ! Good !^ The ridge^<4,clay of which I have already spoken con- tinued and increased in size as we went 6n. It was a dried - up, speckled, unwholesome - looking land. And people upon it tHere were none that we could see. The Urge fortified farmt;^ad ceased altogether. A" certain frightful monotony reigned everywhere. Ravines, like cracks which the sun makes in mud, but a thousand times greater, began to split the hills perpendicularly to their very roots. The path wound perilously this way and that among them. And presently Jorian and Boris rode past me to take the lead, for Ygolinde and Helene were inclined to mistake the way as often as they came to the crossing and interweaving of the intricate paths. And as these two jolly jackasjjps rode past at my right side I could see the thumb of long Boris curving towards the ribs of his comp^ion, and the shoulders of both shaking as thejr chuckled. ^« "A rare simpleton's quettion, i' faith, yes. Ho I ho 1 Good !" they chorussed. " * The Prince hath a Princess ' ' —the cock hath a hen, and she— iHa I ha I Good !" At that moment I could with pleasure have slain Jorian and Boris for open-mouthed, unshaven, slab-sided Wen- dish pigs, as indeed they were. Yet, had I done so, wa had fared but ill without them. For had they been a thousand times jackasses and rotten -pudding- h«adsi«r-fehey- vferey, at least they knewTET way and something of the unchristian people among whom we were going. « 129 i% ,\. • r\ THE BED AXE And 80 in a little while, as we wound oar way along the face of these perilous rifts in the baked clay, with the mottled, inefficient river feeling its way gingerly at the bottoin of the bnff - colored rflivine, what was my astonishment J^o see Jorian and Boris turn sharply at right angles ^nd ride single file up one of the dry lateral cracks which opened, as it were, directly into the hill-side ! Th^y did this without ever looking at the landmarks, like men who are anyways uncertain of their road. But, on the contrary, they wheeled confidently and rode jaun- tily on, and we, three meekly followed, having by this time lost the Lubber Fiend, the devil do9btl9SS knew where. For we must have followed Boris and Jorian unquestioningly had they led us into the bowels of the earth, as indeed, at first sight, they seemed to be doing. \ ; I, r« way along clay, with ^gerly at it was my sharply at f the dry 'ectly into andmarks, oad. Bat, rode jann- ag hy this bl^BS knew Old Jorian rels of the be doing. CHAPTER XX » ^ «^' THB BABTH-DWBLLBE8 OP NO MAIST'S LAND Then presently -we came to a strange place/the like of Which I have never seen, save here on the borders of the Mark and the northern Wendish lands. An amalgam of lime, or binding stuff of some sort, had glued the clay of the rayines together, and set it stiff and fast like dried plaster. So, as we went up the narrow, perilous path, our horses had to tread very warily lest, going too near the edge, they should chip off enough of the foothold to send themselves an4 their riders whirling neck-over-toes to the bottom. All at once the Little Playmate, who was riding imme- diatfely before me, screamed but sharp and shrill, and I hastened up to her, thinking she had fallen xjM a mis- fortune.. I foi«a her palfrey with ears prick^Rlnd dis- tended nostril, gSzihg at a head in a red nightcap which was set out of a hole- i^, the red clay. "The country of gnomes I Of a surety, yes I And hi^erto I had thought ^ been but^e nonsense of folk-tales V* said I to myself. ' Qp Which> what we shall saytne day^more things than red-nightcapped heads. . - But the Little PlaymateN«ttered scream after scream, for the head continued coolly to stare at her, as if fixed aUve ovei^the gat eway by the ot&it of some oave^wfilling^ i' TffipoftlieRedAxe. •I noticed, however, that the head chewed a straw and «p«t, which I deemed » gnome would not do— thfcuirh 181 - m.-'.-- i .^ X wherefore^llll^ws ana- luting ar6 not -Ir^e to gnomefi do not loibwand coal^ n«t B|||e>toMi Tet^ at.il^^yfeiti^^ Wd|^.wa8 my Jpief. A#i a5e|f|M#l m&n nodded intelligently, btit went on coolly chewing his straw. . « ^ Then I went up to him, and, as civilly as I could, took him by tW chin and thrust his head back into the hole. And as I did so I saw for the first time that the wall of the clay cliff, tough and gritty With its alloy of lime, had been out and hewn into houses and hirts haying doors of wood of exactly the same color, and in some cases even windows with bars — ^very mary^ous to see, and such as I haye neyer witnessed elsewhere. Presently, at the tramp- ling of the feet of so mfany horses, people -began to throng to their doors, and children peered^^flnt at windows and^ cried to each other shrilly : " See For so, being but lately pagu^ this day, these on Land denominated ni , ently we came to an the BheoTldifl, where was a the others. Jorian rode directly up to'the^ A9» ristians 1" Ves, if not partly the border No nth. '8 sloping ai|ray from door^eaieridisir whioh WM o( the 5> fil that she IS of two threaten- es silent, ij dotage lyeth the wall, "I the mu4, le that it at m coolly aid, took the hole. le wall of lime, had ; doors of ases even i such as lie tramp- bo throng iowB an' *^eir wretched town ^mm^^^ iti^ the gulf like swallows' nestfl from ^^tinder the eav^9. !|r/\j And this last thi-eat seemed to have more weight than all th# r«st, probably beo^se the Prince of PIkssenburg had alrea^don? Bonfetlffiig of ^fee Wnrtd some' other similar mm, and the earth -bniieowers of Erdberg had =good leasott to^ — ^^ " , .^^.. erentfl,l^lie great doorljpened, and a man ilM^itants ; the poi and JoriMi -.i>-5 «i^k I «si>*. >ii= -^ THE RED AXE \ addressed him in some outlandishly compounded speech, of which I could only understand certain oft-recurri^ words, as "lodging," "victualling," and "order of thi Prince." So, presently, after a long, and on the side of our escort a stormy, conference, we were permitted to enter. Our horses were secured at the great mangers, which extended all a|ong one side ; while, opposite.to the horses, hut sim- ilar to their accommodation in every respect, were stalls wherein various families seemed to be encamped for the night. With all the air of a special favor obnferred, we were informed that we must take up our quarters in the middle of the room and make the best of the hardened floor there. This information, conveyed with a polite wav* of ■the hand and a shrug of the shoulders by our landlord, , seemed not unnaturally to put Jorian and Boris into a 1^ furious passion, for they drew their (swords, and with a uitanimous sweep of the hand cleared|fie capes of their leathern jacks for fighting. So, not to be outdone, I drew my weapon, also, and stood by to protect Helene,and the Lady Ysolinde. These two stood close together behind us, but con- tinued to talk indiflflerently,' chiefly of dress and jewels — ■ which surprised me, both in the strange circumstances, , and because I "knew that Helene had seen no more of them than the valueless trinkets that had belonged to my mother, and which abode in a greenVlined box in the Red Tower. Yet to speak of such things seems to come ' naturally to all women. As if they had mutually arranged it **from all eterni- ty," as the clerks say, Jorian and Boris took, more of longed to )ox in the 8 to come ' dl etemi- boat hesi- ting their rontwith- bhe ladies ivr \ EARTH-DWELLERS OF NO MAN'S LAND ^ Presently out from the doors by which our conductors had entered there came tumbling a crowd of men and women, some carrying straw bolsters and wisps of hay, others bearing cooking utensils, and all in various disha- Ulle. Then ensued a great buzzing and stirring, much angry growling on the part of the disturbed men, and shrill calling of' women for their errant children. Our little Helene looked sufficiently pitiful and dis- turbed as these preparations were being made. Bnt the Lady Ysolinde scarcely noticed^ them, taking apparently all the riot and delay as so much testimony to the impor- tant quality of such great ones of the earth as could a&d to travel under the escort of tw^ valiant men-at-armi^ Presently came Jorian and Boris out at a third door, having met somewhere in the back parts of. the warren. They came up to the Lady Ysolitide and bowed humbly. " Will your ladyship deign to choose her chamber ? They are all empty. Thereafter we shall see that proper furniture, such as the place affords, is provided for your Highness." ^ I could not but wonder at so much dignity expended npon the daughter of Master Gerard, the lawyer of Thorn. But Ysolinde took their reverence as a matter of course. She did not even speak, but only lifted her right han^ a little casual flirt of the flngers, which said, "Leadd»„ ., Then Jorian marshalled us within, Boris standing at the d^pr to let us pass, and bringing his sword-blade with a little click of salute to the perpendicular as each of us passed. But I chanced to meet his eye as I went with- Thereat the rogue deliberately winked, and I could ^y see his shoulders heave. I knew that he was still irihg the cud of his stale and ancient jest: "The jnoe hath a Princess, and sh e — " y ^S. I could have disembowelled the villain. But, after all, ^ was certainly doing us some service, though in a most ^K>vocative and high-handed manner. ij i! ;J I -^. .^jppH^^W? .54ftii, *^ „*k.. CHAPTER XXI 1 STAND 8ENTBT There are (say some) but two things worth the trouble of making in the world— war and love. So once upon a time I believed. JfBut since — being laid up during the unkindly monotony of our Baltic sprinl^gr an ancient wound — I fell to the writing of this history, I would add to these two worthy adventures — the making of ^:^ooks. WJiich, till I tried my hand at the task my- - self, I would in no wise have allowed. But now, when the diys are,f asterly of wind and the lashin]g%water beats on the l^ea|lQzenge8 ofpur window lattice, I am fain to strel^ch myself, take uti^ a new pen, and be at it again must e'en think of them tha>4>re to read me, ind of their pain if I overstretch nty' privilege. Besides, ive over-loijfi in t,be ^d they may not read ine If" thus imagi njMfe) certainly regarded ihe without dislike. God forgiv^JP^f^ thinking so nmch when they had nw est plainV^old me ! Nevertlbeless I took the thing for granted, jKk it were. And, as I said before, it has been my experience that, if it be done with a careful and delicate hand, more is gained with women by taking things for granted than by the smoothest tongue and lougest Jao61>-aiad-BacMer servide. The man who suo- ceeds with good women is the man who takes things for Ti , ,^'i.>t*'s4'y&;'. " » I StAND SENTRY granted. Only he must know exactly what things, other- wise I am mortally sorry for him-^he will have a rough road to travel. But to my tale. Jorian ushered Ysolinde and Helene into the rooms from which he had so unceremoniously ousted the for- mer tonanjts. H. ? % ^ ; ■% -^ ■f.' u f.: !■■ ti jO " THE BED AXE hall, and began to diah up the fragrant stew. He had been collecting for it all day upon the march, now knock- ing over a rabbit with a bolt from his gun, now picking some leaves of lettuce and watercress when he chanced upon a rnnning stream or a neglected garden— of which last (thanks to Duke Oasimir and his raiders) there were numbers along the route we had traversed. Then, when he had made all ready, our sturdy cook dished the stew into a great wooden platter—rabbits, par- tridges, scraps of dried flesh, bits of bacon for flavoring fresh eggs, vegetables in handfuls, dl covered with a damty-smelling sauce, deftly compounded of milk, eraw and red wine* ^ j* Then Jorian and Boris, one taking the heap of Wooden platters and the other the smoking bowl of stew, marched solemnly within. But before he went, Boris handed me his pistolet without a word, and the slow-match with it. Which, as I admit, made me feel monstrously unsafe.' However, I took the engine across my arm and stood at ^ attention as I Had seen him do, with the match thrust through my waistband. Then I felt as if I had suddenly grown at least a foot toller, and my joy was changed to ecstasy when the Lady Ysolinde, coming .out quickly, I knew not at first for what purpose, found me thus standing sentinel and blow- ing importantly upon my slow-match. "Hngo," she said, kindly, looking at me with the aqua-marine eyes that had the opal glints in them, "come thy ways in and sit with us." I made her a salute with my piece and thanked her for her good thought. "But,^* said I, "Lady Ysolinde, pray remember that tMs is a place of danger, and that it is more fitting that we who have the honor to be your guards should dine to- gether without your chamber doors." "Nay," she said, impetuously, "I ingigt. it if not MO . ! I STAND SENTRY He had ow knock- w picking 9 chanced -of which here weye irdy cook •bits, par- flavoring, d with a Ik, gravy, t Wooden inarched inded me I with it. '■ unsafe, stood at h thrust st a foot ;h& Lady first for nd blow- vith the , "come right that you, who are to be an officer, should mess with the common soldiers.'* " My lady," said I, "I thank you deeply. And it shall be 80, 1 promise you, when we are in safety. But let me have my way here and now." She smiled Upon me— liking me, as I think, none the \90TBe for my stiffness. And so went away, and I was right glad to see her go. For I would not have lost what I had gained in the good ^pinion of these two men-at- arms— no, not for twenty maidens' favors. But in that respect also I changed as the years went on. For of all things a boy loves not to be flouted and babyfied when he thinks himself already grown up and the equal of his elders in love and war. So in a little while came but Jorian and Boris, and, having carried in the bread and wine, we three sat down to the remains of the stew. Indeed, I saw but little dif- ference as to quantity fromtfee time thiit Jorian had taken it in. For maids' appetites whil they are any- ways in Ibve are precarious, but, after they are assured of their love's return, then the back hunger oomes upon them and the larder is made to pay for all arrears. Not that I mean to assert tba* either of ''these ladies waa in love with me— far otherwise indeed. For this it would argue the conceit of a jack-a-dlndy to imagine, much more to write ^ch a thing. But, nevertheless, certain is it that this night ^h^y were both of smaU appetite. fH I her for ber that ing that dine to- t it not , i ,; -■ ^ ^ -J*. '^ immmmmmm •I i CHAPTER XXII 'HELENE HATES ME HowEVEE, when the provision came to the outer pott, we three sat down about it, and then, by my troth, there was little to marvel at in the .tardiness of our eating/ For the rabbits seemed to come alive and positively leap- ed down our throats, the partridges almpst flew at us out of the pot, the pigeons fairly rejoiced td be eaten. The broth and the gravy ebbed lower and I^ower in the j)an and left all dry. But as soon as we had^cj^^d the boneb roughly, for there was no time for fine work lest the others should get all the best, we threw the bones out to the hungry crew that watched us sitting round the stalls, their very jowls pendulous with envy. So after a while we came to the end, and then I went to the entrance of the chamber where were bestowed the Little Piaymate and the Lady Ysolind?. Fbr 1 be- gan to Ibe anxious how Helene would be able to com- port herself in the company of one so dainty and full of devices and co^veoances as the lady of the "Weiss Thor. But, by my faith, I need Hot have troubled about our little lass. For if there were any embarrassed, that one was certainly not Helene. And if any of ma lacked re- posefulness of manners, tha,t one was certainly a staring jackanapes/ who did not know which foot to stand nf on, nor yet how to sit down on the oaken settle wheli a seat was offered liim^ nor, Jast of all, when por how to take his departure when he ha^ once sat down. And as to* \ 142 ..'. • V fK- ,V' •«'. . » , ,V' . HELENE HATES ME '^\- ' the identity of that jackass, there needs no further par- tjfkilarity. Nevertheless, I talked pleasantly enough with both of them, and I might have been an acquaintance of the day for. all tl^ notice that the Little Playmate took of me, even when the Lady Ysolinde told heh evidently not for the first time, of my standing sentry by the door and blowing i^)on the match at my girdle. ^ From without we heard presently tl^lapping of hands and loud derayof merrymaking, so Twent to find out what it might be that \vas causing such an uproar. Thei-e I found Jorian and Boris giving a kind of ex- hibitlotf of their skill in military exercises. I^might be, ^ also, that they desired to teach a lesson for the benefit of the wildrobber border fdlk an%the yet more ruffianly kemper^ who foregathered^in this strange inn of Erdberg on the boi'ders of the Mark. I summoned the maids that they might look on. :^or I wot the scene was a curious and pleasing one, and I could see that the eyes of Ihe La(ip^ Ysolinde glittered. But our little maid, being used to m these things from her youth,, cared npthing for it, though the thing was indeed marvellous in itself . When I went out our twp men-at-arms had each of them in^liand his ^straight Wendish Tolleknife, made heavy at the end o^ the Swedish blade, but light as to , the handle, and haf ted with cork from Spain. Ten yards apart, shoulder to shoulder they st6od, and first of all, each of them poishig'the knifb in. the hollow of his hand with a peculiar dancing movement, set it, writhing across the room at a marked circle on a board. The two knives sped stmultaneou^y with a vicioas whir, , and stood quivering, with their blades toupjiing eaqh other, in the centre of the white. At the next trial, so exactly had they beenaimed that)he point of the one hit upon the haft of the other and stripped the cork almost "X >.'■ ' i;i i, *. THE RED AXE to the blade. But Jorlan, to whom the kni|e belonged, mended it with a piece of string, telling the company philosophically that it was no bftd thing to have a* string hanging loose to a Tolleknif e, for when it went into any one th6 string would always hang down from the wound - in order to pull it out by. •' Then they got their knives again and played a moje dangerous game. Jorian «topd on guard with his knife, :" waving the blade slowly before him in the shape of a iong-bodied letter S. Boris poised his weapon in the hollow of his harid, and sent it whirring straight ^t Jo- rian's heart. As it came buzzing like an angry bee, al- most too quick for the eye tp follow, Jorian flicked it deftly up into the air at 6xactly the right nioment, and, without even taking his eye off it, he caught the knife - by the handle as it fell. Thereafter he bowed and gave it bpck, to the- thrower ceremoniously. Then Boris gqarded, and Jorian in his turn threw, With a like re- sult, though, perhaps, a little less featly done on Boris's part. AH the while there was a clamant and manifold aston- ishment in the kitchen of the inn, together with prod- igal and. much-whispering 'wonder. Then ensued other plays. Boris^ stood with his elbow crook^id and his left hand on bis- hip, with his back also tuijned to Jorian. Buzzf went ithe knife f It flashed like level lightning under the arch of Jorian's armpit, and lo I it was caught in his right hand, which dropped upon it like a hawk npoa a' rabbit, as it sped through rbis elbow port. Then came shooting with the cross-bow^ and I re- gretted much that I had only learned the six-foot yew, and that there was not one in the company, nor indeed ^roo^ii to display it if there had been. Fm: I long^df to^ ^o something to shdw that I also was no milksop. Df PV it cfaaaoed that the(re was in One comer a yearling ."^*' ' 144 ' 7* ■^« HELENE HATES ME calf that had been killed tfiat day, ana hung np with a bar between its thighs. I sa^^ an axe leaning- fn the corner -an axe ^ith a broad, cutting edge -and I be- thought me that perhaps, after all, T knew something which even Jorian and Boris were ignorant of. So mindful of my father's teaching, I took the axe, and, be-' fore any one was aware, of my intent, I swept the long- handled axe round my head, and; getting the 'poise and- distence for the slow drawing cut which does not stop for bone nor muscle, I divided the neck through at one blow so that the head dropped on the ^ound irSn'lu^^ZT^' "'''"^^ ^PP^^'*^^ ^^^ A^^r. Men ran to lift the calf's head, and the owner of the axe oAxe up to examme the- edge of his weapon. I lookefabout Tha eyes of the Lady Ysolinde were aflame with pleas- ure, but, oi th» other hand, the Little Playmate was crimson with shame. Tears stood in her beautZ eyes. c«utu.u4 She marched straight up to meet me, and, clinching her hand^, she said, " Oh, I hate you '" - more that ni^t. Now I take all to witness what strange things are tHe mmd and temper of even the best of worn- en. And why Helene thus spoke to me I know not- nay even to this day I can hazard no right guess. But as I have oftei^ said, God never made anythhxg stmight that He made beautiful, except only the line where the sea meets the sky. And of all the pretty, crooked, tangled things that He has made, women are the prettiest, the crookodest-and . the most distractingly tangled. Whicli is perhaps why they are so everlastingly inter- esting, and why we blundering, ram-stam, homely fa- vored men lovfe them so. ' . . But the best entwrtainmeut must at long and last come to an end. And the one in the inn of Erdberg iMted ^ 445 ""» ^ :,4-r-— —- - I I;:' *,<* T^E RED AXE not BO long as the telling of it — for the matter, being more comfortable than that which came after, I have, perhaps, not hurried §p much as I might. 1 When at last both snpper and entertainment were fin- ished,^ and the earthenware platters huddled away into the hall A^ithout, there arose a mighty clamor, so that Jorian went to the door Slid cried out to the landlord to know what was the matter. The old brick-dusty knave came hulking forward, and, with greatly increased respect, he addressed the men-at-arms. " What ia your will, noble sirs ?" "I Risked," said Jorian, "what was the reason of this 80 ill-favored noise. If your guests cannot be quiet, I will come among them with somethii](g that will settle the quarrels of certain of them in perp>etuity." So with sulky recurrent murmurs the fray finally se^ tied itself, at^ f or that time at least there was no more trouble.. I wnt to the door of the t^dy Ysolinde and the Little Playmate and cried in to them a courteous good-night. For I had been sorry to have Helene'g **I hate you 1" for her last word. And the I^ady Ysolinde came to the door in a light robe of silktl^d gave^ me^^r hand to kiss. But though I said : " A sweet sleep and a pleasant, Helene 1" no voice replied. '^ Which I took very ill, seeing that J. had done naught amiss that I knew of. Then Jorian, Boris, land I made us comfortable for the night, and, being infifmcted by Boris, Eset my straw, with the foot of jny bundle to the door, which opened inward upon us. 'then^yputting my sword by my side and my other weapons convenient to my hand, I laid me dqjQX and braced.my feet firmly against the door, tla^ locjking it safely. L Joriati and Boris did the same at the otheFtfnti:ances, and before the formlir went to sleep he arranged a taUt. oandle that had been placed nnlight^d before a little fc^ii .k HELENS HATES ME ter, being r, I have, ; were fin- away into r, eo that mdlord to sty knave id respect, on of this 16 quiet, I will settle inally se^ 8 no more linde and courteous jlene'g "I \Y8olinde v\ me^r sleep and ch I took iss that I t)le for the traw, with ed inward e and my me dqsqx H^ loqking Bnti^ances, ged a talli:, re a little shrine of the Virgin (for, in name at least, the folk were not wholly pagan) and lighted it, so that it shed a faint mummation down the long passage in which we were ^towed, and on the inner door of the ladies' apart- fhi^'t^^^i^ ^ "^f ^^^ ^'°°^ ^^^S i^^^o^e, yet the thought of the wandering damsels, both so' fair and so fw^ from home, moved me deeply. And I was in act to waft a kiss towards the dooi- when Jorian caught me. What now r i^ ,m ; " art at thy jjrayers, lad ?" ■ Sainfs^Ll't^ '"^ '" '''' '' "^^'^^^'^^ *^« «^--V^e ' - Now this was irreverent, and mayhap afterwards we were all soundly punished for it. But at least it was on the level of their soldiers' wit-though I own, at the most, no great matter to cackle of. «On?Jf^' .^/^i;?^'^"lfe^°"^'^°^«^^i« breath. One of them is doubtless a s^. But as to the other- welUet us ask the Princfe. ^ He hath a Princess, and she IS 0^ upon her travels P Ho I ho I ho I" ^u^^ju^^ ^"^^ ^^°°^ *^°°^ ^'^ '*'*^ *o such an extent that I bade him for God's dear sake to bide stilL other- wise we might as lief lie in « bam amon^q;ie8ting rat- "And the saints of yoirr l^ilnts' Rest defend us from lying among any worse P said he, and betook him to I'! CHAPTER XXIII HUOO OF THE BBOADAXE Bttt as for me, sleep I conld not. And indeed that is small wonder. For it was the first night I had ever slept out of the Bed Tower in my life. I seemed to lack some necessary accompaniment to the act of going to sleep. *It was a long while before I could find out what it could be that was disturbing me. At last I discovered that it was the howling of the kennelled blood-hounds which I missed. For at night they even raged, and leap- ed on the barriers with their forefeet, hearing mayhap the moving to and fro of men come sle the streets of the city beneath.. But here, within a long day*B march of Thorn, I had come at once into a new world. Slowly the night dragged on. The candle guttered. A draught of air blew fit- fully through the corridor in "which we lay. - It carried the flame of the candle in the opposite direction. I won- dered whence it could come, for the air had been still and thick before. Yet I was glad of the stir, for it cooled my temples, and I think that biit for one thing I might have slept. And had I fallen on sleep then no one of us might have waked so easijly. What I heard was no more than this— once or twice the flame of the ca;idle gave a smart little " spit," as if a moth or a fat blue-bot- tle had forwandered into it and fallen spinning to the ground with burned wings. Yet there were no ifloths ip the chambers, or^e should have seen th»m circling about the lights at the tiine of supper. Nevertheless, ere long 148 I j ed that is ijver slept ack some ) sleep. t what it iacovered d'hounds and leap- mayhap from rn, I had b dragged blew fit- [t carried 1. Iwon- been still ir, for it >ne thing ) then no leard was he ca^idle blue-bot- ag to the nioths in ing about ere long if ! i fiUGO OP THJE BROADAXE I heard again the quick, light M^hpT And presently 1 saw a^ pellet fall, to the groB^Jp rolling aw&y from the wall almost to the edge of the itraw on which I lay. I reached out a hand for it, and in a trice had it in my fingers. It was soft^ like mason's putty. " Plop !" came another. I was sure now. •Some one \^as shooting at the flame of the candle with intent to leav» ua in the dark. ^ Jorian and Boris Snored loudly, sleeping like tired men- at-arms. I need say no more. I lay with my head in the shadow, but by moving little by httle, with sleepy grunts of dissatisfaction, I brought my face far enough round to see through the straw the Window at the far end of the passage, which, as I had discovered upon our first coming, opened out upon a ra- vihe runniujg at right angles to the street by which we had come. " - . „ Presently I 6oilld see the lattice move noiselessly, and a white face appeared with a boy's blow-gun of pierced bore-tree at its lips. "Alasr said I to tnyself, "that I had had these soldiers' skill of the knife - throwing^ I would have marked that gentleman." But I had not even a bow- only my sword and dagger. I resolved to begin to learn the practice of pistol and cross-bow on the morrow. **PUpi Scat!" The aim was good this time. We .were m darkness. I listened the barest fragment of a moment. Some one was stealthily entering at the window end. " Rise, Jorian and Boris I" I cried. " An enemy 1" And leaping up I ran to relight the candle. By good lu^k the wick was a sound, honest, thick one, a good housewife's wick— not such as are made to sell and put in ordinary candles of offertory. The wick was still red, and smoked as I put my hands behind it and blew. ''Twang! Twang! Zist! Ziat!" went the arrows and bolts thickly about me, brinjr- 148 ^ Jt .1" § '■i^: • s 1 1 n 1 ■ ^^Br\ ' ► # . ^ -!-^ C " '' « t *- ^ ■^ . j^ • ,„ '- " -■ . . \ ■ * :* ' ■f. «, ' .ft r '- ^ ' * * t r f 1 "4 . : . - 1 » ,b^. AS^ X IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k // // ,.<> {< ]-f'^>»- -4-' ,*'- 1.0 1.1 L£I2.8 ^ UA i us 25 2.2 ■^ 12.0 Id nni IL25- III 1.4 1.6 '^ >^ vA 41 ^Sdaices Corporation ^ WBT MAIN STwnr WIBSTIR.N.Y. 14S80 (716)873^503 t. << *r. THE RED AXE ■-■►■-'?:.■ -ing down the clay dust in handfuls thickly from the walls. "Down on your stomacbSi-they are shooting cross- wise along the passage V cried Jorian, who had instant- ly awakened. I longed to follow the advice, for I felt something sharp catch the back of my undersuit of soft leather,- in which, for comforETl had laid me down to sleep. But I must get the candle alight. Hurrah I the flame flickered and caught at last. " Tioa'^ / Twang I" went the bows, harder at it than ever. Something hurtled hotly through my hair— the iron bolt of an arbalest, as I knew by the song of the steel bow in a man's hand at the end of the passage. " Get into a doorway, man T cried Boriifc as the light revealed me. And like a startled rabbit I ran for the nearest — ^that within which jHelene and the Lady Y'solinde were lying asleep. The'oandle, as I have said, was set deep in a niche, which proved a great mercy for us. For our foes, who had thought to come on us by fraud, could not now shoot it out. Also, in relighting it, in my eagerness to save myself from the hissing arrows behind me, I had pushed it to the very back of the shrine. I had no weapon now but my dagger, for, in rising to relight the candle, I had carelessly and blamefuUy left my sword in the straw. And I felt very useless and foolish as I stood there to bide the assault with only a bit of guardless knife in my hand. Suddenly, however, there came a diversion. " Crash I" went a gun in my very ear. Flame, smoke — much of both — and the stifling smell of sulphur. Jp- rian had fired at the face of the pop-gun knave. IWt putty-white countenance had a crimson plash on it ere it vanished. Then came back to us a scream of dreadful agony and the sound of a heavy fall outside. "End of act the first I The Wicked Angela— ham. ,^- 100 • ' ■ HUGO OP THB BROADAXB hum— go to hell 1 All in the day's work 1" cried Jorian, cheerily, recharging his pistolet and driving home the wadding as he spoke. It may well be imagined that during our encounter with the assailants of the candle, whose transverse fire had so nearly finished me, the company out in the great kitchen had not been content to lie snoring on their backs. We could hear them creeping'^and whispering out there beyond the doors ; but till after the shot from the soldier's pistolet they had not dared to show us tmf overt act of hostility. Suddenly Jorian, once more facing the door, now that the passage was clear, perceived by the rustling of the straw that it began to open gradually. He waited till in another moment it would have been wide enough to let in a man. " Back there, dog, or I fire V he bellowed. And the door was promptly shut to. After that there came another period of waiting very difficult to get over. I wished with all my heart for a cross-bow or any shooting weapon. Much did I re- : proach myself that I had not learned the art before, aa-I " might easily have done from the men-at-arms about ^e Wolfsberg, who, for my father's sake (or Helene's), ironid gladly have taught me. , The women folk in the room behind my back were now up and dressed. Indeed, the Lady Ysolinde would have come out and watched with us, but I besought her to abide where she was. Presently, however, Helene put her head without, and seeing me stand by the door with my sword, she asked if I wanted anything. She appeared to have forgotten her unkind good-night, and I was not the man to remind her o{ it. " Only another weapon. Sweetheart, besides this priok- point small-sword 1" said I, looking at the thing in my hand I doubt not a trifle soomf nlly. 161 THE RED AXE I ! Helene shut to the door, and for a space I heard.no more. Presently, however, ahe opened it '^ again, and thmst an axe with a long handle through to me. It was tlie very fellow of the weapon I had used on the pen- dent calf in the kUohen. I understood at once that it was her apology and-her justification as well. For the Little Playmate was ever a straight lass. She ever did so much more than she promised, and ever said less than her heart meant. Which perhaps is less common than the other way about— especially among women. "I found it on my incoming and hid it under the bed r she said. Then judge ye if I sheathed not my small-sword right swiftly, and made the broadaxe blade, to the skill of which I had been born, whistle through the air. For a mightily strange thing it is that, though I had ever a rooted horror at the thought of my father's office itself, and from my childhood never for a moment intended to exercise it, nevertheless I had always the|ij|te notable facility in cutting things. Never to th j|Vhave I a stick in hand, when I walk abroad amqn^'tSe ragweed waving yellow on the grassy pastures b'dlow the Wolfs- berg, but I must need make wagers with myself to cut to an inch at |;he heads of theiv. tallest and never mfss. And this I can do the day by the length, and never grow weary. Then again, for pleasaunce, my father used . to put me to the cutting of light wood with an axe, not always laying it upon a block or hag -clog, but some- times setting the billet upright and making me cut the top off with a horizontal swing of the axe. And in this I became exceedingly expelt, And how difficult it is no \>ne knows till he has tried. So it is small wonder that as soon as I gripped the noble broadaxe which Helene passed me I felt my own man again. Then we were silenlr and listened — and ever aoain 4ia- «» li HTTGO OP THE BROADAXE tened and held our breaths. Now I tell you when an enemy is whispering unseen without, rustling like rats m straw, and you wonder at what point they will break m next, thinking all the while of the woman you love (or do not yet love, but may) in the chamber behind— I tell you a castle is something less difficult to hold at such a time than just one's own breath. Suddenly I heard a sound in the outer chamber which I> knew the meaning of. It was the shifting of liorses' feet as they turn in narrow space to leave their stalls. Our good friends were making free with our steeds. And, if we were not quick about it, we should soon see the last of them, and be compelled to traverse the rest of the road to Plassenburg upon our own proper fegf. " Jorian,'' cried I, " do you hear ? They are slipping our horses out of #he stalls I Shall you and I make a sortie against them, while Boris with that pistol of his keeps the passage from the wicks of the middle door ?" "Goodr answered Jorian. "Give the word when you are ready." With axe in my right h*and, the handle of the door in my left, I gave the signal. " Whei'l say ' Three? Jorian V "Good r said Jorian. Clatter went the horses' hoofs as they were beinir led towards the door. "One I Two 1 Three \" I coijnted, ^softly but clearly. c »V*" . CHAPTER XXTV IT' i ^l !■ THE 80ETIB THE^oor was open, an.(I the next I mu^d was my axe whirling about my head aid Jorian rushing out of the other door a step ahead of me, with his broadsword in His hand. I cannot tell much about the fight. I never could all my days. And I wot well that those who can relate such long particulars of tales of fighting are the folk who stood at a distance and labored manfuUy at the looking on— not of them that were close in and felt tbfe hot breaths and saw the death-gleam in fierce, d«Bperate eyes, near to their own as the eyes of lovers when taiey embrace. Ah, Brothers of the Sword, these things can- not be told I Yet, of a surety, there is a heady delight m the fray itself. And so I found. For I struck and warded not, that being scarce necessary. Becapse an axe IS an uncanny weapon to wield, but still harder to afend against when well used. And I drove the rabble before me-the men of them, I mean. I felt my terrible weapon stopped now and then-now softly, now suddenly, ac- cording to that which I struck against. And all the while the kitchen of tile inn resounded with yelhi and threatenings, with oaths and cursings. But Jorian and I drove them steadily back, though they came at us again and again, with spits, iron hooks, and all manner of curious weapons. Also from out of the comers we saw the gleaming, watchful ejei of a dark Huddle of women and children. Presently the clamor- ong rabble turned tail suddenly and poured throuirh the IM f THE SORTIB door out upon the pathway, quicker than water through a tide-race in the fulness of the ebb. And lo I |n a moment the room was sucked empty, save only for the huddled women in. the comers, who cried and suckled their children to keep them still. ' And some of the wounded with the axe and the sword crawled to them to have their ghastly wounds bound. For an axe makes ugly work at the best of times, and still worse on the edges o/ such a pagan fight as we three had just fought. So we went back victorious to our inner doors» Then Jorian looked at me and nodded across at Boris. " Good r was all that he said. But the single word made me happier than many encomiums. In spite of all, however, we Were no nearer than before to getting away that I could see. For there was still all that long, desperate traverse of the defile before we could guide.our horses to firm ground again. But while I was thinking bitterly of my first night's sleep (save the mark 1) w|»y from the Red Tower, I heard something I knew not the meaning of— the beginning of a new at- tack, as I judged. It sounded like a scraping and a crumbling somewhere above. ^ God help us now, Jorian 1" I cried, in a sudden, quick panic ; " they are coming upon us every way. I can hear them stripping off the roof- tile overhead— if such rabbit-warrens as this have Christian roofs !" Boris sat down calmly with his back against the earthen" wall and trained his pistol upward, ready to shoot whatever should appear. Presently fragments of earth and hardened clay began to drop on the pounded floor of the corridor. I heard the soft hiss of the man- at-arms blowing up his match, and I waited for the crash and the little heap of flame from the touch. Suddenly a foot, larger than that of mortal, plumped 166 THE RED AXE through onr ceiling of brick-doBt, and a hnge Bcatt6r- ment of earth tumbled down. A great bare leg. with at- tachment of tattered hose hanging here and fhere, fol- Before th« pistol could go off, Boris meanwW wait- mg shrewdly for the appearance of a more vital part, a voice cried, "Stop I" ^ I looked about me, and there was the Lady Ysolinde come out of her chamber, with a dagger in her hand. bhe was looking upward at the hole in the ceiling "For God's sake, do not fire !" she cried : "tis only my poor Lubber Fiend. Shame on me, that I had quite forgotten him all this time I" At which, without turning away the muzzle, Boris put It a litt e aside, and waited for the disturber of brick- dust ceilings to reveal himself. Which, when presently be did a huge, grinning face appeared, pushing forward at first slowly and with difficulty, then, as soon as the ears had crossed the narrows of the pass, the whole head to the neck was glaring down and grinning to us. -there'r^'' '^*"'" '^'^ Ysolinde, "what do ^u up T, J K® ^^ """^^ ^'''''^^ "^^ ^«^gl«d pleasantly, as it had been through a horse-collar at Dantzig fair " Speak r said sh€,^and stamped her little foot: "I will shake thee with terrors else, monster 1" ^ 1, " ^-^^ '^*° °*°^® "^^^"^ ^^^'^ *^ove- It is quite easy I" he said. " But not for horses. Oh no I but now I will ^0 and bnng the Burgomeister. Do you keep the castle while I go. He bides below the town in a great house of stone, and entertains our Prince Miller's Son's archers. I will bnng all that are sober of Jthem." J'f^u ^?V' *^r '" ^°°*^ •^^"'*^ 5 "it i« Pa«t elev- wm nSV ' ^""i ^ ^ ^°^ *^'"^ °^^ ^y ^^^' there bj Ihis t^^^^^^ ""' ^ '"' ''" ^'^^ *^ P^^P ^P -^*^-' m i THE SORTIB " Ahar cried the head above ; "you say that because you know the archew. But I say I shall bring fuU twenty of them-because I know the ife-ength of the BurgomeiBter's ale. Hold the place for hTlf an hour and twenty right sober men shall ye have." And with that the Lubber Fiend disappeared in a final avalanche of brick-dust and clay clod8.V * He was gone, and half an hour was I long time to wait. Yet m such a case there was nothing for it but to stand It out. So I besought the maids to retire again to their inner chamber, into which, at least, neither bul- lets nor arrows could penetrate. This, after some little persuasion, they did. We waited. I have since that night fought many easier battles, and bloody battles, too. Now and then a face would look in momentarily frora^the great outer door and vanish before any one «ould put a shot into it. f.b^T,,?''® "^^ *''*''®' *" "'°^ ^o^ld whistle with a fftsstl past one's breast-bone and stand quiverinir head-covered in the clay. Vicious things they jg^e too, steel-pointed and shafted with iron for hallfliir length. ~ But all waitings come to an end, even that of him who waits on a fair woman's ar&ying of herself. Erdberi? evidently did not know of the little party down at the Burgomeister's below the pass of the ravine, or, know- ing, did not care. For, just as our half-hour was crawl- ing to an end, with a unanimous yell a crowd of wild men with weapons in their hands poured in through the great door and ran shouting at our position. At the same time the window at the end of the passage opened and a man leaped through. Him I sharply attended to with the axe, and stood waiting for the next. He also came, but not through the window. He ran at me, head first, through the door, and, being stricken down, com- pletely bWoked it up. Good service I And a usefullv ..V Hfcr*'. . M- ^f THE RED AXE balky man he was. Bnt how he bled I— fiaint Ohnsto- pherl that is the worst of bulky men, they can do noth- ing featly— not even die ! One man won past me, indeed, darting nnder the stroke of my aie, but he was little advantaged thereby For I fetched a blow at the back of his head with the handle which brought him to his knees. He stumbled and fell at the threshold of the maids' chamber. And, by my sooth, the Lady Ysolinde stooped and poignarded him as featly as though it had been a work of broidering with a bodkin. Too late, Helene wept and besought her to hold her hand. Pe was, she said, some one's son or lover. It was deucedly unpractical. But, 'twas my Lit- tle Playmate. And after all, I suppose, the crack h« got from me in the way of business would have done the job neatly enough without my lady's daggerr ' I tell you, the work was hot enough about those three doors during the next few momejnts. I never again want to see wanner on this side of Peter's gates— especially not smee I got this wound in my thigh, with its trick of reopening at the most inconvenient seasons. But the broadaxe was a blessed thought of the little Helene's, and helped to keep the castle right valiantly. Yet I can testify that I was glad with more than mere joy when I heard the " Trot, trot I" of the Prince's arch- ers coming iiWthe wolf's lope, all in each other's foot- steps along the narrow ledge of the village street. "Hurrah, lads I" I shouted ; "quick and help us 1" And then at the sound of them the turmoil emptied itself as quickly as it had come. The rabble of ill-doers melted through the wide outer door, where the archers received and attended to them there. Some'precipitated themselves over the cliff. Others were straightway knock- ed down, stunned, and bound. Some died suddenly. And afew were saved to stretch the judicial ropes of the Bsiliwick. For it was always thought a good thing by 'i'&aai:. THE SORTIE f "Thi!t«7I' in authority to hare a good show on the Thieves Architrave,- or general gallows of the vicin- ity, m a thing at once creditable to the zeal of the worthv dispensers of local justice, and pleasing to the Kaiser's officer jl he chanced to come spying that way .4'*- r' &&ai^JS-ke^A-^ a '!-!,, .^ J HI CHA'pTER XXV ^^ KINB HOST RUNS HIS L^ST £AC^ \ " Hbabtt were the greetings when the soldiers found us all safe arid isound.' They shook us again and again by the hand. They clapped us on the back. They ex- * amined professionally thje dead who lay strewn about. " A good stroke I Well smitten I" . they cried, as they turned them ovor, like spectators who applaud. at a g!»jne they can all understand. Specially did they complimiilit me on my axe-wo]fk. Never had anything like it been seen in Plassenburg. The head of the yearling calf was duly exhibited, when the netftnesa of the blow and the exactness of the aim at'the weakest jointing were pro- digiously admired. ^ The good fellows, mellow with the Bargomeister's small-ale, were growing friend lybeyond all telling, when, in the light 6f the o^ertory taper, now growing begut- tered and burning low, there appeared the Lady Ysolinde. You never saw so i[uick a change in any men. The heartiest reveller forthwith became silent^nd slunk be- hind his neighbor. Knees shook beneath stalwart framfes, and there seemed a very general tendency to get down Upon marrow-bones. The Lady Ysolinde stood before them, strangely dif- ferent from the slim, willowy maiden I had seen her. She looked almost imperial in her demeanor. " You shaU be rewarded for your ready obedience, '* sha«aid j " the Prince will not forget your service. Thke away that oSal T' <•»• V ■ 1 h i found d again hey ex- )ont. as they ag»flae iM been ialf was ind the re pro- Leister's , when, begnt- lolinde. ,. The ink be- ' frames, t down ely dif- m her. ience/* Tbke ^ " y MINE HOST RUNS HIS LAST RACE v~- . - . - .V She pointed to the dead rascals on the floor. And the^men, muttering sojnething ^hat sounded to- me hkef " Yes, your Highness I" hastened to obey > ~ " Did you say 'Tes, your Highneffs ' ?" I asked one of Kthem, who seemed, by his^air ot comrnand, to be the su- perior among thoairchers. "Aye," answered he, dryly, " it is a term usually ap- phedrto the Lady Ysolinde, Prinoes^f Plassenbnrg." V I was never more smitten dazed and dumb in my life miinde, the daughter of Master Gerard, the maid wbt) had .read my fate in the ink^jool, whom I had "made suffer, ' according to her- own telling-she the Princess ' or Flassenburg I , . „ Vh,^I had it now. Here at last was the explanation ' %Hhreadbare and inexplicable jest of Jorian and Jori^, ^>'The Prince hath a Princess, and she is oft upon her ti)|vel8 I" ^ Bnt^after all, what a Wendish barking about so small ^an egg. I Jiave heard an emperor procljAmed with less ' GftCKlO. * --^ Ysoli;rd^, Princess of Plassenburg-yes, tihat made a difference. And I had taken her hand-^ifie son 6^ the Ked Axe-I the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolf mark. Well, ^ter air, she had sought me, not I her. And then, V the httle Helene— what would she make of it P I longed greatly to find an opportunity to tell her. It miirht teach ber m what manner to cut her cloth. The archers of the Princecamped with jib the rest of the night in the place of the outcast crew. They be- haved well (though their forbearance was perhaps as "much owing to the near presence of the Princess as to any inherent virtue^in the good men of the' bow) to "the women and children who remainedJiuddled in the cor- ners. , . - Then came the dawn, swif t-f9ot from the east. A fair aa^ It was, the sun rising, not through barred clouds, '^' !• 161 . •t;' \y THE RED AXE with tiie lightest at the horizon (whioh is the foal-weath- ^r dawn), but throtigh streamers and bannerets that flut- tered upward and fired to ever fleecier crimson and gold / As he rdse. We rode among« subdued people, and ere we weiit the Princess called for the Burgomeister ahd bade him send to Plassenbgrg the landlord, so soon as he should be found, and also the heads of the half-dozen houses on either side of the inn. Then, indeed, there was a turmoil and a wailing to » speak about. Women folk crowded oat of the huts and / kiss^^he white feet of the palfrey that bote the Ladv ' Ysolinde. **Have mercy r they wailed; "show kindness, great Princess I Here are our men, unwonnded and unhurt, that have lain by our sides all the night. They are in- / nooent of all intent of evil — of every dark deed. Ah, lady, Bend them not to your prisons. We shall never see them more, and they are all we have or our children. Tis they bring in the bread to this drear spot 1" " ** Produce me your husbands, then I" said the Lady Ysolinde, Whereat the women ran and brought a number of frowsy and bleared men, all unwonnded, save one that had a broken head. ThenTsolinde called to the Burgomeister. "Oome hither, chief of a thievish municipality, tell me if these be indeed these women's husbands." The Burgomeister, a pallid, pouch-mouthed man, trem- nlons, and brick-dusty, like everything else in the village of Erdberg, came forward and peeringly examined the men. . ^ " Bvery man to his woman 1" he ordered, brusquely, * and the w o m e n w e n t and ja tood e ac h by her^^ wn prop e rty •^the menshunefitoed and hand-dog, the women anzions and Pile. Some of the last threw a protecting arm about 108 .'iiii'iiK.- MINB^HOST BUNS HIS LAST RACE their hnabimds, which they for the most part appeared to resent. In every case the woman looked the more capable and inteUigent, the men being apparently mere \ boors. \ "They are all their true hnsbands, at least so far as toe ^ know r answered the Burgomeister, cantiously. Y'Then/' said the lady, "bid them catch the inn- keeper and send him^ to Bkssenburg, and these others can abide where they are. Vt if they find him not, they must all come instead of him.'* The men started at her words, their faces brightening wonderfnlly, and they were out of the door before one could count tern We mounted our horses, and under the very humble guidance of the Burgomeister, who led the^ Princess's palfrey, we were soon again upon the high table-hmd. Here we enjoyed to the full the breezes Which swept fith morning freshness across the scrnbbir undergrowths of oak and broom, and above all the sight of misty wisps of cloud scudding and whisking about the distant peaks behind which lay the city of Plaswn- burg. We had not properly won clear of the ravines when w« heard a great shouting and turmoil behind us— so that I hastened to Iwk to my weapons. For I saw the archers instmotively draw their quarrels and bolt-pouches off their backs, to be m readiness upon their left hips But It was only the rabble of men and women who had been threatened, the dwellers in those twelve houses next h«!*" V?u T»®/n»««ing OUT brick-faced knave of a host, with that hard-polished countenance of his slaok And ch«nmy--Blate.gray in color too, aU the red tan clean gone out of it. "J^^a^^^^y* grw t la dy I" he oriad j "T pray Ton, ^pw^ on me here and now. Ctory me not to the Mtoeme tortures. Death clears all. And I own that for my crimes I well deeerve to die. But save me turn the lOB >-^' <* I i ' '' 'I THE RED AXE t strappado, from the torment of the rack. I anf an > old man and could not endnre/' The Lady Ysolinde looked at him, and her emerald eyes held a steely glitter in their depths. ^ *' I am neither judge nor '*— I think she was going to say " executioner," but she remembered in time and for my sake was silent, which I thought was both gracious and charming of her. She resumed in a softer tone : " What sentence, then, would you desire, thus confessing your guilt ?" " That I might end myself over the cliff there !'* said the innkeeper, pointing to the wall of rock along the edge of which we were riding. "See, then, that he is well ended T said the Princess, briefly, to Jorian. " Good I" said Jorian, saluting. And very coolly betook himself to the edge of the cliff, where he primed his piece anew, and blew up his match. ** Loose the man and stand back \" cried the Princess. A moment the innkeeper stood nerving himself. A moment he hung on the thin edge of his resolve. The slack gray face worked convulsively, the white lips moved, the hands were gripped close to his sides as though to run a race. His whole hodj seemed sudden- ly to shrink and fall in upon itself. "The torture I The terrible torture T he shrieked # aloud, and ran swiftly from the clutches of the men who had held him. Between the path and the verge of the cliff from which he was suffered to oast himself there stretched some thirty or forty yards of fine green turf. The old man ran as though at a village fair fdr some wager of slippery pig's tail, but all the time the face of him was like Death and Hell |ollowing after. Af the cliff's edge he leaped bigt into the «ir,"tHwt went headlong down, to onr*Watching eyes as slowly as if he had sank through waier. None of us who were on \^-*>^^ii' MINE HOST RUNS HIS LAST RACE the path saw more of him. But Jorian craned over, re- garding the man's end calmly and even critically. And when he had satisfied himself that that which was done was property done, as coolly as before he stowed away his match in his cover-fire, mounted his horse, and rode towards as. He nodded to the Princess. "Good, my Lady I quoth he, for all comment. " I saved a charge that time I" said he to his com- panion. " Good 1'* quoth Boris, in his turn. We had now a safe and noble escort, and the way to Plassenburg was easy. The face of the country gradu- ally changed. No more was it the gray, wistful plain of the Wolfmark, upon which our Red Tower looked down. No more did we ride through the marly, dusty, parched lands, in which were the ravines with their unfcanny cav- ern villages, of which this Erdberg was the chief. But green, well-watered valleys and mountains wooded to thg ' top lay all about us — a pleasant land, a fertile province, and, as the Princess had said, a land in which the^strong hand of Karl the Prince had long made " the broom-bush keep the cow." I had all along been possessed with great desire to meet the Prinee of so noble and well-cared-for a land, and perhaps also to see what manner of man eould be the husband of so extraordinary a Princess. i'i^lMi^^ii^Mi £UVX. > CHAPTER XXVI PBIKOB JBHU lOLLBB 8 AOS Yet now, when she was in her own country, and as good as any qaeen thereof, I found the Lady Ysolinde in no wise different from what she had been in the city of Thorn and in her father's house. She called me often to ride beside her, Helene being on my other side, while the Lubber Fiend, who had sav^ all our lives, gambolled about and came to her to be petted like a lapdog of some monstrous sort. He licked his lips and twisted his eyes upward at her in ludicrous ecstasy till only the whites were visible whenever the Princess laid her hand on his head. So that it was as much as the archers of the guard could do to hide their laughter in their beards. But hide it they did, having a. wholesome awe of the emerald eyes of their mistress, or perhaps of the stiaely light which sometimes came into them. It was growing twilight upon the third day (for thefe were no adventures worth dwelling upon after that among the cavern dwellings of Erdberg) when for the first time we saw the towers of Plassenburg crowning a hill, with its clear brown, river winding slow beneath. We were yet a good many miles from it when down the dusty road towards us came a horseman, and fifty yards or so behind him another. *'The Prince—none rides like our Karl V said Jorian, ^miliaflyr under hiilSreath, hut proudly witlmL "He comes alone \" said I, wonderingly. For indeed Dake Oasimir of the Wolfsberg never went ten lances' '"***'i^.>:,?. PRINCE JEHU MILLER'8 SON length from his castle without a small army at hii twl. / :**Even 80 P' replied Jorian; "it is ever his custom. The officer who follows behind him has his work cut out—and basted. Not for nothing is our Karl called Prince Jehu Miller's Son, for indeed he rides most furiously." Before there was time for more words between us a tall, grim-faced, pleasant-eyed man of fifty rode up at a furious gallop. The first thing I noticed aboui^im was that his hair was exactly the same color as his horse — an iron-gray, rusty a little, as if it had been mbbed.with iron that has been years in the wet. He took off his hat courteously to the Princess. " I bid you welcome, my noble lady," said he, smiling; ** the cages are ready for the new importations." The Lady Ysolinde reached a hand for her husband to kiss, which he did with singular gentleness. But, so far as I could see, she neither looked at him even once nor yet so much as spoke a word to him. Presently he ques^ tioned her directly : "And who may this fair young dan»el be, who has done me the honor to journey to my country ?" " She is Helene, called ^elene Gottfried of Thorn, and has come with me to be one of my maids of honor," an-- swered the Lady Ysolinde, looking, straight before her into the gathering mist, which began to collect in white ponds and streaks here and there athwart the valley. The Prince gave the Little Playmate a kindly itonic look out of his gray eyes, which, as I interpreted it, had for meaning, "Then, if that be so, God help thee, little one— 'tis well thou knowest not what is before thee T 'And th is yoang manP* said the PriiMte, no d din g SdroSs to me. But I answered for myself. " I am the son of the Hereditary Justicer of tlM WoU* ■>" <*, THE RED AXE V mark/* said I. "I had no stomach for such if ork. Therefore, as I was shortly to be made my father's assist- ant, I have brought letters of introduction to your High- ness, in the hopes that you will permit me the exercise of arms in your army in another and more honorable fashion/' " I have promised him a regiment,** said the Princess, speaking quickly. "What — of leaden soldiers ?" answered the Prince, looking at her mighty soberly. "Your Highness is pleaSed to be brutal," answered the Lady Ysolinde, coldly. "It is your ordinary idea of humor I" A kind of quaint humility sat on the face of the Prince. " I but thought that your Highness could ha^e nothing else in her mind — seeing that our rpugh Plassenburg regiments will only accept men of some years and expe- rience to lead them. But the little soldiers of metal aifb not so queasy of stomach.** " May it please y6ur Highness,** said I, earnestly, " I will be content to begin with carrying a pike, so that I be permitted in any fashion to fight against your enemies.** Jorian and Boris came up and saluted at this point, like twin mechanisms. Then they stood silent and waiting. The Prince nodded in token that they had permission to speak. "With the sword the lad fights well,** said Boris. " Is it not so, Jorian ?*' " Good I" said Jorian. " But with the broadaxe he slashes about him like an angel from heaven — not so, Boris ?** said Jorian. P said Boris; ^^— = "Can you ride?** said the Prince, turning abruptly from them. 168 r PRINCE JEHU MILLER'S SON For indeed I could, and had no "Aye, aire r said I. shame to say it. "That horse of his is blown ; give him your fresh one I" said he to the otBcer who had accompanied him. "And do yon show these good folk to their quarters." Hardly was I mounted before the Prince set spurs to his beast, and, with no more than a casual wave of ^is hand to the Princess and her train, he was off. "Ride r he cried to me. And was presently almost out of sight, stretching his horse's gray belly to the earth, like a coursing dog after a hare. Well was it for me that I had learned to ride in a hard school— that is, upon the unbroken colts which were brought in for the mounting of the Duke Casimir's sol- diery. For the horSe that I had been given took the bit- between his teeth and pursued so fiercely after his stable companion that I could scarce restrain him from passing the Prince. But our way lay homeward, so that, though I was in no way able to guide nor yet control my charger, nevertheless presently the Prince and I were clattering through the town of Plassenburg like tWo fiends riding headlong to the pit. / Within the town the lamps were^being lit iii the booths, the folks busy marketing, and the watchmen al- ready perambulating the city and crying the hqttrs at the street corners. / But as the Prince and I drove furiously through, like pursuer and pursued, the busy streets cleared themselves m a twinkling ; and we rode through lanes of faces yel- low in the lamplight, or in the darker places like blurs of scrabbled whiteness. So I leaned forward and let the beast take his chance of uneven_ causeway and open sewer. I expected nothinglesa than a broken neokr*n4== for at least half a mile, as we flew upward to the castle, I think that the certainty of naught worse than a broken arm would powtively havapleasured me. At least, I THB RED AZB 'i wonld very willingly hare oompoaiided my ohanoei for thatf Presently, withont ever drawing rein, we flew beneath the dark outer port of the castle, clattered through a court paved with slippery blocks of stone, thundered oyer a noble drawbridge, plunged into a long and gloomy archway, and finally came out in a bright inner palace court with lamps lit all about it. i was at the Prince's bridle ere he could dismount. '' You can ride, Captain Hugo Gottfried \" he said. " I think I will make yon my orderly officer.'* And so he went within, without a word more of praise or welcome. • There came past j^st at that moment an ancient coun- cillor clad in a long robe of black yelyet, with broad fac- ings and rosettes of scarlet. He was carrying a roll of papers in his hand. " What said the Prince to yon, young sir, if I may ask withont offence ?** said he, looking at me wikh a curious- ly sly, upward glance out of the comer of his eye, as if he suspected me of a fixed intention to tell him a lie in any case. *'If it be any satisfaction to you to know," answered I, rather piqued at his tone, ** the Prince informed me that I could ride, and that he intended to make me his orderly officer. And he called me not 'young sir,' but Captain HugoJ&ottfried.*' ** How long has he known you f* said the Chief Coun- cillor of StatelW For so by his habit I knew film to be." ** Half an hour, or thereby," answered L ^ ** God help this kingdom !" cried the old man, trip- ping off, flirting his hand hopelessly in the air — ** if he had known you only ten minutes you would l^ave been eit&er FnJne-Minister^OT^ tlommander-^^ of thd » army. It was iti this stnage fashion that I entered the armj no =3<^ PRINCE JEHU MILLBR'S SON of the Prince of Plassenburg, a aervice which I ahaU ever look back upon with gratitude, and count as having brought me aU the honors and most of the pleasures of my life. *^ Half an hour or so afterwards the blowing of trumpets fr * .u ^i'"''*^®'* ^^ ^^^ »«^ leathern cannon announced that the Princess and her train were entering the palace The Prince came down to greet them on the thr^hold in a new and magnificent dress. "The Prince's officer-in-waiting to attend upon his Highness I pried a herald in fine raiment of blue and yellow. I looked about for the man who was to be my superior m my new office-that is, if Prince Kari should prove to have spoken in earnest. , " The Prince's orderly to attend upon him !" again proclaimed the herald, more impatiently. I saw every eye turn upon me, and I began to feel a gentle heat come over me. P/esently I was blushina furiously. For I was still in my riding-clothes, and even they had not been changed after the adventure of the Brick-dust Town. So that they were in no wise fitting to attend upon a mighty dignitaa-y. The Prinee of Plassenburg looked round. "Ha!" he said; "this is not well-I had forgotten. My orderly ought to have been duly arrayed by this time. "Pardon, my Prince/' said I, "but all the apparel I have IS upon my sumpter horse, cjrhich comes in the train of the Princess." , My master looked right and left in his quickly impe- rious and yet humorous manner. '* Here^nnt von Beuss," he said to a taHj^aadsoi jowled young man, "I pray you strip off thy fine coat for an hour, and lend it to my new officer-in-wait- mg. The ladies wiU admire thee more than ever in thv 171 ^ ^ THB RED AXE fine flowered waistcoat, with ailk sleeves and frilled pnr- fles of lace I" The young man. Von BeuBs, looked as if he desired much to tell the Prince to go and be hanged. Bnt ttiere was something in the bearing of Karl of Pla88enb|irg, usurper as they catted him, the like of which' for co__^ mand I have never seen in the countenance and ntanner of any lawfully begotten prince in the world. So, beckoning me into an antechamber, and swearing evilly under his breath all the time, the young man stripped off his fine coat, and offered it to me with on» hand, without so much as iooki^g at me. He gave it indeed churlishly, as- one might give a dole to a loath- some beggair to be rid of his importunity. " I thank you,^j|p?' said I, " but more for your obedi- ence to the Printft'than forthe fashion of your courtesy tome." .' Yet for all that he answered me never a syllable, but turned his head and played with his mustache till his man-servant bi^onght him another coat. .-»<• s CHAPTER XXVn AKOTfeBB. man's COAT ^^FOLLOWBD. the Pr^e ^thout aiiother word, and when he receiyed the Princess I had the happinig of J^mg the Little Playmate by the hand and condu^4 her as gallantly as I could into the palace. And I wi gad, for It helped to allay a kind of reproachful feeling there whenever I was not thinking of anything ele. I lT.t V/S 'I' *^''°^ '^^^ P^««« <>' new experiences! J might ah tie haye neglected or been in dan/er of for^ getting the love of the many years and all the sweetness or our solitary companionship. «vS7/lf^'^'"' ^ ^^^"^ """^ *^** ^ ^°^«d those sweetest and prii'tT """'^ *" *^' ""^'^^ ^' °^'^ ^^ ^°"^«^ tolther ir " ^^ ^'^^""^ ^^' *^ *^'°^°^*> I ^«°t over and ^ It was just when I held her in my arms for a moment hn^d^^Tzr • ''''^' "^ ""^"^^^ -*^-«^* I v^i^^l^?* T ^,"^^d' Hugo," sh^ said, /a am very lonely. I wish, with aU my heart, I were back again in the old Eed Tower." ^ "^ ''> "^ ^ere back m her ear. *< Cheer your heart, a nd to-morrow yoTir,^ nnr^n^ Mi >_ _ -^""^ uvon, wiQ to-morrow yont ■ o^H »> m wear oi f , anaiSf^d 1 both shall fiS inendship m the strange land." "I hate the Prinoew I And I shaU never like her as >^«&.a Ji^,* r •^•- /* % THE REB AXE ■«» ^ I. t ; long as I live !" she said, with thai certain concentrated dislike which only good women feel towards those a degree less innocent, specially when the latter are well to look npon. There was no time to reply immediately as I con- ducted her up the steps. For I had to keep my eyes open to observe how the Prince conducted himself, and in the easy ceremonial of Plassenburg it chanced that I happened upon nothing extrayagant. v' "But, Helene, yon said a while ago that you hated me I" I said, after a little pause, smiling down at her. " Did I ?" she answered. ** Surely nay I" "Ah, bu,t,*ti8 true as your eyes," I persisted. "Do you not remember when I had cut the calf's head off with the axe ? Tou did not lore the thought of the Bed Tower so much then V* " Oh, that I" she said, as if the discrepancy had been fully explained by the inflexion of her voice upon the word. But she pressed my hand, so I cared not a jot for logic. ** You do not love her, you are sure P" she said, look- ing up at me when we came to the darker turn of the stairs, for the corkscrews were narrower in the ancient oastle than in the new palace below. " Not a bit 1" said I, heartily, without any more pre- tence that I did not understand what she meant, She pressed my hand again, momentarily slipping her own down off my arm to do it. " It is not that I love you, Hugo, or that I want you to love me," she said, like one who explains that which is plain already, "except, of course, as your Little Play- mate. But I could not bear that you should care about that — that woman." It ^iros evident that, there were to ba atirriag^ timm m^ the Castle of Plassenburg, and that I, Hugo Gottfried, was to have my share of them. 174 ANOTHER MAN'S COAT As Boon as we had arrived at the hanqueting-hall, the Prince beckoned me and presented me formally to the LadyYsolmde. ^ " Yonr Highness, this is Captain Hugo Gottfried, my new officer-m-waiting." ^ _T^Q Princess bowed gravely and held out her hand Her aqua-marine eyes were bent upon me, suffused with a oertam quick and evident pleasure which became them "Your Highness has chosen excellently. I can bear witness that the Captain Gottfried is a brave — a verv brave man," she said. '' And at that moment I was most grateful to her for the testimony. For behind uai stood the young Von Beuss pulling at his mustache and looking very super- cihonsly over atjme. e 3 ^^ Then the Lady Ysolinde withdrew to her own apart- ments and that day I got no more words with her nor yet with Helenei The Prince also went to his room, and I remained where I was, deeming that for the present my duty was done. The servant of the man whose coat I wore stood with another servitor close at hand-indeed, many of all ranks stood about. "That is the fellow,-! heard one say, tauntingly meaning me to hear-" peacocking it there in my mas- ter*8 coat 1'* ^ j «» His companion laughed oontumeliously, at which the passion within me suddenly stirred. I gave one of them the palm of my hand, and as the other fell hastily back my foot took him. ' "What ho, there 1 No quarrelling among the lackeys I" oned Von Beuss, insolently, from the other side of the room. !' ^®" y®"' ^y »»y chance, speaking to me V said I. pohtely, looking over at him. ITS «»H -J X ..«• i' t \\ THE RED AX^ " Why, yes, fellow I" he said. " If you sqnabble with the waitin^i- men concerning cast-off clothes, yon had better do it in the stables, where, as yon say, yonr own wardrobe is kept." "Sir,** said I, "the coat I wear, I wear by the com- mand of yonr Prince. It shall be immediately retnmed to yon when the Prince permits me to go off duty. In the mean time, pray take notice that I am Captain Hugo Gottfried, officer-in-waiting to^the Prince Karl of Plassen- ^, burg, and that my sword is wholly at yonr service.'* , / " " Yon are," retorted Von Renss, " the son of my uAolfe ' Casimir's Hereditary Executioner, and one day you may be mine. Let that be sufficient honor for you." " That I may be yours is the only part of my father's hereditary office I covet 1" said I, pointedly. And certainly I had him there, for immediately he turned on his heel and would have walked away. But this I could not permit. So I strode sharply after him, and seizing him by his embroidered shoulder-strap, I wheeled him about. "But, sir," said I, "you have insulted an officer of the Prince. Will you answer for that with your sword, or must I strike you on the face each time I meet you to quicken your sense of honor ?" ^, Before he had time to answer the Prince came in. "What, quarrelling already, young Spitfire!" he cried. " I made you my orderly — not my disorderly." Von Beuss and I stood blankly enough, looking away from one another. " What was the quarrel P" asked the Prince, when he had seated himself at table. I looked to Von Beuss to explain. For indeed I was somewhat awed to think that thus early in my new career J had embroiled myself with the a^)h©w«f Duke GacOf^ mir, even though, like myself, he was in exile and de- pendent upon the liberality of Prince Earl. m % Mi ANOTHER MAN'S COAT -Sire'th^n ^\^'^ 'S' 'P'"^' ' "»»^« bold to say: Sire, the Count von Reus^, taunted me with wearini. a borrowed coat, and called me a servitor becrusebf WdWk loTtofd^h-' ^r''^^' Execu'tioner^thJ hnT/ a\u . ^ ^'"^ ^ """^ *° ^fficei- of your house- hold and that my sword was much at his service^'^ "So you are/' cried the Prince-" so vou are!,. ««, Jitor So is he-young fools both I And as ftTLfn: son of the Hereditary Executioner, it is thro^Jhout ^ and to a new-comer I Hear ve nir T »,n ""7" ^^y^u, T •Brill -> ^var ye, sir, 1 will not hare ii*J I will e en resume my old trade and do a little instLn J ;i:iz:zr'' ''-'^ ^-^« *^^- ^^^ ly ^'n«*^%^"''T ''* ^""^ '"^ ^'' '^^' ««d looked grim- ly^us. I went a step forward. But Von ReussXTd "Provost Marshal r cried the Prince, in a voice whinh ^ rin?onTb^;M ^" V'^ '^^"^ J'^-P an'd an the gW nng on the table— "bring a guard r The Provost Marshal advanced, bowed and w^ ^^ parting, ^hen Von Reuss came Wd and hlw It ?hen t:* S^Vf "J' '^* afterward" re:dnytoVi^ inen we shocrk hands solemnly an *? ufiffl^ j ""uga. loving each other not one whrbeC ""'' '' °°""* if you haTnJ^' ^"''''' "I thought you would I For Lnan t -.r" ''''°^^' ^°^« ^^i^»> might haya been a Duke without either an heir to his DnWn^ a successor to his Hereditary Justil " '^""^ °' ^^«| dow^U^^^,^ ^ agreeJ-J,^^^. «wr a pause. The ladies come not to table to-niaht. HOUM.. I mu.t ndo .nd see the plM,. IdeolM,Ig«,» n^r- 1 ,JJ,, 4i I 'i i THE RED AXE„ / rotten and thewless in this dnll Plassenbnrg, wh^re they dare not stick so mnch as a knife in one another, all for fear of Karl Miller's Son I Since I cannot advent- ure forth on my own accoant, I am Kecome a man that wearies for news. Tell me every pwt of the affair, con- cealing nothing. Bnt if yon can, relate even yoar own share in it as faithfully as becomes a modest youth." So I told him at length all that hath already been told, giving as far as I could the credit to Jorian and Boris, as indeed was only their desert. Whereupon the tale being finished, the Prince said : "Have the two archers up 1" And 'wliild the pursuivant had gone for them, the old Councillor leaned across the table and whispered : ''Enter Field-Marshal Jorian and General Boris \" But when the archers came in' and stood like a pair of kitchen pokers, the Prince ordered them to tell the story. Jorian turned his head to Boris, and Boris turned his head to Jorian. They both made a little impatient gest- ure, which said : " Tell it you I" But neither appeared to be able to speak first. ** Wind them up with a cup of wine apiece 1" cried the hearty Prince ; ** surely that will set one of them off." Two great flagons of wine were handed to Jorian and Boris, and they drank as if one machine had been pro- pelling their internal workings, throwing off the liquor with beailtiful unanimity and then bringing their cups to the position of salute as if they had been musketoons at the new French drill. After which each of them, having finished, gave the little cough of content and appreciation, which among the archers means manners. But nevertheless the Prince's information with regard 4& the aSaiioi Erdberg was not i ncr e a a edt ^-^^^^ ^ *' Go on I" he cried, impatiently, looking at Jorian fMid Boris sternly. 178 Prince said : lag at Jorian ANOTHER MAN'S COAT They were still silent. PrZi"'? l?'^'\ ^^^^"^ ^"«^ Gottfried," said the Prmce, looking at me, "tells me that the credit of the Tvo?? '°k'^ '^' ^""^^^^ ^"^^"^ *^« <'--« folk is due to you two braye men." . blank ™u.° '" "'^ ^°'""* '""'"'' ""■ » '•«» 1*. . " Good I" muttered Boris, approvingly "Goodr quoth Jorian.' "He cut a calf's head off I" said Jorian, as a complete explanahon of how the preserving of th; Princerwl Whereat all laughed, and the Prince more than any be;.r:oreifo'; ^^^^ ''- ^-^ ^-^^* ^^ -^-^ ^^ ^'^ They turned their heads simultaneously inward with- out movmg any other part of their bodies. They nod- ^ . ded to one another. ^ , ; ''Well,- cried the Prince, "what reward do youdesire r ^ 'Now for the Field-Marshal's wand I" said the Ooun- " cillor near to me, under his breath. "Twelve dozen Ehenish I" said Jorian The Prince looked at Boris. . "And your he said. a mu^cTe!" ^"'^ '''''""^ '' ^'^ ^°"«' ^^*h<>°* moving mv^^eutrf h f "' ^' °"'^ *^^ ^"°°«' "yo« ^i" empty my cellars between you, and I shall not have a sober archer for a month. But jniLshatthaveit. ^^ •V.J r,^ .rzir-"- """ juu-tmim nave it. tK> p^-^= 179 1 . CHAPTER XXVm THE PBINCE's compact In spite of all drawbacks and difficalties (and J had my share of them) I loved Flassenbnrg. And especially I loved the Prince. The son, so they said, of a miller in the vaU^y of the Almer^ he had entered the guard of the last Prince of Plassenbnrg, mnch as I had now entered his own service. Prince Dietrich had taken' a fancy to him, and advanced h^m so rapidly that, after the disas- trons war with Dnke Oasimir of the Mark and the death of the last legitimate Prince, Karl, the miller's son, hav- ing set himself to reorganize the army, succeeded so well that it was not long before he found himself the Bouroe of all authority in Plassenbnrg. Thereafter he gave to the decimated and heartless land adequate defences and complete safety against foreign foes, together with security for life and property, under equal laws, within its own borders. So, in time, no m»n saying him nay, Karl Miller's Son became the Prince of Flassenburg, and his seat was more secure upon his throne than that of any legitimate prince for a thousand miles all r<$und about. After the quarrel with Von Beuss, the Prince, for reft* sons of his own, favored me with a great deal of his sO' ciety. He was often graciously pleased to talk concern- ing his early difficulties. " When I wan an understrappeT," he waarwont to »y, " the land at Pirmoe, we lid, by the siz- l to reduce to r places in my jrever 1*. is my > mostly blown ons of Bitter- ailies of quiet d faithfulof- t moment. 3r man with a I son, and if I ould be eitheir ). Milksops I endure flitter- etticoats — and I those of the subject, red, not well [ighly and sud- I meant the le subject had ' I assure you. ) and cambric, ough 1* would irs the under- at I think not wife, a better > say which I YsoUnde. THE PRINCE'S CO'MPACT *i\ She read my horoscope," said I, weakly, searchinir for something in the comers of my brain to change the subject. •* ^ " How so ?" said^the Prince, quicklj. . . 'I First in a crystal and then in a pool of ink," I replied. "It was a good horoscope and of a fortunate ending i"' "On the whole- yes!" said I; "though there lag much in it that I could not understand." "Like enowl" laughed the Prince; "I warrant ahe i^ not understand it herself ! It is ever the way of the ink-pool folk." "^ "* Then ensued a silence between us. '. Prince Karl remained long with his head resting on his hand. He loftked critically at the twisted stein of His wineglass, twirling it between his thick fingers. ' . " The Princess loves you I" he said, at last, lookmg shrewdly at me from beneath his gray brows. It was spoken half as a question and half as informa- tion. " LoVes me ?" stammered I, the blood sucking back to my heart and leaving my head light and tingline The Prince nodded calmly. ' "So they say!" said he. "My Lord, it is a thing impossible!" cried I, ear- nestly. "I am but a poor lad-and she has been kind to • me. But of love no word has been spoken. Beside&-" And I stopped. " 0«t with it, man 1" said the Prince, more like, as it seemed to me, a comrade inviting a confidence than a great Prince speaking to a newly made officer. "Well, I—I love the little Playmate." It came out with a rush at last. *;0h !" said he ; " that is bad. I hope that is not l ^?e^»tKng serious. For if the PVincess^^ imows as much, the young woman will not have her troubles to seek in the Palace of Plassenburg " 188 ."•rt^r tHB RED AXE I hang my head and said nau|;ht, save t^at Helene de- clared elie; loved me not, bat that J. thought she was mistaken. ' "Ah, then," cried the Prince, like one exceedingly relieved, " it is but o«ome boy and girl affair. That is better. She may change her mind, as you will certainly change yours — and that several times — among the ladies of the court. I was in hopes — " And the. Prince" stopped in his turn, not from bashful- ness, but rather like a man who desires mpre carefully to choose his words. *' I was in hopes," he went on, speaking slowly, "that if the Princess loved your boy's face and liked my con- versation (which I may say without pride that I think she does) you and I together might have kept her at home. So over -much wandering is not good for the state. Also it gets her a name beyond all manner ol ill- doing within-doors." - Once more I knew not well what to answer to this speech of the Prince's, so I remained discreetly silent. " I have seen the Princess's flittermica abont^ her be- fore, often enough (I thank thee for the word. Sir .Cap- tain), but this is the first time she has performed the ink- pool and crystal , foolery with any man. There is no great harm in the Princess. In the things of love she is as in- flammable as the ink, and as soft as the crystal. Fear not, Joseph, Potiphera may be depended upon not to proceed to extreinities. But I was in some hopes that you and I could have arranged matters between us, be- ing both men — aye, and honorable men." I saw that tarl Miller's Son looked sad and troubled. " Prince, you love the Princess 1" said I, thrusting out my hand to him before I thought. He did not take it, bat instead he thrust a flagon of wine into it, as if I had jiked lor that—yet the thing, was horddne^wayofa rebofl. I saw that plainly. 184 THE PRINCE'S. COMP tt ' h« ^m ' «^*' ^^r * «^^»^^Pate with loTe r -aid he ^ffly. " Neveriheleaa, I waa in hopea." -Prince Karl," said I, -J give you word of honor, 'tia not as you gay or they say. The Princess hasTndeed done me the honor to be friendly—" ohZr. ^""^^ ^°" ^^ ^" ^' "^^"^"«^^ -oftly, like a " Well, to be friendly, and—" befor^e! '*^' ^°''' °^''^ ^" ^^^ ^^ the Prince, gently as "Done me the honor to be friendly—" " To play with your curls, lad ?" "The Princess-" I began, all in a tremor. For any- . thing more awkward than this conyersation I had nevL experienced. It bathed me in a drip of cold sweat. sinu Jted ^''''' ^''^*^'' ** *^' ""^y^^^^S ^' ^« ^- ;' No 1" thundered I, at last. " Prince, you do your Princess great wrcjpg." » / u u« your He lifted his hand in a gentle, deprecating way most unlike the rider who had ridden so fL and so hJ^W night of our coming. ^ " You mistake me, sir," he said. " On the contrary I haye the greatest respect for the Princess YsolinS^^' j t^cL o Id""' v"^ ^'' 'V""' ^°^^^' ^^' I k^o'^ he tnick of old. You are a brave lad, and, after all. I fear there is something in th,t calf-Ioye of /ours-de^l take Prlnlv'25- ' ''''''1^ ^P"" ^'^y ^^^"^ whiCher the rrince i plans were tending. "Your Highness," said I, "I am a young man and of llTi. ! I^^"^^- ®'^tIamyour8eryant,and,inall ' ^ hwts not the^ence and matter of my iWef^rtre-" Littie Playmate, I wiU do eyen as you sayT^ ? Prince Karl grasped my hand. 188 <^- ♦'' ■tt< il' •?ii'i '■ %'■ : '- ■ ■ A ■/y I THE RBD AXE !l ' ** Ah, well said 1" he cried. " You are rnnnmg yonr head into a peck of troubles, though. And you are likely to have some experience of womenkind shortly — a thing which does no brisk young fellow any harm, unless he ' lets them come between him and his career. Women are harmless enough, so that you keep them well down to lee- ward. I am Baltic-bred, and have eyer held to this — that you may sail unscathed through fleets of farthingales, so being that you keep the wind well on your quarter, and see the fair-w^y clear before you." I did not at the -time understand half he said, but I knew we had made some sort of a bargain. And I thought, with an aching, unsatisfied heart, that though it might be well enough for an iron -gray and cynical old Prince, the thing would hardly commend itself to Helene, my Little Playmate, to whom I bad so recently spoken loying words, sweeter than ever before. " Devil take all Princes and Princesses 1" I said, as I thought, to myself. But I must have spoken aloud, for the Prince laughed. *' Do not waste good prayers needlessly/' he said ; ** he will \" And so, with a careless and humorsome wave of his hand to one side, he went down the staircase, and so oat into the quadrangle of the Palace. \ i.:'J-^J^-:il'.:'b%Ji^'ALL.'^'i-J^i^>&i ^►-.■..■■:;L.:l^.i^ilLi^teji...^..:;;■:.^:>.j^U^^:;:\^:^.^i:.;,■.^i,j■.j.X^ CHAPTER XXIX ♦ LiOVES ME — LOVES ME NOT Now how this plan of my Lord Prince's worked in the writW ^^r;'"^ ' '"' '' ^^«^-^* *o tell w thon wnting myself down a "painted flittermouse/' as the Pnnce expressed it. I was in high favor with my master ; well hked also by most of the hard-driving, rough-tiding young soldiers whom the miller's son had made ont of the sons of dead and damned Ritterdom. I got my share of honor and good service, too, in going to different conrts and bringing back all that pLe Karl needed IZT"'"". ""^'""u^^ *^^ '^^ ^' ^*'' I h°^t«d the borde; thieves and gave them short enongh shrift. In a year I had made such an assault as that of the inn at Erdbere an impossihlity all along the marches of our provLce"'' held office under the last Prince of the legitimate line . rU'^^^ ^ *««^«* °^« ^'tl^ the kindest of deed; and the bitterest and saltest of words. "What did I tell you about being Field - Marshal ?" se'vic; tZ vm"/"^'« '^^«^'- *^- «^"' tie service, the higher the distinction. If you and the Prince live long enough I shall see you carry a musketLn yet! and not one of the latest pattern, either. You will be promoted down, like a booby who has been raised by chance to the top of the class r ^ =^ " WeUy" said^ humWy, for I always reverenoed aire "^en I hope, High-Chancellor DesLuer, that I sM carry my muBketoon as becomes a brave man r THE RBD AXE i , ¥ " I do not doubt it 1" said he. "And that is the most hopeful thing I have seen about you yet. It is just pos- sible, on thOjpther hand, that you may yet rule and the Prince carry the piece." " God forbid I" said I, heartily. For next to my own father, of ail men I loved the Prince. "The Princess hath a pretty hand," remarked Des- sauer casually, as if he had said, "It will rain to-mor- row !" "V faith, yes 1" said I ; "what have you been at to find out that ?" " Weak— weak 1" he said, shaking his head. " I fear you will wreck on that rock. It is your blind peril \" " My blind peril I" cried I. " What may that be. High Councillor ?" " Ah, lad," he said, smiling with that wise, all-patie^jt smile which the aged affect when they mean to be ij^ pressive, yet know how useless is their wisdom, " it was never intended by the Almighty that any man should have eyes all round his head. That is why He fixed two in front, and made them look straight forward. That is also why He made us a little lower (generally a good deal lower) than the angels 1" I heard him as if I heard him not. " You do me the honor to follow me ?" he said, look- ing at me. He was, I think, conscious that my eyes wandered to the door, for indeed I was expecting the Little Playmate to come down every minute. "Ah I yes, you follow indeed," he said, bitterly, "but 'it is^the trip of feet, the fiirt of farthingales'down the turret steps. No matter I As I was saying, every man has his blind peril. He can see the thousand. He pro- vides laboriously against them. He blocks every avenue jrf riflk» ha looks ftv e ry^-dangorona door, and lol thw 4« the thousand-and- first right before him, yawning wide opei|| which he does not see— his Blind Peril T 188 / I been at to lo I th w it LOVES ME— LOVES ME NOT > pe^^"* ''^^' ^^«*^-Oo«^«»or Dessaner, is my blind ';l will tell yon, Hugo/' he said; "not that von will t^W M^i^f*^"'- ^ ^^^ «^^y do many things" thw world, bnt o^e thing he cannot do. He cannot kies fineer CI * Prmce^--dainty fingers, too, sepi^tlng finger from finger-and kiss also the Princess's maid of tSnVtrrf • J'^ -mhWion isTrLnly^e:! Ti^1i'°''i' *'^*^ ^' ""'^y y^'* ^^o^ au that r Th^ old mi^ nodded his head sagely. same Ikno?^ M^'^""^ °°' ^'' ^^ «°^^«g' ^" the ^?v hirKT- /°'T"''y«"P«"li^ not a blind peril / * J rT^ *^^. '^'*^® *•' * '^^'^ d°^ the stair. It was b^sVt\roT *'"' ^' *'^ °^^ ' ''-''^^^' dolr^^ 1^' *'"'*"' ^'^'' "P^ '" ^"«^ I' ^^^ "»«de for the • f »<1 I heard the chuckling laughter of Hiirh-Ch.r, ce lor Dessaner behind me af I fallowed Helfne do"" ^l.^ ulT""^'^ ^^' *^« d^^'^ting of melW w^ne long hidden in darksome cellars, and now in the flo#er of its age, bringing to the ight the ^ " luns. •'"^'"* "'"'^*''^ *"^ the^shining'of forgolSL RhJ^^f ?*!^''' arrived before me in the rose-garden She d^d not turn round as I came, though she S ZZir'"" ^-*<^-^ «^-«l^ed on,ttg'ra And flashing round upon me with the solitary petal in 189 *rr A>' ) THE RED AXE her hand, she presented it with a low bow, in elfiflh mockery of the manner of the court exquisite. " Ah, true flower !" she said^ apostrophizing the bare stalk, " a flower cannot lie. It has not a glozing tongue. It cannot change back and forth. The sun shines. It turns towards the sun. The sun leayes the skies. It^ shuts itself up and waits his return. Ah, true flower, dear flower, how unlike a man you are 1" " Helene," said I, "you have learned conceits from the catch-books. You quarrel by rote. Were I as eager to answer me, I might say : * Ah, false flower, you grow out of the foulness' underneath. Ypu give your fra- grance to all without discretion — a common lover, prodi- gal of favors, fit only to be torn- to shreds by pretty, spite- ful fingers, and to die at last with a lie in your month. Again I say— false flower !' " "Yon can turn, the corners. Sir Juggler, with the cup and ball of words," answered Helene. " So much they have already taught you in a court. But there is one thing that your fine-feathered tutors have not taught you — to make love to two women in one house and hide it from both of them. Hot and cold may not come too near each other. They will mix and make lukewarm of both." - ^ A wise observation, and one th^t I wished I had Made myself. " May the devil take all princes and princ^Bses \" I began, as I had done to the f^ince himself. Helene shook her head. "Hugo," she said, "I was but a simpleton when I came hither, and knew nothing. Now I am wise, and I know '" She touched her foreh«%fl with her finger, just where the carls were softest and prettiest." "^ ~. ' " Oh, yon have learned' to be thrice more beantifnl than ever you were 1" I said, impetaonsly. , 190 , Al' bow, in elfish ite. sing the bare ozing tongue. in shines. It he skies. It^ , true flower, sonceits from ere I as eager rer, you grow ive your fra- 1 lover, prodi- r pretty, spite- your mouth. with the cup io much they there is one re not taught ouse and hide not come too ike lukewarm d I had made irincbBses V* I leton when I m wise, and I er, just where lore beautiful ■ i .^ '4.'" LOVps ME_LOTBS ME NOT So I «m often told,"««irered she, c»lmlr ~iaHtl»tp:°uT" '•°"'"'^*'"""^«*» tell ..p. ^'C^e^'T I'p^l ' *"' "• "■- --'» »« 'or talked 11! toiZ'; *! """^o' H.«e.b„^, ,e become »ofS.,"^a7i"'°° T'-^'v We ^ '"''»«« otter, even h,ihr.I^. ^° ""t*e eonM nee no ceit on his lipa. ^'^ * qaipsome con- • own conoooting » ' ' • "'° ""'^™''» <" J»" «.. Talked '^tt^h.W ^MteTC*^ .'"T ="• »ee her atfain niokm. . Tl I " " '^''- '""»>« th. ending, "Crt, KZ'^f.V"^ "P "-drwouTllr "■ "w " *^ )»»g.r.-on, and i ««4^ d.'Sut:'r:hr '"^ *"•' "" " ••■^ J 1-^ -%f-P «*■& *.Lii / ♦ WT THS REDAZB iii! i.li Then grew my heart hard and hitter, and yet, in a moment afterwards, wacr again only wiBtfnl and sad. ** She had been safer," thought I, "in the old Bed Tower than playing flower fancies with such a man I" For I had seen the very devil look ont of his eye«- which indeed it did as often as he oast it on a fair wom- an. In especial, I longed to throttle him each time he turned to watch Helene as she went by. And here she was walking with him, and talking pleasantly too, in the rose garden of 'the palace. " Ah, devil take all princes and princesses V* said I. This one, it is true, was only a count, and disinherited. But I felt that the thing was the Prince's doing, and that it was^r the sake of the covenant heliad made with me that I 'was compelled to put up with such a toad as Von Benss crawling and besliming the fair garden of my love. It was an evening without cload8-<-«verything shining clear after rain, the scent of the flowers rising like in^ oense so full and sweet that yon could almost see it. The * unnumbered birds were every one awake, responsive and emulous. The deep silence of midsummer was broken up. It was like another spring. The Princess Ysolinde came out to take the air. She was wrapped in her gown of sea-green silk, with sparkles . of dull copper upon it. The dress fltted her like a snake's skin, and glittered like it too as she swayed her lithe body in walking. " Ha, Hugo,'' she said, ** 1 thought I should find yon here!" I did not say that if another had been kinder she might have found me elsewhere and otherwise employed. I had at least the discretion to leave things as they were. For the time to speak plainly was not yet. — -^e took my tirm^ and we poeed np and^owBi ^ " Princess—" I began. "Tsolinde l" corrected she, acftly* m i< ^. , I-O^ES MB_10VES ME NOT ' tho men of mtae n.^ ' '":"">"'•»' •""'t I ride to fishl not the duty Bat2r?"^°'""''^°"'°Vk. m' "y"; woSd'':,u{'- ''V' P"-'' -ke.-" ' mg*r ".ro:"^- »m fst tit^T"'' »!:^-«- »»^ "going the cJ'XvZilT' '^"' "^ ''"-^ aeu;::dti:xtTS';f:?'"V'''r»»* «■-* ^ '■«^ •t heart ™ yeoItadTtha^I), , '' ?''°- 8° '"""l"* from mjarm and took 'v'u ^ ■"'^"' ''"' "■""^ ''''™ men-aUrm^-as Hel J. „„ ,7 7,'^" "" '''°' 'rom the life. Bnt e^ ma d „fT "'°' ?"" ''™° t" »"« ter knew, lildng ejeSowa at Z" "?." ""^'^ """^ «nd tii»t night every m^M „f .^ ''t '""^^ "*" """"hed -rith Anre in'thTwiwto"" '°'"" "" ="^"«' "" " That if I rmeTof JTl ^?°'j-"'»' «'■»<»' tenderly, -ill be the berr ,^^,^°f??°/«r''■• WolfmarJt y" indeed the aenw if ItL .™?° "''"'"' "Woh the e xact tert of my rg '^'.^ni^'.^tnW *"*''"'''«' ""'" •«««' '»' »« that THE RED AXE * "Why Bor said I, boldly. "You do not love me. Deep at the bottom of your heart you love youf husband, Karl the Prince. You know there is no man like him. Me you do not love at all." "You will not let me/' she said, softly, almost hke a shy country maiden. . ^ ^^ " Ah, if I had, you would have slain me long ere this, said I, " for I read you like a child's horn-book that he plays battledore with. ' Have not— love I Kaye—hate.' There you are, all in brief, my Lady Ysolinde." "It is false," laughed she; "but nevertheless I love greatly to hear you call me Ysolinde." She netted her fingers in mine beneath the shawl. Well might the High Councillor say that she had a beautiful hand. Though, God wot, much he knew about it. For Ysolinde of Plassenburg could speak with her hand, love with it, be angry with it, hate with it— and kill with it. "I am an experiment," said I ; "one indeed that has lasted you a little longer than the others, my Lady Yso- linde, only because you have not come to the end of me 80 soon." % " Pshaw I" she said, pushing me from her, for we were at the turning of a path, "you love another. That is the amulet against infection that you carry. Yet sometimes I think that that other is only your hateful, plain-favored, vainly conceited self 1" I saw the Prince sit alone, according to his custom, in an arbor behind us at that very moment— and judge if I blushed or no. But the Princess saw him not, being eager upon her flouting of me. " I tell yon," she cried, scornfully and disdainfully, "there is nolhing interesting about you but the blueness --of your eyes, and that^ any mo nk^ can make^apoa p a rgh- ment, aye, and deeper and bluer, with his lapis-lazuli. ^ experiment 1— Why should I, Ysolinde of Plassen- 194 LOVES ME-L0VE8 ME NOT ilmost like a barg, experiment with vnn +»,« . ' the Wolfsberg ?" ^^°' *^® '°" «^ t^e Red Axe of "Nay, that I know not " T ur,.™ ^ flie» lighW oa the? A«v "i h"f l" "'"■' " '-""O' ghost of . n,„_ simnwL , «■»«»; ie « the iot aeid me forth in amtefPT .. h ' -fj*' ""' ^'"' ""' TiCtioa that I k„e^ the f nsL ' "'"' " """^ °»- ••And why not ?» «,id she. ' ft. ornrvhVa'rh"'"^ 'J,'""- "^ «■»' »"«' «". in^rd goodne,^ I be™™ fe"" * "^ '" '"'" '"'"''« "««? JOB know yourself. YrcofeTthl'J. ''f " ■>«"»■• 'h« from other,. Yon flont »d J" . k"""^°'^°" "'»'' oent dangorondy with word- ^^ . °" "'' y"" «I»ri- I am neoeWry to yon '"i^' "»*„»°"°»»- Bnt, after all, "-gor. i-oryo^neXome^notoi T °''"' "^ "^^ '" , •• Henoe, flatterer 1" fn'ed the S"*' "■", *'" ™» '" plowed. "It i, known tolth.*^^' T""*' I""' '■e" -the deceiver-the HI f™» . fu ' ™ ""^ Old- Serpent And nowVou J„? aLrlo' "T f-x^l'lge of Xi,. . eiperimentl InniT.nn , "'V "'"erem yon also 'oAidden fmit T^.'XS^ht n? '^'"' " *» ^°'' «>* moretrathfnl tongnVp ' ''°''' ""* P^^ '« • >■« «! flgnr, li«.m,"a.*S:e"btd2 X' ""'' '"'* *« V .«^j3i>,»ja»:^-. rr \ i i! !' 11 !' If' ' CHAPTER XXX INSULT AND CHALLENOB Now, because there is still so much to tell, and so little time and space to tell it in, 1 must go forward rapidly. In these dull times of grouting peace, when men become like penned pigs, waking up only at feeding-time, they have no knowledge of how swiftly life went when every day brought a new living friend or a new dead enemy, when love and hate awakened fresh and fresh with each morrow's sun— and when I was young. Perhaps that last is the true reason. But when the Baltic norther snorts without, and mine ancient thigh- wound twinges down where my hand rests, naturally I have no better resource than to fall to the goose-quiU. And lo 1 long ere I am done with the first page, and have the ink no more than half-way to the roots of my hair, I am acain in the midst of the ringing hoofs of the foray. I hew theTmerry dinting of steel on steel ; the sullen chua-chug it the wheels of Foul Peg, the Margrave s great cannon, which more than once he lent our Prince ; the oaths of the men-at-arms shouldering' her up, apostro- phizing most indecently her fat haunches, and the next moment getting tossed aside like ninepins by her unex- pected lurches. Ah, the times that were when I was ^°I wi t houo gallant '? ni^nn i nnr l a ter nonrts— Lord help them, sons of mine own, too, some of them— year in and year out, crossing their lega and staring at the gilded points of ti^eir shoon. All are gffifVra so tame-none |4iow ^hMi INSULT AND CHALLENGE to ride a-qaesting in the Baltic forest for border briwnds -mdeed there be no brigands to quest for. ^ But I forget. . T^me was when I looked love and I too had shoon, aye, with golden tips to match the armo of honor which the Prince gave me after I had led my s^d Td nobr^.*"'^^^." '' *^^ Lady Ysolinde h"d said. And noble shoes of price they were. But nevprt?^'^ make love, too, when I had the chance. But nevertheless, not more than one day in six-snend mg the rest in the new training of my men, th^^^ct ing of their equipment, the choosing of their horses and the providing for their stores. ' ^ God wot-it was a good time. I mind me the vear when the Prince fell out with Duke Casimir, and we played over again the old tricks with him Never was I gladder of any quest than that to ride veUow T ''' '^! ^'^ ^^^^^' «"^ ^'^-^ *he blue ^d yellow of my master under the very ramparts otTe Wolfsberg and almost within hearing of the inhun^^ howling of its blood-hounds. mnuman "Singe his beard I" said my master. And with a hnn dred nders I did it too. For' though the buSheiJ clat tered to their gates, I rode to the vefy walls of the Wo^st ^7C^'"^ 'r *''"""^^^ summoned to^urrender And the best of It was that no man knew me. For I had out If fh« "^^/f/^«^ «° ™^eWy and •Imost in tears out of the gate of that very Wolfsberg. donhf''^/^*''u' ****"^ God, I saw nothing-thongh I De mth his master-aged now, soured, and prone to cower abo«t behin#his guard, fearing th; daler or the ..^pdbowJ.s^n gim, n« «nyj^^^^ ^^ Rearing the whisuToTthT^^^J^ balleUnT^ And, aave when an honest borgher was slain by the <® ^^^^/^^i^t^utU >■' I <*1^ THE RED AXB " ^ Blaek Riders, the beasts of the kennels were fed on diet more ordinary than of old. So we rode back with our prisoners, and as mnch plun- der as we could screw out of old Burgomeister Texel and his citizens by threats of sacking the city— a deed which I was main sorry for afterwards, in the light of that which happened at a later day. But I knew not the future then, and it was as well.. For the guilders paid nobly for the new-fashioned ordnance which stood us in such good stead that autumn, when we had sterner work in hand than singeing the gray beard of Duke Oasimir. Within Schloss Plassenburg things went on much as usual. Perhaps I was lax in my wooing— I cannot tell ; I loved sincerely enough, of a certainty. Nor, after this, was I backward in telling Helene of it, and sometimes she would love me well enough, and then again she would not. So that I could not tell what she would be at. Looking back upon everything now, I see clearly how that the rankling secret thorn was the accursed under- standing with the Prince, that for his peace's sake I was to abide friendly with the Princess and let her try her fool experiments on me. Which she did, God wot, inno- cently enough— that is, for all the harm they did me. But, nevertheless, without knowing it, I kept the Little Playmate with a sore and aching heart for many and many a day. V> B^t I made notfiiiig^ of it— thinking, like a careless, ill-deserving soldier-lover, eager for success and dazzled with ambition, chiefly of my profession, of how to win battles and take fortresses against the surrounding prince- lings, our Karra enemies, till one day I found Helene with her cheeks wet and her pretty lips bitten till the blood had come. **Whati8*t. little on e,? T ell meT said I, going to hOT Mid patting my arm about her, ai indeed I hiid iSilIB 196 iKrfatti*-: V^fei'''Siil^, S 'fc Vii i^ : > -.<»• ;t * INSULT AND/<*HALLENGE right to do, if no inore than the right of having carried her up into the Red Tower in her white gown sTlong But she wrested herself determinedly out of my hold • saymg : " Do not touch me, sir. 'Tis all your fault I" ' " What IS my fault, dear lass r said I. " Tell me, and I will inlstantly amend it." "Oh I" she cried, casting her hands out from her in bitter complaint, "there is nothing so meanly selfish as a man 1 He will say tender things-aye, and dd them, too, when It liketh him. He can be, oh, so devoted and so full of his eternal affections. He is dying all for love ' And then^BO^ as he passes out of the door he ties his swordJuKHrUfid points his mustache to his liking, and lo I there is no more of him. He goes and straightway forgets till it shall please his High Mightiness to call again. Oh 1 and we— we women, poor things, must stand about with our mouths open, like mossy carp in a pond, and struggle and push for such crumbs of comfort as he will deign to throw us from the full larder of his "self-satisfactipn 1" This was a most mighty speech for the Little Play- mate, and took me entirely hf surprise. For mostly she was still enough and quiet enough in her ways and sneak- ings. "'Tis true, sweetheart, that some men are like that " I replied, gently, "but not Hugo Gottfried, surely. When did you ever find me unkind, unthankful, unfaithful ? When went I ever away and left you alone ?" "Oh, you did—you did," she cried, the tears stari;ing from her lovely eyes, "or I should never have been in- suited- treated lightly, spoken td as a staled thing of courts and camps 1" . And Helene sank down beside the garden wall in an nTf ■ ?T° * o^ sorrow-so t hat my heart grew hot and uugrfAUliBcmaieofmr grief, fo me then unknown. * . IW V: li I ifc THE RED AXE -\ I knelt down beside her and touched her lightly on one rounded, heaving shoulder. " Dearest," said I, " I knew nothing of this. Tell me ' who has insulted you. As God is in His heaven, I will have my sword in his heart or nightfall, were it the ^ Prince himself ! Tell me, and by the Lord of thd Inno- cents, I will make him eat cold steel and drink his own blood therewii^h 1" " Oh, it was my own fault — I know I should not have met him-^^let him speak to me in th6 garden. But you were so cold to me, Hugo. And then I thought — I thought that the Woman was taking you away from me. Also ste sent me out to be — to be in his path \" " In whose path, I bid you tell me, and what woman Y" Though the latter I knew well enough. "The Princess," she answered, "and the Oount Von Benss. To-day he spoke to me of love, and spoke it hatefully, shamefully, when the Princess had bidden me go and carry her message to him. But it was with me that he desired to meet. And I—at first many days ago— I walked by his side and listened, for then he spoke courteously and like a gentleman. For you were on the high terrace, and I wished you to see. I thought — I iwped— " And the little one broke off with tears. " I know, I know 1" cried I, contritely ; " I am a blind, doting fool. In this Prince's court I thought no more of such dangers than when I had you safe and innocent, my Playmate of the Bed Tower. But what did or said Von Reuss T "Truly he did naught, but only spoke— things for which I would have smitten him to death had I pos- sessed a dagger. I bade him begone. And he swore he would execute his purpose yet in spite of every town's Execationer in the Empire." **^b, irffl hgr said I, trtMdttidttthof fa» t wd wttting 900 ^ *1^ X^^ *t INSULT AND CHALLENGE, If I have to send for my father's Red Axe to do it with ^-«mged and scented monkey that he is " plZ^l'l ^^„^^^r' " th«^ I ^iBh I had not told you. hrhXolXT'^^- Bemember,IhavenofriL "Count von Beuss slay me! I could eat him up with- JSS!<»?r «»vory-a weak reed, a kerl without backbone JJ»of buckram ; why, I will shake him this day like a {■■Between my hands I" j «.» » ^!^hLTJ^^^^ ""^ *°^*'' ^""^ ^^*^ °»y««" that I had hit If^l p^^"^"" '''^'' '^''^ *^^"««' '^^d resolved that neither Pnnce nor Princess would stend between me and my love a moment longer. fi.^''.* Zf **J^', ^* ^^^' '"^^^ *h»° Say-80 to budge the stubborn wheels of circumstance. • isifcas!i ^fc^^iiiSu.^ ")Vi#fc...: ^jiAuMta^ MJi>u&.. :« f,^ ■ '^ ,n ■f— *« i i I' I f li a -Ir: CHAPTER XXXI % , I FIND A SBCOKD I icEAirr to go directly to the Prince in his chamber and tell him that from this time forth Helene and I had resolved to battle out our lives together. But it chanced that I passed through the iiigher terrace on my way to ttie lower — a bosky place of woods, where the Prince ^ed to linger in of a summer afternoon, drowsing there to the sin^ng of birds and the falling of waters. For oiir Karl had tastes quite beyond sour black Oasimir, with his church-yard glooms and raw-bone terrors. On the upper terrace I found Von Reuss, lolling against the parapet with other blue flittermice, his peers — he him- self no flittermouse, indeed, but ^ the true Oasimir vam- pire breed, horrid of tooth, nocturnal, desirous of lusts and blood. At sight of him I went straight at mine enemy, as if I had been leading a charge. ' " Sir," said I, " you are a base rascal. Yon have in- sulted the Lady Helene, maid of honor to the Princess, the adopted child of my father. Her wrongs are mine. You will do me the honbr of crossing weapons with me I" ■ ** I have not learned the art of the axe," said he, turn- ing about, listlessly. " You expect too much. Sir Exe- cutioner I" I wasted no more words upon him, for I had not sought him to barter insults, but to force him to meet me where I oould h ave m y anger out upon him, Mid avengflirthe tears^ in the eyes of my Little Playmate. 908 Jiia. loi^A' r-\'' I FIND A SECOND ihJnZ^'^^V'l ^T^''^ * «*°^« ^' y«"o^ dressed kid ^Zt^lT""^ "" ^''^^'' ™' ' P^^^«d from h^ fingers ere he was aware, and strudk him sonndly on erther cheek with it before flinging it crumpled up S h" oprid'r ''" '"'*' °^ ""^* ^ «'"^« y- -^h -X « J-^^V ?r *^^ ^°°^ ^'i ^^' "^^^« ^'^^ad hell-clear in his eyes., But he was not frightened, this one, only darWy and unscrupulously vengeful. •j' uarmy "Foul toad's spawn, now I will have your blood r ha cried, tugging at his sword. . -^ '^'^ '^'^^^ ' ^« palace windows. But to-night at sundown, or to-morrow at dawn, I am at your service." , • morrow TTirlnw* ^^ *^"''^''*' "'^ *^^ common at the back of the ^ frrnctp!r^"'^'°'°'\'*'^^ *^« fi^ Very >eadily I agreed to that, or anything, and then. ^f *7r ?r"^y *^"*' ^ ^«^* off' cudgellifg my brSS whom I should ask to be my second. Joriaf,X wS now aa officer, I shor^ld have liked better tha^inVShT shonldT^ "' *^" P^P'^ "^y^«"' ^* wasnecessar^^t i should have some one of Weight and standing to meet the nephew of the Duke of the Wolfmark and his tt^? ^Moodily pacing down the glade, which led fJ<^X Prince ^™?ri*^« Ples^nn^e, I almost overrule Prince himself.^ He ^as seated under a tree; a pareh! ment of troubadours' songs lay by to, illum'inatSSl^o derklv h / ^SJ^'lPf ""'^ ^^ "° ^«««?* monkish or looked the same hearty, hard-headed, ironia soldiw he r a'^nt '''' '^'^^ " "^^'^ -trange, every tZ t? llWh j t he r -i~-^. awa y,, y o nag S i r Am when he sees the fields of his parish ripe to the har- vest. " I wonder why, with her crystals and her ink-pools, the Princess hath not foreseen this. By the blue robe of Mary, there will be proceedings when she does know. I think I shall straightway go a-hunting in the mountains with my friend the Margrave !" He considered a moment longer, and took a deep draught of Ehenish. " Then the matter of a second," continued the Prince ; " he is to fight, of course ?" **No," said I ; "principals only." "I wonder," said the Prince, meditatively, "if there be anythingi in that. It is not our Plassenburg custom I with brisk h^sT" Three seconds, and three to meet them point to point, was more our ancient way." j 906 - - l^il«iv.a'i*i». '•»!>,.,•, t,.hd.\ m I FIND A SECOND At Mj.rate, he is ever railing upon me with ih^t- •p jPfigue of his I" said I. ^7 ^^ **^* 'lef iTi'"^'" ^"^^ ^^"^ ™^1 '^PO'^ »^y of thege „ men that lean on rails n.n^ ,./vii *i. • "ueiw TO" wm flna hi ™J'rk.t trii*^^-:? '» - ■"- The Oonncillor smiled, and shook his h«d mTdv ' weu''ijSfI^:J »»*?;*oi«„mHehi,.w.rfi,.„ -^ i-XL- .^:lf At '^J,T^^-ii •Of SSl..> * - tjsaBs, -V. ri*",: MM mmmm CHAPTER XXXn THB WOLVES 09 THE MARK The Hirschgasse is a little inn acrov the rirer, well known to the wilder blades of Plassenbnrg. There they go to be outside the authority of the city magistrates, to make rendezvous with maids more complaisant than maidenly, to fight their duels, and generally to do those things without remark which otherwise bring them un- der the eye of the Miller's Son, as they one and all call (behind his back) the reigning Prince of Plassenbnrg. It was on the stroke of seven, and as fine an evening as ever failed to touch the soul of sinful man with a sense of its beauty, that I set out to fight the nephew of Duke Oasimir. I had indeed ridden far and fast, and^withal kept my head since I left the Red Tower a poo/homeless wanderer, otherwise 1 had scarce found myself going out with High Councillor Leopold von Dessauer as my sec- ond to fight my late master's heir, the proximate Duke of the Wolfmark. What was my surprise to find the old man attired in the appropriate costume for such an occasion, a close-fit- ting suit of dark gray, of ancient cut indeed, and with- out the fashionable slashes and scallops, bat both correct and practicable, either fot the sword-play or the proper ordering of it in others. Von Dessauer laughed a little dry laugh when I con- """fratnlatedhinroniiieyouthfulneasol hi8«ppw»aiioer=fe^ deed, he seemed little grateful for my felicitations. , And if it had not been for the rheumatism whioh he had in- 910 Iierite4 from Iiij o-nd the wa * ' fields, he w fence as an^ arerred. Anw, old harts irlc^d THE WOLVES OF THE MARK |^'^;*^'^P»'f« on the tented field m^h came from his own in other " proved as fit for the play of, .ofhemalL 8o,atleUh7 - ..^'not Fal r "'"''^^'^' ^^^ to try a ruffle withThroock; of It'J'l*^'""'* "^"^«d count. ^ ^*^°'**^o.Markonhi8ownac. of tho Mark, and ha°e lli J J""' ""' «« l"™ schools ?» '°*™°'' '"ort-oniming ia their more thaa onoe with the oimlr „1W 7 '"' ""• ««» a man in a cimt .-j T " ''' ' seemed to «" Bight Of a mX" tod ^l'^'"^ '^'•""»- B»t * i«7?:trth:iMZo'"*-'^"" ««^ wa. built Wefmadn«! ° """■^"""'"briage »«, «.d thejr^rd Xe "S" r^t*" «""<•>«»? thej ptooeiyed wrmrZ,!^" " ""'° •""•P"« wl.in '■'-i.'-'-'p'i^'?:''''/.. if* THE RED AXE " His Excellency Friedrich, Count of Oannstadt, He- reditary Oup-bearer of the Wolf mark." Count Cannstadt was an impecunious old-young man, who, chiefly owing to accumulated gaming-debts and a disagreement with Duke Casimir concerning the pay- ment of certain rents and duties, had sought the shelter of the Castle of Plassenburg— a refuge which the gen- erous Prince Karl extended to all exiles who were not proven criminals. The seconds bowed first to each bther, and then to their opposing principals. In those days, duels were mostly fought with the combatants' own swords. And now Von Dessauer took my blade, and, going forward courteously, handed the hilt to Count Cannstadt, receiv- ing that of Von Renss in return. The seconds then compared the lengths, and found almost half an inch in favor of my opponent. Which being declared, and I of- fering no objection, the discrepancy was allowed and the swords returned us to fall to. And this without further parley we did. I was no ways afraid of my opponent.^ For though a pretty enough, tricky "fighter, he had little practical ex- perience. Also he had quite failed to strengthen him- self by daii5^ custom, and especially by practice at out- rance, with an enemy keen to run you through in front of you, and the necessity of keeping a wary eye on half .a d^zen otlier conflicts on either hand, as' has constantly to t>e done in war. The place where we fought was on a level green plat- form a little way above the roofs of the inn of the Hirsoh- gasse, where many a similar conflict has been fought, an4 6n which many a good fellow 1%8 lain, parting like a grassed .trout, with the gasps growing slower and deadlier^, whil e his opponent wipedLJxia bbde on trampled herbage, and the seconds looked on with fold- ed furms. There were many bushes and rooks about, mo '• K .■U#A-..-*-. '::iilT*,**^^l«-, THE WOLVES OF THE MARK and the place was very secluded to be so near a great city. ° At first I did not trouT)le myself much, nor attempt to force the fighting. I was content to hold Von Reuss m play, and defend myself till the hunger edge of his attack was dulled. For I saw on his face a look of vi- cious confidence that surprised me, considering his in- experience, and he lunged with a venom and resolution which, to my mmd, betokened a determination to kill at all hazards. I knew, however, that presently he must overreach himself, so of set purpose I kept my blade short, and let him jipproach nearer. ImmediatefyTie began to press, . thmkmg that he had me at his mercy. We had fought our way round to a spot on the upper side of the plateau, where for a moment Von Reuss had a momentary benefit from the nature of the ground. Here I felt that he gath- ered himself together, and, presently, as I had supposed he would, he centred his energy in a determined thrust at my left breast. This was well enough timed, for my guard had been short and a little high on purpose to lead him on, and now it took me all my time to turn his point aside. I saw the steel shoot past, grazing my left arm. .Men with so long a recovery, and the loss of balance from lunging downhill, he was at my mercy As I did not wish to kill him I chose my spot almost at my leisure, and pink«d him two inches below the spring of the neck and close to the collar-bone, which was running the thing as fine as I could allow myself. What was my surprise to see my sword-blade arch it- self as if It had stricken a stone wall, and to hear the un- mistakable ring of steel meeting steel. "Treachery!" cried Von Dessaaer and I together: ^ ^ o n a r e n lUia g bo t h. He is wewing a rirtrt WmStW^ And the old man rushed forward with his sword bar© in his hand and aU a-tremble with indignation. m f ^^ ni , >** P\ Ik -if ■1 I 4 THE RED AXE I heard the shrill "purl" of a silver call, and, turning me about, there was the gambler Oannstadt with a whistle at his lips. I dared not turn my head, for I had still to guard myself against the traitor Von Reuss's attack, but with the tail of my eye I could see two or three men rise from behind bushes and rocks, and come running as fast as they could towards us. Then I knew that Dea- sauer and I were doomed men unless something turned up that we wotted not of. For with an old man, and one so stiff as the High Councillor, for my only ally, it was impossible for me to hold my own against more than double our numbers. Nevertheless, Von Dessauer attacked Oannstadt with surprising fury and determination* ,aaiger glittering in his eye, and resolution to punish treachery lending vigor to his thrust. I had not time to observe his method save unconsciously, for I had to change my position mo- . mentarily that I might take the points of the two men who came down thjB hill at speed, sword in hand. But all this foul play among high-bom folk gave me a kind of mortal sickness. To die in 'battle is one thing, but over against the very roofs of your home to find your- self brought to death's door by murderous treachery is quite another. At this moment there came news of a diversion. From below was heard the crying of a stormy voice. " Halt ! I command you 1 Halt I" And wheeling sufficiently to see, I observed through • the twilight the figure of a stout man, who came leap- ing heavily up the hill towards us, waving a sword as he came. Well, thought I, the moce there are of them the quicker it will be over, and the more qredit for us in keeping up our end so long. Better die in a good fight —tbwa^ live with » bfd conscien eft With which admixable^reflection I sent my sword through Von BeuBs'a sword-arm, in the fleshy piwrt, sev- 814 d, turning 1 a whistle ad still to .ttack, bat e men rise ing as fast that Des- Qg turned man, and aly ally, it more than stadt with ittering in iding vigor is method •sition mo- 9 two men Qd. gave me a one thing, > find your- reachery is diversion, voice. )d through oame leap- word as he f them the t for us in good fight my sword IT part> sev- m %% \ ■: ^ THE WOLVES OF THE MARK fh^ t^ "^u'"^** ^""^ °*"«^^« ^^ to drop his blade n _ T! "•'¥ ■""" »' ">« state Ibid von omso I" m„-* tn !i '^'' *^' ""Kh with the smooth now Wo Oown the m Moi»iK»lly than i j^ ^^^ j. »?« Z'JCf""' '^^"^ » "'*«■' k^^Wet iBto the hi in Ht?.wSie:h'?rttn:^:'irxrh*i ^at J: ^^^^ L ' ^"'^^ ^^"Mjt-with a whirl, leavhi O^nTf r" '*''.*^' '"^'"«"*' ^"'^ '°«l»ed upon Z Ooanf« false a^oond. He turned to receive me bnf Im qmtequickenough, forlgot him two LTes re^^w^hl^' , l^J!^^ hiBJ)rincipal>g ring-mail, and that malf^H - thad ^ fo^ , Vmn^:mn<^t imme diately dr^h ^ V 1 / ^^t J'T* ^' J i t), i-S '' 1, -^.^ " V' Theti aa f Ip^ed abotlt;, j^er< ssiut swords ymb. two, amk up with his sword she nt ^0 f^f him iroi^ befil ,|i '^iafe a furious cry of angtiiah, that, I stould ini ifeeaus of bringing my noble master. into„ Hi, The Prinde Karl had -M 'the same moment* tjtftion of the treacherous foi»};)ehind him, for he kpfed 881^6 with more agility than S%ad ever seen him .j^isplay before on foot, and Von B|(^ was too sorely •founded to follow. % Presently I was at my first bravo agaa^ and the Prince being left with but one. Von Beuss tool^v^e opportunity to slip away over the hill. The^t 9f the conflict was not long i^ettling. There were lou^ voices from the stream beneath. The combat had been Observed, and half a scbre of the PrinCe's guard were already i^wimming, wading, and leaping into small boats in their haste to be first ^o our assistance. But we did not need their aid. I passed my blade through and through my assailant, almost at the same moment that the Prince spiked his man so directly in the throat, so that the red point stood out in the hollow of his neck behind. Both went down simultaneously, and there was Von EeuBs on horseback, just disappearing over the ridge. Prince Karl wiped his brow. " W3^t devil's traitors 1" he cried. I womjei" what he has gotten ? Let T^^jj^jrent across the plateat Bid^^SSie old man. At first I' thA^l^here ^as blood enougf eing-habit. B^t presently I.di#d been cut from above the eye Bis head— a shallow, ploughing sci it h§d effectually stunned tha,^ld 819 r DesBaoer, him.'* d keltbfthe find the woiind, is face and fen- his scalp had the crown of more, thongh V THE WOLVES OP THE MARK abfuThim ^ ^^'^ ^™ '° ""^ *""'' ^® ''*"'^ *° ^""^ ^^^^^'^ ^BVord!*' *^'^*" "^'"^ ^" ^' '*''^' feeling abant for his "Yon were nearly dead, dearest of friends," said mv master. "But be content. Yon have d^one'verrwell for so yonng a fighter An yon behave yonrself, and keep from snch brawling m the futnre, I declare I will give you a company I" ^ Dessau er smiled. v. ''All dead r he asked, trying'still to^ook about him. Your man is dead, or the next thing to it, two other rascals grievously wonndeci, Ad the scoundrel Von Reuss hfa ti^k7" ""'^^'' ^"' ^^'-^^^^ «re already on Up the hill came Jorian and Boris lea'ding the rout. "Is the Prince safe ?" cried Jorian. "The Prince is safe/' said Karl, answering for him- ^®^- «^ ^~>.. - ^ ■ ■ ■ together^ ^" °^*''°''®^ •^°"*''' ^°"«' «°d all the archers "Catch me that man on horseback there I" cried the f dnl 1 ^!°^ «??»?«• 5« « the Count von Reuss, Tnd a doubly traito&if rftfi ^^ '^TVi^''"' *°^ '®* °^ '^^ter him, all drip- M they we|^ fr4^.|heir abrupt passage of the river. , ,iQ- Ill Mm 'utr CHAPTER XXXIII THB PLIGHT OP THE LITTLE PLAYMATE We carried Dessauer back to the boat with the ut- most tenderness, the Prince walking by his side, and oft- times taking his hand. I followed behind them, more than a little sad to think that my troubles should have ' caused so good and true a man so dangerous a wound. ^ For though in a young man the scalp-wound would have healed in a week, in a man of the High Oouncillor's age aoA delicacy of constitution it might have the most seri- ous^ects. Wv But Dessaner himself made light of it. "I needed a leech to bleed me," he said. "I was coward enough to put off the kindly surgery, and here our young friend has provided me one without cost. His last opera- tion, too, and so no fee to pay. I am a fortunate vaem,." We came to the gate of the Palace of Plassenburg. . My Lady Princess met us, pale and obviously anxious, with lips compressed and a strange cold glitter in her emerald eyes. So st^^ange a thing has happened T she began. ' No stranger than hath happened to xts" cried the PrincOi " Why, what hath happened to yi)ti ?" sh^ demanded, quickly. " Your fine Von Reuss has proved himself a traitor. He fought a duel with Hugo here all tricked in bhain- j t rmpr, and when fonndd[)nt^ltft.whiafle4 his rascals from..^ the covert to slay us. Fnt we bested him, and he is over the hill, with Jorian and Boris hot after his heel." ^ 818 **] «■ k^ FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE PLAYMATB "And he hath not gone alone I" said the Princess and her eyes were brilliant with excitement ' ^ J^fot gone alone ?" said the Prince " Wh^f rf« „ know about this black work ?» *^** ^^^^ him "Xlf/ri"'^ "^'^^ "^ ^°^°^' ^**^ fl«d to join mm, she said, looking anxiously at ns, like one who perils much upon a throw of the dice. I laughed aloud. So certain wan T n* +i,« „** - foJI It "' ''* '''""^ ^" ^'^ Baid,^tanding straight be- "Ido ^otbelieve-IknowransweredI,cnrtlyenou«rh. . "Nevertheless the thing is true,- she ^d with a cn^ nous, pleading expression, as if bL had beercharrj with wrong doing and were clearing herself, SougK had accused her by word or look. ^ ^ "It is most true,- the Princess went on. ''She fled from the palace an hour before sundown. She w^ seen mounting a horse belonging to Von Eeuss at thTwotf mark gate, with two of his men in attendance upon hartS Sh,e IS knawn to have received a note by the hand of S Bnknown messenger an hour before.- « ^^^a ol ai^ iJ:^'^ f^^ ^^'^ ^""'^ *^® periaissioh of the Princess bnt i^ up the women's staircase to Helene's roomTwLe T found ^thing out of plac^not so much Tatld of lace, ^ter a hurried look round I was about to leave ** when a crumpled scrap of paper, half hiddiaa un, caught my eye. ^^ W and picked it up. It was written in an un- and unt^;f ''^"^^^^^^'^^^^--^-^^--^^^^ ^ Mtome. Meet me at the Bed^ Tower. I need you.* ihtiire was no mor*j the 8igh4t||.was torn away,and ?r ,-5# ^. » • f'!v. THE'REI) A 4% if thQ letter were genuine it was more than enough. But no tl.ought of its truth nor of the. falseness ot Helena 80 much as crossed my mind. ^ .-1.1x1. To tell the truth, it struck me from the first that tne. Lady Ysolinde mi^ht Tiave placed the letter there her- self. So I said nothing about it when I descended. S The Prince met me half-way up the stairs; ' . "Well?" he questioned, hending bis. thick brows ^ ""^"^h^^is gone, certainly," said I ; "where i^ow I do ^ot yet know. But with your permission I will pursue . and fitid out." . . ';, ^^x, I presume, without my permission Y said the Prince. , , • * T„v, I nodded, for^was vain to pretend otberwise^ooliBh, too, wlth'sudt'a ifiaster, .f ,„* ., «Ttifl* o, then, and Go4 be witkyou !" he said. It ifl a •finell^ tAelieve im love." ' A^Tn ten minutes I was riding towaiyii the Wolfs- berd A^ rtent P««t ,tbe ''great four- squag^gi^etwh^h had made an end of ^p^om in Plj«^^^f ,i ^^ that there was^gaiinr of the hooded folk -the carrion crows. »^ lo \ tli ere before me, already com- fortably a-swin^4^r late foes.the two bravoes^^ in the middle tif dead Cannstadt tucked up beside them, for all his five hundred years of ancestry-stamped traitor and coward by the Miller's Son, who minded none of these things, but understood a true man when he met him. I pounded along my way, and for the first ten mUes did well, but there my horse stumbled and broke a leg a wretched mole-rtta w i«1fin ed by the winter rains. In mercy I had to kill the poor beast, and there I was left without other means of conveyance than my own feet. It was a long night as I pushed onward through the 390 ■% Mi' Mu «&' b. But ilene so hat the. are her- ed; : browB ow I do pursue *- jaid the ■% " It is a ;e WolfB- efc which , I noted )lk — the ady com- voes, and ide them, ed traitor e of these thim. ten miles ■oke a leg rains. In I was left m feet, rough the o ^H 1 'i i f ^^B 'IK ^ ^ ' ij li 1 I'f ■ i I ff Ft : FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE PLAYMATE mire. For presently it had come on to rain — a thick, dank rain, which. wetted through all covering, yet fell soft as caressing on the skin. I took shelter at last in a farm-house with honest folic, who yight willingly sat up all night abonlj the fire, snor- ing on chairs and hard settles that I might have their single sleeping-chamber, where, under strings of ojiions and odorous dried herbs, I rested well enough. For I was dead tired with the excitement and anxiety of the day — and at such times one often sleeps best. On the morrow I got another horse, but the brute, heavy-footed from the plough, was so slow that, save for the look of the thing, I might just as well have been afoot. Nevertheless I pushed towards the town of Thorn, hearing and seeing naught of my dear Playmate, though, as you may well imagine, I asked at every wayside place. It was at the entering in of the strange country of the brick-dust that I met Jorian and Boris. They were rid- ing excellent horses, unblown, and in good condition — the which, when 1 asked how they came by such noble steeds, they said that a man gave them to them. j. || "Jorian,** said I, sharply, "wherfe have you been ?** " To the city of Thorn," said he, more briskly than was his wont,, so that I knew he had tidings to communicate. " Saw you the Lad^^^eLpne ?** I asked, eagerly, of them. He shook his h^d^ ffe^leasantly. "Nav." said he/ v I K^ her not. The Ked Tower is not a healthy place for men of Plassenbarg, nor yet the ■ White Gate and the house of Master Gerard von Sturm. But Mistress Helene is in safety, so much Boris and I are assured of.** ^4^J| "Not with Von Reuss.?** cried I, fear thrilling sudden in my voice that he had stolen h er and now h eld her in captivity. """ Boris held up his hand as a signal that I must not hurry his companion, who was clearly doing his best. 881 ■p.- ^ ~J\ ■ \' THE RED AXE ,, "She is with Gottfried Gottfried, the old man, your father, and is safe." " Did she go to them of her o\m free will, or did my father send for her ?'! I went on, for mnc^ depended upon that question. ^ "Nay," answered Jorian, "that! know not. iBut certainly she is with him, and safe. The Count, too, is with his uncle, and they "say also safe — under lock and key." " . - ^ " Good I" quoth Borfs. * "Let us all three go hack to Pl^senburg forthwith !" cried I. < ^- " ' "Goodr chorussed both of them together, unani- mously slapping their thighs. " Choose one of Our , horses. He was a good man who gave us them. '" We Vish we had known. We should have asked him for°Un- ■ other when we were about iti'*' ' Nevertheless, I rode back to Pl^ssenburg on the farm- er's beast, sadly eno«gh, yet 8(Jm.ewhat contented. For Helene was with my father, and far safer, Us I judged, than in the palace chambers of.Plassenburg, and within striking distance of the Lady Ysolinde. And in ■ that I judged not wrong, though the future seemed for a while to belie my confidence. f.n ■V''*;. • 1 :it ■kl man, your or did my depended not. But ant, too, is • lock and rthwith !" er, unani- le of our liem. '" We im f orlan- 1 ^ CHAPTER XXXIV ,.. THE GOLDEIT NECKLAOB I '^=^^5'^^''^®"°'' ^^""Vold von Dessauer, High Council- lor of the Prince, with his head still boundup, was pU ing theiparred gallery outside the private apartments of his master. It was in the heats of the late summer, be- ,^ fore the ripening of the orchard fruits had had time to ;.' ci*nmate, or the russet to come out slowly upon the ap. *'^l^.\ L""'^^ ,"Po^ a soman's soft, dusky cheek. , Ihe High Councillor was in a bad humor. For he had been kept waiting, and that by a man of no account. Priw V"? ''i"" * ''"^^°'" °' ^''t ereeh, with the Pnnce 8 bugle and sparrow-hawk in Silver everywhere about him, made his appearance at the foot of the iral- lery, and stood waiting Dessai^s summons with his plumed hat of soft cloth injrinjand. «-^'* u*'"'^"'' '" crife H' ktience, my a necklace is leathern ed it to the e asked, as nstraint or being dead se for ine ; > she hath sn's dainty ling with a onid dash e chain of fly, as you le to get it ;o aid mei" said the ly at the )ne side, saint who ntrariuesB his hand a married trisdom ?" J nature, i so have "Record- er THE GOLDEN NECKLACE ^, .1^ • 'Aye, 'Sir," quoth the man "hnf w *i, ows will take no warning ^jf tu I *^^ ^^^^^ ^^I' to burn,'said the other Apostle bTV.!^ T''^ ^^^^^ nothfng about it, bein^ no h!!^' fu "''*^'"^' ^« ^^^^ ' would have amended it ' It t k*?^ ' ^''^'^''' '^ ^e marry anrf burn/- ' ^' ^®"^'* *« burn than to -If "ttto^gjnr tI'''''''V" ^'^^' ^- • -|feHolyOffice.^'Le?;Vrst:cV>^^ about and viewingJtfrofeverV'nr^^^^^^ *°^-°^ ^^ of short bars of gold laid horizontelfv ihrl ^*l°rP"'"^ gether, and bound toffethpr t^-?? ? "^^^ *°*^ ^^^^^e to- And on each of the^O th!^^^°^* '^^' °^ ^ol .. ^ars ; I mean noT^nV In 1 w! ''it'' "^ ^«« ^^ ^^e also with mankind And ^olTT^ 7,''^'''''-^' ^^t ber the night of the DukeOr.^f ' , '' ^^'''^' ^ '''^^^^ took PlasLburg because th^ ^^^^^^ within thejvalls." ^'^ ""** ^^«« « sober man "^ tSl hi: ^f r l^C^- ^'^'^ ^-^ on Baltic " the city r cried thetigh cSrSor ' ^^* ^^^ ^^^^^ " Of t^t' trth^ilTnow Vr''"'*"* "^ ^- ^-ght ^ much slaughte^Bud ' fr ' f ^""''"^^ t^en with captivatedCnynoblfSo°n '^^^ The? ^ in the skbles, tLy to^f iT't^^'^.' *'^^' ^^oauge I slept - I was not ill- trlTed s^,r^^^^^^ ^r? *^ ^°^«««- ^et the horsemen upon mrJeef R A'^ *° ^"'^ P'^o^ with , " Which Priice ?^ Snl'i, ?* ^ '"^ *^« Prince^- • ^ Councillor, groSr.: . ^ ^^ ^''' ''^** <*? .Sigh ' .:'4.' ■|,-Vr- ■■^■■k 'A'. v.: '. ,♦?. THE RED AXE ** Why, the Prince Dietrich Hohenfriedberg of Plassen- burg," said the man. " He, as your well-born Wisdom remembers, was then the only Prince in these parts — a gooA man, and bom of the noblest, though not of the capacity of his pfesent Highness the Prince Karl." "Proceed somewhat faster. You move as slowly as one of your own forest oxen at the wood-hauling," cried the well-bom Counbillor in a testy tone. " We were long in riding over to Thorn— two days and nights upon the way. It was a terrible time, and all the while those condemned beasts of the Wolf mark, Casimir's Black Riders, driving us with their spears like prick- goads, till our backs were all bleeding, gentle and simple alike. So at midnight of the third day we came to the city of Thom, and up through the streets to the Wolfs- berg.' There Was no gladness in the town, such as there would have beeni in our city had there been news of a victory, or even of some hundreds of the enemy's horses well driven. For then as now the toWn hated its Duke. And 80 they were all silent. . / " Then ki the darkness we came to the castie, and tha word was; 4Di«imount, and to the shambles 1' M« anrf my like they Meddled not with, but only the great one* And it was then, as I told you, that I saw Prince bietrioh with the little maid in his arms. I had carried her pari of the way for him, and faithfully delivered her up again,* feeding her with the choicest meats I could obtain when she could eat. But she was tired, mostly, and' would not look at food. So for this he gave me her necklace frcA about her pretty neck. But the rest of her noble gqldia gear, the belt and the clasps, were upon the maid when the headsman of Thorn delivered her to one that stood and ex- saw the near by. Sol being almost asleep with Weariness hausfed with^terror, they carried her away, and I maid no mbre. / * i^- . ; ','But the Prince Dietrich Hohenfriedberg was be » ■ m hu g of Plassen- •orn Wisdom ese parts — a 1 not of the Karl." as slowly as tiling," cried wo days and , and all the •k, Casimir's like prick- 3 and simple came to the ) the Wolf s- uch as there in news of a jmy's horses )d its Duke. THE GOLDEN NECKLACE PI«senburg'r Will XVrincrnr'l''*''' ™ '" away the disgrace ?" """ 4 »'">■'* wiping f^ed. 4nd the W„l? be „2h f':'' •"■"J'' ■"* ""'^ to heaven, e* that the ash^ *f i. t*^, ? '" ^^^ing Are .«.ke the Mark jk ^ye?«„V "?' ""' """^ '« ■ ''"^'thebea.telhat^S^^utith.r""'""'"^"^-' «" WoreTdie V^Z ThfS? 'i"" ' ""^ »«« " Ohanoellor. , ™^'*'' ''°'"% W before the Ol X }^6> and thtf r Me antf great ones, ice Dietrich led her pari ernp again/ )btain when i would not ok lace trcAk lOble golden maid when ) that stood less and ex- id I saw the irg was be- \ ■nr- I. we are Within thetown of fc f 'o'^'^.f '°^*'"^^^' ^° ' ' !/;,^°^°- W^ ^'^'^ make an end. - y Also, my Pi^ince/' I went on, boldlv "«o .« ^ I What think ye, Deseaoer?" said tha Pr,wl i i- oyer at the High ChanceHop "' '*''"« it ^ttS'th^w't""'; ''''*'°"^.- ""-''onM bio, the";;j:k"aior,?;,^' ""■* ;^<'"«^ '^-"^ " I will go with the lad. Prince K-fti-1 '* «o,'^ *i, z^,. .osophe, a,ei.r.; r;°Lt'':i ,"r :h'z'":/rh ••8«™.t. th«,» «id I, .,„ tt, ^ ,, -^^^^ ^ -» THE RED AXE I have hitherto chiefly nndertaken with my fists and side- irons. And as to surgery, I am more practised in the giving of wounds than in the healing of tifm." The Prince le^ed his head upon his hani He thought carefully over our proposal, taki»g up point after point, resolving difficulty after difficulty iii his mind, as was his wont. "How long would you be away ?" he asked, looking up at VLB. ® ^ " Ten days. Prince," said I. "Give us but ten days and we will I'eturn." "I will give you eight, and if ye are noj; l^ome again on the eve of the last, as sure as I am Karl filler's Son, the army of PJassenburg will be thundering on the Walls of Thorn seeking for a wandering Chancellor and a lost Hugo Gottfried !" > \, And so it was arranged. We of the Prince's staff were indeed in great need of such a mission, for we had^heard nothing from Thorn or the Wolfmark during manV months; no tidings, at all events,, that -Could be relied upon. For the cutting up of our frontiers by «bw raids, and the severance of all relations between us and the dwellers in the Wolfmark, through fear of reprisals, caused us to hear little news but such as was manifest lies. ^^ " Aa thus : Duke Casimir was collecting a great army, magnificent with cannon and munitions of war. He was shut up tight in the Woifsberg, pot daring to show his face to his own citizens. He would appear some fine ^ before the Palace 6f Plassenburg and slay every mafot us. He was in » madman's cell, and Otho von Beuwiiw- Duke of the Mark in his plaa«: These were only a few of the stories wi^oh i^ere brought to regale us daily. • And since there watf no cer- twntj anywhere, we were all in the dark oonoeming the V THE DECENT SERVITOR miKtary matters which it behooved us great! vtn h. Hrflr 'A' *.""' '"^ ""> «"" ''«'=l"™g 01 m'y love for tept OTt of hsr way, so far at least as I conld And th. Z »„ V ' '' ''°^'' '*'" """J 'OSS incited. Never thele^, when we met, she was more ,than ktad to ,„r; gentle, forbeannfi:, pathetio almnafl^ u . "'' '"®— meaaor, like as'^ rom^w oTAter/ ''°' '"- strued. *^ro"gea, flighted, miscon- Tw.whrwe^---ri:^^.-.;„;;;^^^ by stairs to Which he h^ l^te"*! '"'"^^'>" f" there,.„p„„ the steps TeadtaTl^I^TT-r'^''? 'ooms, I saw the deik serriforWfet^o ?1*1 l^««> k» innocTntr "th'e Bei2 whott'lr;""! °°' »' ont the hearts of men anTwomen ' '"^ """^ turned*. TfoZr^^'r """'" '''"°'' ™ » -«'. *• cool P„, ,1°T "'""P^ °' '''»'^''' gratefnl and •ouai " pleasant, meditative hneh of f^r :«' h X IMAGP EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) >^^ r 1.0 ti^ll 150 2.2 1.1 ..l-^IIIM IL25 nil 1.4 18 1.6 >, f$ '^ .Sciences Corporation ^ L17 c\ \ ^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) S7t-4S03 ^V^ .^x^ '^ Xi \ €.) ^ a ^ * \ - . * • * ■ ^^ — • ■ ^ or "' • . U^^Nai k i "^ ^ THB RED AXE ' " a^'l ^'*'"«^' 0^? Jon were my friend/' she be- gan ; what have I dorie that you should be my friend no more ? Tell me plainly. I liked you when L a lad, the son of the Red Axe, yon had come to my father'i. house about some boyish freak. I have not done ill by you since that day. And now that you are a leader of men and of rank and honor here in my husband's coun- try of Plassenburg, I would be your well-wisher still. I am conscious of no reason for my having forfeited your liking. But that I wouW know for certain-and now ^ As she threw back her head and let her clear emerald eyes rest upon me, I never saw woman bom of woman look more innocent. Indeed, in these lays of mistrult, it 18 innocence under suspicion which usually looks most guUty, knowing what is expected of it. "Lady Ysolinde," I made answer, "you try me hard and sore. You put me by force.ia the wrong. You do me indeed great honor, as yorf have ever done all these years. In reverence and high respect I shall ever hold IZ * u , .r^" ^""^^ done-for your kindness to me and to Helene, the orphan girl who came from our father's roof with me. I know no reason why there should be any break in our friendship-nor shall there be, if you will pardon my folly and—" .rll?"""^^" ''^u "''^:. impetuously; "you speak things empty vam, the rattling of knuckle-bones inTbladder -not live words at all. Think you I have never listen- ed to true men ? Do not I, Ysolinde of Plassenburg, know the sound of words that have the heart behind tneml' I have heard you speak such yourself. D(%ot insult me then with platitudes, nor try to divert me with the piping of children in th? market-place. I wiU not .tr.f'.K '^'r^' ^'*' ^^' * '«*^"«^ kitohen- wench, ■mile at the ]ingling of your trinketry." "Your Hj^ness-" I began again. She jprPEer hand as if putting a light thing mj. K' rSOLINDB'S FAREWELL woman .till ca^d'with thf:? »"'" '°f«" *"»* ' «■» « heart," maction of a woman'j breaking WBleW^mT *r 'f r".' »^'' '» ■"'' "y«" «« the P»ionahip which „nel;'i'',^;f°°'"T "" "»'"- and also that I miVhfli I * *°^ ^°^ myself- .t»ighti„toi;:^c;e;r. *"" "■■' "«"' '« '^^ tne, your compmioVsMi^o^l" /°""' ''°°'"^' y°" 'i'" Bnt you do not S'^ruTrr"^""* y°»- h«u^, to bid bor find Wlel J„*t k^° " '""^^ nerets and stitobe™ in ^1^ »°if ^ri'™" »'>*»- Ood who happened to b^Kdig^L' ' /': o^'Slf happier pit of oblivinn i,„^ ""sK'^g or us ont of the i3,.bo'nidt°th Xvet:: J "isrvrr '• •' ^i am I either r .aid I, wealdy onongh ».'io7rd:r M^:rd\'£r- ■"'«""-' cannot have esciped yonr eaTle Tvf S "''/^ "^'^"^ age, and he thinlrr^^; # ^ ®^®- ^® '« *^ioe my Dea^nerXor'^f rrhl':'5;."°^^^ ^^""^^^ ^^^ Plassenbirir. And 1 1-. ^ .*\*'' "*"' ^-^^e of THE RED AXE man and wom^ wiled from me, even the commnnion of the spirit forbidden. I might as lief carry a wizened nut-kernel within my brain-pan as a thinking soul, for all that any one eares. I am a woman of another age stranded on the shores of a time made only for men. I am the woman priests talk against, or perhaps rather the witch-woman Lilith on the outside of Eden's wall. Or I may be the woman of a time yet to come, when she who is man's mate shall not be only a gay-decked bird to sit on his wrist, tethered with a leash and called back to her master with a silver lure." > These things I had never listened to before, nor, in- deed, thought of. Nevertheless, though I could not answer her, I felt in my heart that she was wrong, and that a woman has always power over m6H|.l?eing stronger than all ideals, philosophies, kingdoms-^e, even our holy religion itself. mtm "After all," I said, piqued a little SMlone, as men are wont to be at that which they do not understand, "my Lady Ysolinde, wherefore should* you. not tell these things to the Prince, your husband, and not to me, tliat am neither your husband noTvyour lover ?" "And if you had been both?" she interjected, a little breathlessly. "Then, my lady,^' I replied, stirred by her persistence, "you would have obeyed me and served me just as you Bay. Or else 1 should have broken your spirit as a man IS broken on the wheel." It was a pjideful saying, and one informed with all Ignorance and conceit. Yet the Lady Ysolinde gave a long sigh. > : ^ "kh, that would have been sweet, too," she said. 'You are the one man I should have delighted to call master, to have done your bidding. That hi^ been a thing different indeed 1 But you love me ^t. Yon love a ohit, a ohitterling-.*. pretty thing that can but < 888 ^ YSOLINDE^S FAREWELL peep and mutter, whose heart's depths I have sounded with my finger-nail, and whose babyish vanity I have tickled with a straw/' This was enough and too much. "Madam "said I, "the clear sters are not fouled by throwing filth at them, nor yet the Lady Helene-whom I do acknowledge that with all my heart I love-by the Bpeakmg of any ill words. You do but wrong yourself, most noble lady For your heart tells you other things both of the maid I love and of me that am her true ser- vant, and, if I might, your true friend," The Princess reached out her hand; looking, not #ith anger, but rather wistfully at me, like a mother at a son who goes to his dea^ with blasphemy on his lips " Forgive me," she said, gently. " I would not at the kst have you go forth thinking ill of me. Indeed, you tomk all too well, and make me do things that are better than mine intent, because J know that you expect them of me. I have done many ill and cruel things in mv poor life simply from idleness and the empty, unsatis- fled heart. If you had 16ved me or taught me or driven me, I might have tried better things. Perhaps in the !w r,fu?* ^''''^'^ '*''^' ^ ™*y y«* do one worthy deed tiiat shall blot out all the rest. Farewell I" And without another spoken word ^she moved away and left me in the green pleasaunces of the garden, with my heart riven this way and that, scarce knowing what I did or where I stood. 6 •» »i, CHAPTER XXXVn ^ CAPTAIN KABL MILLBB's BON T ^^f5' ^^a^^^^ chill, confining night shut us in as Leopold Dessauer and I rode out of Plassenburg. Our horses had beei^ made ready for us at the little water-gate m the lower garden. Fain would I have taken also Jorian and Boris, but on this occasion the fewer the safer. For to enter Thorn was to go with lighted matches into a • powder-magazine. ' The rushes in the river rustled dry and cold along the bnnk. The leaves of the linden-trees chuckled over- head, rubbing 4heir palms together spitefully. There was mockery of our foolhardy enterprise in the soft whispering sough of the water, as I heard it lapper b.- """^ ^^?. x?^"^*"^* *^** ^*y '®*^y ^ c'oss to the other Bide Old Hans, the Prince's ferryman, snored in his boat. Above in the women's chambers a light went to and fro. I judged that it was in the bower of the Lady Ysolmde. Bat not a string of my heart moved;- For pity IS so weak and^oye so strong that all my nature'was now on the strain forward towards Helene and the Wolfs- lewh ^'^^ *"" ^'^^^ ^"'"'''^ *^** ^°"^ ** *^® unslipped "My love I my love I" I cried in my heart, "I am coming to you, I am going out to find j(ft. I Though I f die"^^ ^^^ ^^ '^' ^ «^*" at least see and touch yon ere For during these last days my love had grown gr^tly upon me, being of that kind which gathers within a man. ' us in as 'urg. Onr water-gate also Jorian afer. For hes into a [ along the kled over- y. There I the soft lapper be- the other 'ed in his it went to the Lady jred; ' For atare^was he Wolfs- anslipped t, "I am rhough I t yon ere B greatly in a man. CAPTAIN KARL MILtEB'S SON .rt, die lo;?4 o/t'i.ttri^!!'"'! "" "'^ '- li»i broken np the orart „f l, T °'"^.''°'' """* ' deep, and eterMi «« tkl »'»ii'ng all nndi-eamed of, to nod to only « tejl ° •*?' "™ '«« *» '»«. not ^reat and ^ll" t^ Te U^rl""/^' '", '■'°'' >- Do.,i.h me that which .Ulrgoo^'t!' '"n" T'" .trong-no» in y„„ t^j, ,^ j ^'^^^^eak I ZZ hipte,rer»rott'^^^eteri 1%T to take either from yonr hands P *"" '™^' sedges blom-M Th!;. '«»™ «« rustling and the n.ine':norto"'wi'^p"''K"''-^*'"'« '>'' ''-' '«"ow swtd'T'rhX^t'^r'' ""' """''""^ I '- that Pl«.en"„gfh„^:,f i f?:"™ "rJ'' ■"''»« ""^ On the other hand I h«S jT °.'"''™ ^^ '"T""- Id Il' l);(l!l ll, •' THE RED AXE Haim^to a safe place till Prince Karl arid I had made an end. WiUi^our eterk veterans swarmi^ in tCb that would easily be done. And so the ^n abode to my heart ' '"^ '""''' '° *^' imagination o? :,: We were soon out on the darksome, unguarded road ace behind me, Dessauer saying no word, but riding like a man-at-arms close behind me. "'"giuce We had reached the crown of the green hill over whose slopes the path to the Wolfmark ^nds-the p^rh by wh^ich, doubtless, Helene had travelled the nigh? of the «lnti ^ f"^^ *° ^^^ '^"'"^*' mounting the steepest part Blowly, I was aware of a figure dark against the sky no was dark It was m shape as of a horseman sitting his steed on the crest of the hill. ^ exjert"""^ ^ ^'''' my pistol, in which I had become fhl' KM^r^'^r^ ^""'^^'^ ^" ^"^'^ ^ *° the shape on the hiU-side. For, indeed, none had any right to be at ?W r"''' 'l?'.?^"^ Plassenburg, armed Va-pie! thought ?T f '^' "^^^'- ^^^ ^'' » ^-^^^^ th^ thought flashed upon me that the tales we had- heard m.ght after all be true, and the armies of the WolfS nearer than we dreamed of. oava&rK . J? r^*^^";? 1^'''^°"' '" ^"°*^ "&ht j°^ia»y to my ear a voice well known and ever dear to me, the voice of my master, the Prince Kari. Thi«^?' f "^"^^J^ried I. "My lord, what do yV here? wal« nf .? °^*d°«««-yon, who should be within the walls of the palace, with the guards watching three deep about you. What would come to the State of Plassel^ burg if It wanted you ?" " Oh," said he, lightly, falling in beside us in the most 240 id I had made '\m in Thorn, ^n abode to magination of fuarded road, ts of the pai- nt riding like ill over whose -the path by night of the steepest part t the sky, no ;ht where all >n sitting his had become he shape on right to be •d cap-a-pie, nomeAt the I had heard e Wolf mark 'ially to my >, the voice you here? within the three deep of Plassen- in the most ^ ;,ij y^ ( CAPTAIN KAEL MILLER'S SON of th. State Ton Zr^Ti T "" P'*"' ^'^ their work and vln^' °°''' '""'' *•■" '"Wi'" to the trJ!;^*;"'' ^°'' ''°'»'""" """W '<'»k "obl, after j:f;;j:LT'„v;s ".Tp*!" - «■«"•- '»<• ■Untly retorn .„d p„t y^^ fc«.,ef/r "■'°''' " """" '- not "ti'; '^\::iz:t f^ %? '"■*- "^ ™ wUUt ■ea.t oo„:t- 7„ 1 1. Z^^^Zu^ Til Prince. Youn7ra SinI JT V^'"^^^ ""^^^ ^^« ^^^ self make io aCan^^^^^^^^^ f ! ^^ ««^ «"d your- and gouty PrinceT *^« distractions of an aged Within myself I felt some amusement «*,> t^ most exactly what the Princesrinffl had al 7'^^" a reason for her wanderinr™ \l^^A f V , ? *"®«®d ^ why these two had noXV !J 1 "'* ^^^^^a^^elling affinity to^Tch^'th^"^^^^ likeness of nature was ths firbf ^'®® ^^f* this very There I am at it again. Oh, but I, Hugo Gottfried am the wise man when I R«f «»+ ^^ ' "" «" vtottined, ■Nay/' said the Prince, "all is Hftf« o^f „-*u- without, thanks to m» k« ^®* ^^t*'^^ and nout, tnajika to my brare commander and wise Chan- / ^ I " l" t 4 THE RED AXE A. oellor, and these other matters can e'en bide till 1 go back to them. Consider that I am but a capiain of horse going a-wooing and* needing to talk^ayly for good com- radeship by the road. Call gafi honest Captain Miller's Son." ' A So Captain Miller's Son rode with Herr Doctor Schmidt and his servant Johann. And a merry time the three of us had till we arrived at the borderft of the Mark. Now I have not time nor yet space (though a great deal of inclination) to, tell of the wondrous -pranks we played— of the broad -haunched counlirywomen we ral- lied (or rather whom Captain Miller's Son rallied, and who, truth to tell, mostly gave as good as they got, or bet- ter, to that soldier's huge delight), the stout yeoman fami- lies into whose midst we went, and their opinion of the Prince. Of the last I have a good tale to tell. " A good man and a kindly," so the man.said ; "he has giveh us safe hdi-se, fat cow, and a quiet life. But yet the old was gopd too. The true race to reign is ever the anointed PrinceT" .. - "But then, did not Dietrich, the anointed Prince, harry you ? And worse, let others plunder you ? And that is not the^fashion of Prince, Kiirl, usurper though he be 1" said the Prince. *" * " Nay," the honest man would reply, " usurper i8*-he not— a God-sent boon to Plassenburg rather. We loy^ him, would fight for him, all my six sons and I. Would we not, chickens ?" And the six sons rolled out a thunderous "Aye, fight —marry, that we would I" as they sat plaiting wlUow- baskets^and mending bows about the fire. " But, alas I he is cursed with a mad wife, amd, (|lfter all said ai^d done, he is not of the ancient stock," sa|d the ancient man, shaking his head. ^ . And the Prince answered him as quickly, tapping his lt)row significantly with his forefinger, "Are not all wives i< > t:^^^ J CAPTAllr KARL MILLER'S SON ' I- ' ' _' a little touched P Or are yon paasiug fortunate in your ^part of the country? Faith, we of the city willalT come courting to the Tannenwald If .you prove bet- ter off." . . "We are even as our neighbore I" cried the yeoman, . shrugging his shoulders. " Maril, ifiy troth, what si^est , thou ? Here is a brisk lad that miscalls thy clan." The good wife came f orward,,8n>iIing, comely, and larire of well-padded bone. "* ^ " Which r said she, laconically. The farmer pointed to tke Prince. The matron took . a good look at bim. «!' Well," she said, "he is the one that should know most ibout us. He. has been haarried once or twice, and hath |otten certain things burned into him.. As for , this one^*^ idj^j^ent on, indicatin|; Des^q^r, "he may be ■ ^d<»c%#| «*^^ wisdoms, AS nm* ^^ lie has never,- comp|M»rf||i^ tnystery of a womatf And this limber young |park with the quick eyes, he is a>lchelor .also, but ardently desires to be otherwise. Iwot he has a pretty lass wAitlng for him somewhere." "How knew yon that of me, goodwife P" I cried, great- '\ ly astonished. _ "Why, by the way you lo6ked up when my dai!;^hter came dancing in.. You weire in yourlost brown-study, and then, seiBiiig;a pfetty lass that most are glad to rest their eyes upon, you looked away disappointed or care- * less." "And how knev^ you that I was of thg ancient guild of the- bachelors ^'''^asked Dessauer. " Why, by the way that ^oii loo^d* a^t the^'pot 09'the _fire, ^and sniffed up. the stew, and asked how long the dinner would l)e I The bacheldr of years is ever uneasy "abdut his meals, having little else to be uneasy about, and no wife, compact of all contrary whimsies", to teach him how to be patient." 848 ' I. I' THE RED AXE i^ ' ** And how/* cried the Prince, in hu turn, " knew you that I had been, wedded once ?", / ** Or twi^e/' said the woman, smiling. "Man, ye cackle it like a hen on the ra%rs advertising her egg in the manger below. I knew it by the fashion ye had of hang- ing up yonr hat and e^e scraping your feet — not after ye entered, like these other good, careless gentlemen, but with' your knife, outside thig. door. I see it by your air of one that has been at once under authority and yet master of a house.'' "Well done, goodwife !" cried the Prince. "Were I indeed in authority I would make you either Prime-Min- ister or chief of my thief-catchers." And so after that we went to bed. r~~ •■■ , \ , CHAPTER^XXym THE BLACK BIDE E 8 The next day we jogged along, and many were our ad- Tices and admonitions to the Prince to return. For we were now on the borders of his kingdom, and from indi- cations which met us on the journeying we knew that the Black Riders were abroad. For in one place we came to a burned cottage and the tracks of driven cattle • in another upon a dead forest guard, with his green coat all splashed in splotches of dark crimson, a sight which made the Prince clinch his hands and swear. And this also kept him pretty silent for the rest of the day. It was about ev&ning of this second day, and we had come to the top of a little sweU of hills, when suddenly beneath ns we heard the crackling of timbers and saw the pale, almost invisible flames beginning to devour a thriving farm-house at our feet. THere were swarms of men in dark armor about it, running here and there, chipping straw and brushwood to hay-ricks and bvre doors. •' _" The Black Riders of Duke Oasimir,'* I cried ; " down among the bushes and let them not see us 1 We must go back. If they so much as suspected the Prince they would slay us every one." But ere we had time to flee half a dozen of their scouts came near us, and, observing our horses and excellent ac- coutrement, they raised a cry. There was nothing for ft but the spurs on the heels of our boots. So across the smooth, well-turfed country we had it, and in spite 945 ' ,«gj* ^ THE RED AXE of onr beasts' weariness we made good rnnninif. And whUe we fled I considered how best to' serve the^Wince head thTrlf •* '°°?^*!^ ^««' by," said I, "^nd the head thereof is a good friend of ours.' Let ns, if possl- ^f\T^ . I^'k^S"' "^*^ '^* ""««^^«« ^^ tt« kindness of the good Abbot Tobias." "hlf^'n '^'^ **"' ^"f ^' "«^°« ^^« ^o"« to speed, but will we ever get there ?" wJ'"'' i f^i'*^ ""^''^^ *" *^« stnpid-heads in the world, ^canse I had not refused to go a foot with the Prince on such a mad venture, and so put our future and that of the Princedom of Plassenburg in such peril. of tb« i>.r *Vw 7"'" ^^^ ^'^y ^^"« ^'^d high towers of the Abbey of Wolgast. Our pursuers were not yet in «gH so we n,dj m at the gate and cast ^ur bridl^ to a As soon as my friend Tobias saw us lie threw up his hands m a rapture of welcome. But I soon had him ^ ZZ, 1'°' .^r' ^'°«^'- WhereujK,n he wen^ Z rectly to the window of his chamber oT reception and looked out on the court-yard. ' ""pwon ana "Ring the abbey bell for full service," he commanded ; throw open the outer gates and great doors, and 1^ thes^e^ Ws to the secret ciypt beneath the mortu^ For the Abbot Tobias was a man of the readioat r« He hurried us oflf to the robing-rooms, and made us put on monastic and priestly gar^ente o;er our^ve.^ apparels Never, Got wot, had I expected that I shouTd Z.T JJT ^' \t T*'" ^^^ °*P »^d a brown robe, and sent to join the lay brethren. For my hair «w thiok «i a mat on top and there wa. no time to tonanSni M9 \ THE BLACK tllDERS monk Bn/ Ti Tf^'^r^'"^ ^^*^ *^« ^°" dr««« of a monk. But at that time I saw not what was done with laa came for me and carried me off all in ^ood faith gS "tJ r'"^ r i^ ^°p^^ - BhouiiTo^r i nWo . , ''^''' ^^ whispered, certain very fair and ctuTcUmb '".""'' '""l' '''' *^« -"' *b^* -hich "a tre« fW ^''^^ '"°°^^ ^y *^^« ^^«^«hes of the pear- tree that grew contiguous at the sooth comer As we hurried towards the chapel, the monks were Btreammg out of their cells in great consternatTon What hath gotten into our old man?" said one able to sleep, that he cannot let honest men enjoy greater peace than himself r '' ^ greater " What folly I" cried another ; "as if we had not prav era enough, without cheating the Almighty by knocS him up at uncanonical hours I" ^ ^ "J ^nocjcmg less i^^No^" °^''' ''^"^"^^^^^^ *^d full choral service, no lessl Not even a respectable saint's day -no true TuottaTir ^'^ '^^ ^^"^^ '-^''^ ^' * ^-^ ^" a^^ifTn^^i^'^'^^^^^^'^^^y «'^°°g»» *»»ey made their wav as the bell clanged, and the throng filed into therZel most reverently. It was a pleasant sight. I came in^ rank unobtrusively at the back, amongMe rustirgan^ nudging lay brethren. In other circumstances i wouW have amused mc to see the grave faces they tun^ d Jot^ ards the altar, and to hear all the while the confusrd cufflmg as they trod on each other's toes, trying whose thiokr O *«^^ri^i-hose sandal s'oleT wil the thickest. One or twop^kn tried conclusions with me butonceon^. For tiilt^t who adventured got a stemp from my nding-boot which caused him to squeiTu? n i'tiSfe-i ''•**«*ne piece of Councillor, if us I rode ) man who lould. take 7 of terror I dominant md depop- spoken to te peasant om den to t seen any Larked the THE FLAG ON THE RED TOWER reign of the Black Duke seemed to have afflicted the vei7 face of the country with a visible curse. But the day of deliverance was at hand As we came nearer to Thorn, there before us was the Red Tower, at first dimly apparent, then prominent, then commanding, finally rising higher than all the buildings of the Wolfsberg. How many days had I not looked down from those windows! And my father was even """J^-^i, "^•V"^''^""'^*"''^^' ^i« hea^t stirring calm and kmdly within him, in spite of all the atmosphere of ^ll^l "l fu ^'' ^'^' ^^^ ^°^«'^' *« untouched as though he had been a gardener working among the flow- T!i? J?!,P"*«"«- Also the block was there, and against It tbe Bed Axe was leaning. Then I called to mind the prophecy of the Lady Yso- Imde, that I should return to take up my father's dread- ful trade. And I smiled thereat. For I thoy&ht that now I came m other circumstances-aye, even/fhough riding in at the tail of the learned Doctor Sofimidt with my shaven and chestnut-stained face, my fio/ing hair cropped to the roots, as in the manner of the servant tribe 1 Yet for ^1 that was I not the virtual military commander of the I'lassenburg and the right hand of the Prince, whose forces would soon be clamoring against the walls of Thorn and bringing down to destruction the hateful tyranny of the Black Duke Casimir ? J- "/ oi " What is that ?" said I, pointing to a standard of im- mense size which drooped from the Bed Tower. It had been hanging limp and straight about the staff, and till now we had not observed it. But as we went toiling np to the Weiss Thor, and the last links of road lengthened themselves indefinitely out before us in their owrf famil- iar manner, suddenly a waf|«f hot wind from th^ sun- beaten^plam of the Wolfmaiftew out an im^se blaek flag, which spread itself, fluttered feebly, and died down again flat against- the pole. 853 /" I;' hi * , THE RED AXE " K»y/' said the Doctor, " that I caiinot tell. Surely you should know the onstoms of your own city better than 11" . For the heat had made the High Chancellor a little snappish, as well perhaps as the length of the way. "Never in my time have I seen such a thing float above the Red Tower," 1 made answer. "Can it be a flag of pestilence P" It seemed a likely thing enough. Cities were often made desolate in a few days by the plague-the people runmng to the hills, a weird devil's silence all about the gates. The^e might well betoken the presence of a foe to which the army of Plassenbnrg would seem as a , friend. As we rode UAder the Arch of the White Gate of Thorn we were summarily halted to be examined. We gave our names, und the Doctor showed his letters of authorization from a dozen -learned universities. The Black Hussar who examined our credentials was of a taciturn disposition, and evidently no schohir, i^ he studied the parchments intently upsidedown, and ap- peared ^o have an idea that their genuineness was best investigated by smelling the seals. " Where are you bound ?" he asked. "To thef house of the learned and venerable Bishop of Thorn !" Mdd the Doator Schmidt. » - ^ So the ffiissar, having finally approved ^f the quality of the scholastic wax, called a subordinate, and bade him guide us to the house of Bishop Peter. In an instant we were in the familiar streets, narrow, sunken, and indescribably dirty, as they tfow appeared to me. For I had been accustomed to the wider, airier spaces, and to the bickering rivnlets which ran down most of the steeper streets of Plassenburg, and which made it one of the cleanest tbwns in the -world So that the ancient and unreformed filth and -wretchedness of \ ^ THE FLAG t)N THE RED TOWER Thorn i^ppealed to my senses as they had never done before. There were evidences too of the terror in which the inhabitants had long lived. Tho houses of the' rich burghers were sadly dilapidated. No man thought it might be knocked about his ears tliat very night, it the Duke conceived there was money or gear to be found withm the walls of it. Here and there the tome black banner appeared. 1 asked the reason of it from our guide.- " Is it that the plague is in tho city ?" ~ "The plague has, indeed, been in the city-yes I But that is not the reason of the flag." "And what then is the meaning of the black flag r said 1. ,, » '' Ye are strangers indeed !" answered the man. " Did H\ ""^u ^r. *''** ^^^ ^'^^^ ^""^^ Ca^^i"- " dead, and tha the b ack flag flies for him, and must fly on the Wolfsberg till his successor be crowned." "And who is his successor ?" said I. -^ " Who but young Otbo, the worst of the Wolfs litter. iJut perhaps you are his friend ^' He turned with a keen look, like one who has been aj;. customed to deliver himself in company where he is sure of sym^pathy, and who suddenly has to consider his words m society the tone of which he is not sure of. ^ "Nay," said I, "we are travelling strangers and know nothing of yojir politics. But this Duke Otho, where- lore has he not been crowned ?" ' / "Because," said the man, "the Duke Casimir, they/ Bay hath :been foully murdered, and that through the witchcraft of a woman. So by our laws, till the murder- er IS punished, the young Duke may not be crowned." By this tim^ we Tirere at the entering in of the long, dull mass of building, which during moBt of my boy' ^ 865 ' ^ I THE RED AXE hood had stood unoccupied, owing to the <|narrel l^ tween Bishop Peter and the Duke. Oar guidB i "^ unchallenged into the quadrangle, pnd then abru|tl ished without pausing to bid us good-day, or *ven (__ ing to accept "the modest gratuity which my master^The' learned Doctor, had in his front pouch readj for him. As for.nre, I stood holding the horses and looking about for any of niybwi;^ quality who might show me the way to the stables. " • . Presently a long, lean, Why youth slouched out of one of the gloomy entries. Hte stood amazed at the sight of me. I ^^^o him to asic where I might bestow the horses, nowj^ding weary-footed, hanging their heads after the long journey and the toil of the final ascent from the plain. "Will you fight, outlander r were the first words of my lathy friend from the entry. He seemed to have been drawn up recently from a period of detention in some deep draw-well, and to hare the mould of the stones still upon him. "Why/' said I, "of course I will fight, and that glad- ly* J' Jon will find me a man tp fij^ with I" " I will flght you myself," he^MWling himself,* "For the en^^f this candle I^^H^aU a WK sueh Baltic sausages as you he.'9SKSKlr^ "Like enough," said I, «'.all in good time. But in the mean tim^ show me the stables, that I may put up my master's horses." '^ ^ '' ^^ "^*^** '^o^ I ahout you or your master's horses ?" ^ned i^y Lad of Lath ; "and pray why should I show 15fc!l^^^^**P ^^^^'^ ^^^^ ***^^®« *o ®^ery wastrel that IpHfer sneaking ift off the street and asks the free- dom of our house. For aught I know you may have come to steal corn. Though, if tijiat be so. Lord love you, you have Come to the wrong place." - > "Come, stable-master," said I, placably, "let me see .ff HI THB FLAG ON Tag EBD TOWER blr'TLVjl'Lt ''Tk "S" ' »"' «" *>■« poor ■""tor h"gl^ "It"*^"' B"^P Po'or, »hom m, .t thi, h„n«' Tr,« "C '.l:"' ■" " ^^'^o"" 8»..t "ything i„ thft town " ' ""' """'J' "' ""> M of ti6n that disDnkafinna » \-r **** *^® wforma- m.^J;' tthanT""^ "" "" "^« ' »'■"-■ H, »i«d mount his cavalrv f«> +u "^"".f "'^^ 'OP^ them away to p^ of h^s ilk fir", ■"? ^^"^"g- So pr«io« little horel, to !l/'"°' "" ^"^' «'"' 1^ jetting lon,era^lt14';"7^'^ " m.™ r M i° ^'"""P "■'" ""O^OO- ?" I Mid . --...«d"t.^l-i7t':.itrr. -•s;?itirr 1..PIM^ « J*LLf "•"' '' ■»»"»' "Ok .bed. He - ow» Mrt* tKrnif ^•t^ifi^SiaT/?.'"- " 257 ,. I.';;* ., «" " What are they doi^ to th. '?"'°- her." "^ "» '"■ darmg to lay hand on 'he rule in t;iala°'tlil. rL^hS;!" ''*--- '--"".eXiltte- o««S';r'^;'a': ^.nr; ht^ t =r^^'^ =»- "Oman. She has confeaeed S P """"""^ "'^ »'« ..e'wy/eir,,^:.^ tr::-' -^ --- -^ --^ 7*7 oat, M,d then W„^^^° P'?- "ho-'i-g hi. " Ltest tiding, of the triil ""^ '""*' "^»« the latest tidings of the trial. MB ■ t •:l ., i jit Ji.: *' P T^E RED AXE It waa manifes% impossible for us to obtain entrance by this door. So we looked aboat for another. Then I minded me of the private passage which led from the inner court-yard which I knew so well. We skirted the crowd, with our attendant following, till we came to the side door, which led directly into the "^Al^ of Judgment behind the judges' high seats. It was the way by which many a time I had seen my father enter, either in his dress of black or in that of red. And I was always glad when I saw him put on the scarlet, because I knew that then the worst was orer for some poor tortured soul. But when my master proposed that the attendant of the Bishop should carry a letter into the hall to hi» mas- ter to inform him that we waited without, the man trembled in every limb, and the hair of fiis head shocked itself up in sheer terror. ** I cannot — I dare not," he cried ; *' it is the place of torture — of the engines — the strappado — ^the water-drop, the leg-crushers I'' And at this point the vision of what was contained within the fatal door became so appalling to him that he picked u p his skirts and fled, looking over his shoul- der all the while to make sure that the Bed Axe was not after him full tilt. So Dessaner and I were left standing. And if the matter had been less serious, it would have been comical to see us thus deserted upon mine own middenstead, as it were. ''Bishop Peter of Thorn seems a prelate somewhat diffibnlt of approach," said the Ohanoellor. ** I wonder if we shall ever lay any salt on his tail ?" " Let ns risk it and go in," said I. * '' We are putting all our cards on the table, at any rate. A?id ^t least we can see all that is to be seen. If there is any risk of Von Benss penetrating our disguises, it is as weU to gulp MO I e&trance which. led urell. We ^ ig, till we *^ I seen my in that of )ut on the 8 over for endftnt of a hi» mas- the man 1 shocked Q place of ater-drop, contained him that his shonl- [e was not nd if the n comical nstead, as somewhat ' I wonder '6 putting it least we ay risk of 9ll to gulp r r THE TRIAL OF THE WiTCg tnffh!V* ""T/* T^' "*^«'- *tan Buck gingerly at it tilUhe fear of death chills onr marrow " ^ Uo on, then/' he said, somewhat orosslv • "th-r* ,-.. mdeed naught to be gained by itendSg he/e as ah J for the eyes of evil-doers." * * '*^** heart ^ TJ«t ^^'^ f "' '*''§''^"y> *^d ^ith « trembling f.si^:h\?heir^Cnr^T\Trm'^^^^ atmosphere, heaw with «. fi,«„ ^ . ' s*ifl»ng white fweB ril bent toward, one point Bntlt tk uernr af p-r v. ?? ****™' **° ^" ^^7 to the Em- lil S4iS3<,V4:.!v *■,:,. iJ,.. Ma^haMu > THE RED AXE v ' / The pattern of the Bishop's speech is one that does not vary while the world lasts. " Lord, they have made me a t)octor of Theology as well i" whispered the Chancellor to me. I gave him a little push. "Now is your time/' said I, "the hour and the Doctor !" I lifted the skirt of his long black robe. He took hold of his marvellous beard, a triumph of the disguiser's art, and we stepped forward. I c^nld hardly conceal a smile. We had come in the ?fery nick ^f time. Then after this I have a vague remembrance of niy master bowing this way and th^t. I seem to ^ee the wise men of the law, the judges, the priests, and lictors rising and bowing in acknowledgment. I heard the hush of a thousand people all craning their necks to look round the heads of their neighbors, and the hum of whispered comment reach farther ^nd farther back, till it lapped against the walls and ebbed out into the street from the great open door of the H|ill of Judgment. It was a surprising sight, this great trial— the gloomy hall, black with age and deeds of darkness, lit by the rays of sunlight falling through windows of red glass, the faces of men flecked as with blood where the even- ing sunlight streamed luridly upon them. In the midst there was a clear four-square space. A lictor, with a bundle of rods, stood at each corner. I looked, and there, alone in the centre, attired in white, the oynosare of eyes, I beheld-— Helene. i* Vt\> / CftAI^TER XIA TOE OAEBET OP THE BED TOWBB I would have fallen and Wed buVth!? 1 T. ' ^^^^'^ my master sat down beddfth^ p- ^ ** *^**^ "^^^'^^^^ free to retire intoT daZn^ '^°P' *°^ ^ ^'^ J«f* against a bea^s im':^'^^^^^^^^^ «^^^- me. The facTof Its Jat wlZ '^^^^^^ Bishop and his nriel ?L ? r! *^' ^"°«°try of the and hi asse^:rn;ui; Itn" mfS ^V '/ ^^'^^f ^"^« magoria. ™® ^'^ * hideous phantas- papers unoonoedyTith tt» H'"'''/'?"'''^ ^''^ their moathg. Tnd then^„ !S ^*"' "" *■'"" l»°» » .ue4 the Dake M,d hi.T„^^ tte'olemn .Ue-ce which en- --^:ry:f^L";:She.f::iri::x: „ ■ "'^i'-aoor la tne floor. ^^ ^ ^ — »=7^ '»J5^"^e';',"::"Ti'' i^f;" !°'°'- ^ '« »«. » I ' B P III i S • i£& H'^lf TfiE RED AXE at the first, ran across to me, ^nd, plucking me by the arm from the beam on which I leaned, whispered, hur- riedly: "Art dead or drunk, man, that thou riskest thine ears and thy neck ? Stand up while the Judges and the new Duke go by T >■ So, dazed and numb, I hent me up, audio! coming arm m arm towards me were Otho von Reuss and his newly appointed Chief Justice and a88essor:-who but mine old friend Michael Texel I The Duke bent a searching look on me as I bowed low before him, but he saw only the taa of my^km and the close bristle of my hair. And so all passed on; ^ « w "Ho, blackamoor, thy master waits thee! Run. if thou wou dst avoid the whipping-post 1^ cried another of the rout of servitors, with a small sniggering laugh. weakly after my master. I found him at^the door, in talk with the confessor of the Bishop. "And so "he was saying, "this girl was reared in the executioner's house. And she went away to a far coun- try m order to learn the secrets of necromancy, it is not known where. I would see this Duke's Justicer. Does he dwell near by ? What! In that very tower ? It ia of good omen. Let us go in thither." But the confessor excused himself, being in no wise desirous to visit the Red Axe, even in his lime of sicV ness. "I have business of the/soul with Bishop Peter, I will speak with Uiee against refection," he said, twitch- llfno ' '^^!'^.f ^^' ^'^ '^°^«' ^i*^ suspicious g^nces, as if he fe/red unseen ears might be listening, and that aome of lAs fearful magic might even descend up^n a man so notably holy as a Bishop's confessor. ^esently^Dessauer and Iwe^ aew«s ^.^^.y^^^. at the .well-known door. I knocked, and list Aed, wkere- npon eosaed silence. Again and yet again I made the 964 THE GARRET OF THE red TOWER quaint death's-head knocker t)„ir,^«. j ^^ " the echoes ceased f h«~ lo **'"'*'^«'> ^^^ then, when the tower. ' ^ ""^ ^'^^^ '"^'^ » g'*** «lence in di^^'^ ^}^ blood-honnds of Dnke Oasimir howl Th« mdigo shadow of the pinnacled TT..11 «i t if ^^® across and touched tCSTol,^^^^^^^^^ finger. -^ow^er witn an ominous ^ ^^onoVanrhi^VedCwatfln^^^^^ Each smoothed' Indeed, mrich more so fm ^'^ ""^ ^' my name, false oie. SoTchmt?^ ""1 ''^^ P^«^°^ °^«J«^ a There on my leftt^s Jh; s'it? ^"''^ ""''' "^ '^^^ "P- searched high and TowL 'f !"«-^°«°»- It had been aumries nfled househdd^. T*''' '"^"^^ *^«««d down, bottles, all cast^abt ^a^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^--' -PtJ Bearchers had left them ^^*^^' ^^"" " '^« B Jp."He^th?;Ll'^"^^"r ^'^'« 2«^«- -ei!>.j O'^ ^■.m 1 lit THE RED AXB "- Dessauer motioned with his hand. He saw that it was dangerous to throw my father oft the 'track. And, in- deed, this was proven at once, for my unfortunate inter- ruption set my father's mind to wandering, tiU finally I had to drop certain drops of the red liquid on his tongue. These, mdeed, had a marvellous effect upon him. He sat up instantly, his eyes flashing the old light, and began to speak rapidly and to clear purport, even as he used to do m the old days when Duke Casimir would come strid- ing across the yard at all hours of the night and day to consult his Juiticer. " What was I telling ?" he went on. " Yes, I remem- ber, of the home-coming of Helene under honorable es- cort. And she was beautiful — but all her race were beautiful, all the women of them, at any rate. But that IS another matter. "So things went well enough with us till, as she went across the yard one day to meet me at the door of the hall as I came out, who should see her but the Count Otho von Reuss. And she turned from him like a queen and took hold of my arm, clasping it strongly. Then he gazed fixedly at us both, and his look was the evil-doer's look. Oh, I know it. Who knows that look, if not I ? And so we passed within. But my Helene was quivering and much afraid, nestling to me— aye, to me, old Gott- fried Gottfried, like a frightened dove. "After this she went not out into the court-yard or city any more, save with me by her side, and Otho von Reuss Imgered about, watching like a wolf about the sheepfold. For, as I say, he was in high favor with Duke Oasimir, and had already equal place with him on the bed of justice. "Then there came a night, lightning peeping and bjazipg, alternate blue and ghastly white — God's face on him. He ;ht, and began as he used to Id come strid- bt and day to res, I remem- honorable es- er race were te. Bat that , as she went I door of the it the Count I like a qaeen ly. Then he le evil-doer's ok, if not I ? 'as quivering le, old Gott- ourt-yard or id Otho von f about the I favor with rith him on )eeping and - God's face_ ittioe. p. Hay As you '4 . PRINCB8S PLAYMATE ^f,'J ^\?* ''^''.^}^^^' ^°* I *»y ^^^^^ Wd thought Z?r.frf "^^ ^T' ^""^ *°™' ^ remembered, black against eternity. But aU at once, in a obtain after-clap of silence that followed the roaring thunder, I heard a voice call to me. * w«iu » " *My father— my father V it cried. "It was like a soid in danger calling on God. nffi J ^r'.w /'"VV^*^ as I was in the red of mine office (for that day I had done the final grace more than HuTikeTene."' ' "^ 'T *'^ ''^"^ '^ *^« ^^ °' -^ " The lightning showed me my lamb crouched in the comer, her lips open, white, squared with horror, her arms extended, as though to push some monstrous thing away A bhwk shape, whose, I could not tell, I saw bend- mg over her. Then came blackness of darkness again. now, 6aU mg pitifully, hke a woman hanging over hell and losing hold: 'Father— my father!' T " 'fi.*"!.*'®"]' ' ^"®^' ^**^<*^y' ^^e'* " on the scaffold I cry the doom for which the malefactors die. /n^A^ ^^ '*''**"' "* "P ^'*^ * fi»°^®' ^hite as the face of Ood as He passed by on Mount Sinai, flash on continu- ous flash. And there before me, with a countenance like a demon's, stood Otho von Reuss." I ottered a hoarse cry, but Dessauer again checked me. My father went on : "Otho von Beuss it was-he saw me in my red ap- parel, and oned aloud with mighty fear. If God had pven me mine axe in my hand-well, Duke or no Duke, he had cried no more. But even as he turned and fled from the roojn I seised him about the waist, and, open- ing the wind ow wifli • . . _ > t^ a y Qthar hand,X<}agi him fwtfcr I I a^ I Je went down backward, clutching at nothing, God looked again out of the skylight, of heaven, and 871 »*^ '•smr .1 ! f -I' I I I J I i m I I im I ; THE RED AXB shoTred me the face of the deril, eren as Michael saw it when he hurled him shrieking into the nether^t lamb ''*°* """^ ^^^"^ '"^ '"^ "'"« "»y °°« «^e "Many days (go they brought me word) Otho lar Af the pomt of death, and Duke Oasimir cami not nea/me kneJonL''T »°*^y*l^»^ very circumstance I knew Otho had not revealed how his accident had be- wiin v"r^' ^^' ^"^^ *^"^«- ^°d as he grew well, Duke Casimir grew ill. He waxed more and more hke an armored ghost, and one day he came here and sat on the bed as in old times. • "'I know my friends now,' he said, 'good Bed Axe blinded, but this morning there has come a mighty dearness, and from this day forth you and I shall sSnd face to face and see eye to eye again, as in^the days of wC^^^''^^'''^ **^'"*' ^' ^'^^^ ^^' something to drink Which, when our sweet Helene had brought/he wtted her cheek ' A^ maid too good for a courUne I^ong a thousand, a fair one V he said ; and passed away dowa the stairs, walking with his old steady tSad fhllf ^'" ^' T ^^^^' *^^ "'« *»« ^»d t)een embalmed, ton LT* " fT'^''^ •^^^^^^ **»« '°"o^«rs of Otho von Beuss, and affer that among those of the Wolfsberg who expected that they would be fayored by the new .. ;• i* T^*"* ^^^«P«'^^' '^d then cried abud, thaT I^J^^^ Oasimir had beencompas«d by^^ 1 I i i t I y Cl d d tl A th ca frc th( Ar 8h< alo t ] hin Hu maj iaci ^Cunningly and inth subtlety was spread "the report . how my daughter and I had worked upon Duke Oasimir I ' S7S 'lof j i « I tell. ' L ▼en as Michael saw it ) the nether pit. m J arms my one ewe PRINCESS PLAYMATE ae word) Otho lay at nir came not near me t very circnmstance I his accident had be- e. And as he grew i^axed more and more »y he came here and said, 'good Red Axe have had mine eyes has come a mighty yon and I shall stand kin, as in" the days of J • something to drink. i brought^ he patted a court— one among. »d passed away down, ly tread. Hall of Justice he im in, and there in ious for a week, and lad been embalmed, le followers of Otho i •se of the Wolfsberg favored by the new ' len cried aloud, that, JompasMd by witch- J spread the report ipon Duke Oasimir. this Hew!.^ ' "ncheeked, and all throngh it thrLn f^ 1 day among the streets and lanes of lodrao nto ZTr '°'""""=' """"'i'^'* ^- door. "'""oot, and presently bnrst in the "And that/' said my father, feebiy/.-ig ril." ^.Bnt ,ns. a, h, seemed to ebb Wa wild fear startled ^»ces^p»r*ndTnowmg. I Fave something yet to ~ [tell. \'^^Jzw^:^r::x "Ai:i^ ■i;i m ^.:/:.± .. 1 llas! se^urg, or m some way save my love. inf!. •^•^*^ ^ ^°°^*^ '*''* **' *^« ^«i° door that mom. f^!i \''^"5ff ^^.'^o'-e than to pass away the time till the tml should begin again, before I saw the Lubber Kend otri?tt^i;t%^^:' *^^ ^^'^^^ ^^^-^*^' '-^^^^ He pointed at me with his finger. vJ^p''^^''"?^!?*''' '*''''" ^^'^''^ ^e "aid. "I know Te* and T^°. *n l^' '^"^^ '^''' ^^ *^« «**We, wash youT Hwe, and I shall know yon better." This was fair perdition and nothing less. For one may stay the tongue of a scoundrel with money or the ■ a^eror nlo';*' ^^*" ^n'*'^-*^ ^^^^ *« «*'p "- th w re^'ff r;:: *'^*^^^^ ^^«/^- ^^ ^ «^«> ^ »- Filntr ^ "*^'*' "^^^ ^°'' ^'"^^ «^^^' Sir Lubber ea^^tiul^;' ^Xctrrerts i^ Jhfrea '" 'T'^'^' that he lo,e5 the touToTtUX ^^^'^ '' "^^ th J"" *^«"' If bbe'/' Baid I, "you shall hare ten of these now, and ten more afterwards, if you will cwry a letter to the Prince at Plassenburg, 'or meetllm o" tt^: litSrf ^''" **^^ ^'' "^*^^« *»" 1»«^ «»dly J "my Uttle Missie has come to Thorn " " Wo„H ^°!' ^^^^ ?*"' ^^^'^ ^""^^ ^"1 »>« happy. ' wrnk ya .nd sinister appearanoef^^ JacY T"''? "'■* »' ^^ ^ -obeenre, I «,w that she^^M S^L ^i;'"'"' '"P^ to f -'■^-hewhowCrtry°-4;;;fyx,n. THE TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT day., wd »ho eysn then had watched the Little Pl«. mate mth no friendly eyes. ^' As she passed the judges I sav the deadly fear monnt ^™ I °. . °"^'' '"™ '" «■« wars after the sar- geen has don, his horrid work. That same look I s^w ■n the dark recesses nnder the Hall of Judgment Z Extreme Qnestmn had been pnt to her, and to ^11 an ^oTtroZTh* TI^'°« *° *"• ""'»"»' '^» P-- 't:^^:z::^:^:,^i^ ^^ -="•-««'> ■"» p»"«o- ^Zs^tt' w^i^-iVd'TheidrVh -d* t? - m a low growl of anger and contempt. The Dnke's He :j:^d'^:Uh ler *'.' I^" --g the^row^ „ °t\ nt" lorjMd with fierce hate in their voices, lowing like oien A w "'"^.'^.r *°"«^ °' ^ ^«'?^* of co^mp '"' It was not thns in the old davs when ihJL « pwple's arbiter in all the Wolf^S',:',^*™ rpol° nlar as Master Gerard of the Weiss Thor """POP" neigror! " "" "^'' "' ""^ '™™''" '" »« I'to my «»« not go ontside his honse withont a mard of th. mnch'S ftTtVrriner'" " '"" *"* "' """ '^ '"'-^ "SL^r^^r "^ P-^PP"* ip the poor w^t^ •km and bone, "and yon do now eoalen «« flu. ouid •81 !!(;< J • &'■'* THE BED AXE and yoursfilf hare ofttimes had converse with the Enemy of Souls ?" A spasm passed across the face of the witness, and a low sound proceeded ffom her month, which might haye been an afl^rmative i^nswer, but which sounded to me much more like a iEU)an of pain. " And yOu confess that she consulted you concerning the best means jof killing the Duke Oasimir — by means of a draught t/ be administered to him when he should, as was his cqatom, visit his Hereditary Justicer ?" *' Theresas indeed a draught spoken of between us, noble Bit/ stammered the old woman, " but it was not for the Duke Casimir, nor yet for — for any evil purpose." I saw the Friar Laurence incline his head a little for- ward and whisper in Hanne's ear from his place behind her. At the words she clasped her hands and fell on the floor, grovelling : " I will ffay aught that you bid me, kind sir. I cannot bear it again. I cannot go back to that place. I am too old to be tormented. I will bear what testimony your excellencies desire." "We wish only that you should tell the truth as you have already done of your own free will in your pre-ex- amination," said Master Gerard, "the notes of which are before me. Was it not to kill the Duke Oasimir that this draught was compounded p The old woman hesitated. 'Friar Laurence stooped again. " Yes !" she cried ; "God forgive me— yes 1" An evil ^c^k of triumph sat on the face of Otho von Beiiss. I think he felt sure of his victim now. "That is enough," said Master Gerard. "Take the old woman back to her' cell." *'Ohno, gnat tordf^ she «riedj **noi tiierel promised that if I said it I was to b« let go free, me, bat do not send me back I" Yon- Kill bhe Enemy less, and a night hare led to me concerning -by means he should, jtween ns, it was not purpose." little for- ioe behind ell on the 3 bid me, ;o back to [ will bear ith as you ur pre-ex- of which isimir that e stooped Otho Ton Take the ire I Ymr" roe. Kill ink TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT The Duke moved his hand, and the old woman wan led'shrieking below. Then came Friar Laurence, who testified that he had often seen old Hanne instructing the young woman who was now a prisoner in the a,rt of drugs, in the prepara- tbn of images carven in dough — and it might be also in clay — things well known in the art of witchery. , Further, he had been with the Duke Casimir at the last, and the Duke had declared that he had partaken of a draught in the house of Gottfried Gottfried, and im- mediately thereafter had been taken ill. There was not much else of matter in the Friar's evi- dence, but the most deep and vindictive malice against the prisoner was evident in every word and gesture. Then Master Gerard rose to address the judges. His venerable appearance was enhanced by the sternly severe look on his Rice. He looked an accusiug angel from the pit, swart of skin and with eyes of flame. He was tall and bent of figure, with the serpent -browed head set deep between hunched shoulderlMike those of a moulting vulture. He grasped his bundle of papers and rose to make his final speech. The judges settled themselves to closer attention. The hush of listening folk broadened to the utmost limits of the great hall. At a whisper or a cough a hun- dred threatening faces were turned in the direction of the sound, so strained was the attention of the people and such the fear of the eloquence of this most famous pleader in all Germany. In these days when learning has reached so great a pitch, and is so general that in a largish city there may be as many as a thousand people who oan read and write, of course there are many elo- qnent men. But in t hose d ays it was not so, and Gerard von Btorai was oonnte^d the one Golden Month of the Wolfmark. And this in brief was the matter of his speech. The MB THE RED AXE matiner and the persnasire grace I cannot attempt to give : "It has at all times been a received opinion of the wise that witchcraft is a thing truly practised— by which such women as the Witch of Endor in Holy Writ were able to call dead men out of their deep graves grown with grass ; 6t, as in that famous case of Demarchans, who, having by the advice of such a womait tasted the flesh of a sacrificed child, was immediately turned into a wolf. " Further, the testimony of Scripture is clear : * Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live '; and, again, as sayeth the Wise Man, ' Thou hast hated them, God, because with enchantments they did horrible works.' ^ " Now, men may by conspicuous bravery guard their lives against assault by the sword of the enemy, against the spear of the invader that cometh over the wall, even against the knife of the assassin. But who shall be able to keep out witchcraft ? It moveth in the motes of the mid-day sun. It comes stealing into the room- on thfe pale beams of the moon. Witchcraft rides in the hurt- ling blast, and shrieks in the gust which shakes the roof and blows awry the candle in the hall. "Enchantment can summon Azazeli, the Lord of Flesh and Blood, called in another place the Lord of the Desert, by whose spiriting of the elements even the pure water of the spring or the juice of the purple grape may become noxious as the brew of the serpent's poison-bag. "* " Of such a sort was the ill-doing of this woman. For her own hellish purposes she desired and compassed the death of the most noble Duke Oasimir. There may be ___ _ those who try to discover a motive Ut snoh an ac t. Bat In tHa they lofoolisliry. For to those who bkte studied of this matter, as I have done, it is well known tbit en- chanters and witches ever attack those who are the groat- 884 •THE TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT •»t, the noblest, and the moat envied— not hoping for any good to result to themselvefl, but out of pure malice and envy, being prompted by the devil in order that the great and noble should be destroyed out of the land. Well was it spoHcen ^en, * Ye shaH not suffer a witch to live I' Many plead hereafter of this evil-doer's youth, uty, I call you to witness that the JEvil One his best implements of the fairest metal.. As the aged crone, her teacher and accomplice, hath con- fessed, this Heleue was f6r long a plotter of dark deeds. By the trust of Duke Casimir in her maiden's innocence he wad betrayed to death. That one so fair and evil should be turned loose on the world to begin anew her enchantments, and, like a pestilence, to creep into good men's houses, is a thing not to be thought of. Is she to go forth breathing death upon the faces of the young children, to sit squat, like hideous toad, sucking the blood of the new-born infant, or distilling poison-drops to put into the draughts of sti-ong men which shall run like molten iron through their veins till they go mad? t ^ " Hear me, judges, I bid you again remember the word : ' Ye shall notjsuffer a witch to live.' And in the name of the great unbroken law of the Wolf mark, which I hold in my hand, I conclude by claiming the pains of death to pass upon the witch-woman who by her deed sent forth untimely the spirit of the most noble Duke Casimir, Lord of the city of Thorn and l)uke of the Wolf mark." The pleader sat down, calmly as he had risen, and the judges conferred together as though they were on the point of delivering their verdict. There had been no sound of applause as Master Gerard had spoken — a l^ushod attention only, and then the Tnnffled^lyinderpr" the great audience relaxing its attention and of men turning to whispered discussion among themselves. " Prisoner," said Duke Otho, " have you any.to speak 886 i ! Pl ,-; ■ I y. I THE RED AXB > for yott ? Or do yon desire to inake any aniwer to th« things which have been urged against you ?" Then, thrilling me to my soul, arose the voice of Hel- ene. Clear and sweet and girlish, without hurry or fear, yet with an innocence which might have touched the hardest heart, the maiden upon trial for her life said a simple- word or two in her defence. "I have no one to speak for me. I have nothing to . a»y, save that which I haye said so often, that before God, who knows, all things, I am innocent of thought, word, "or deed against any man, and most of aU against Duke4)asimir of the Wolfsberg." ^ And as she spoke the multitude was stirred, and voiceg broke put here and there : " JTo witch I" " She is innocent I" " The guUty are among the judges V " Saint Helena V " If she die we will avenge her I" And though the lictors struck' furiously every way. they could not settle the tumult, and' dver the mass of folk swayed more wildly to and fro. Nor do I know what .might have happened at that moment but for a cry that arose in front of the throng. "The Stranger I The Great Doctor ! The Wise Man! Hear him 1 He is going to speak for her T CHAPTER XLIV SENTENCE OP DEATH . ,' * -• ,» And there, standing by the place of pr6adiijg>'with his foQt on the first step, I saw Dessauer, iu his black *. doctorial gown, leaning reverently upon a long staff. He made a courteous salu^tion to Duk^ Otho upon ] the high seat. ' ' • . , ' "I am a stranger, ^ost noble Duke,*' he' b«^n, "ani M such have no standing in this your High dourt of Jus- tice. But there is a certain courtesy extended to doctors of the law—the right of speech in great trials— in many of the lands to which I have adventured in the search's of wisdom. I am encouraged by, my friend, the mbst ^ venerable prelate. Bishop Peter, to ask your forbearance whUe I say a word on behalf of the prisoner, in reply to that learned and most celebnited jurisconsult. Master Gerard von Sturm, who, in support of his cause, has • . spoken things so apt and eloquent. This is my desirfi ere judgment be passed. Pdr in a multitude of councils there is wisdom.'' * i*^ He was silent, and looked at th6 Duke tod, his tool Michael Texel. - ■ .■> They conferred^ together in whispers, and at first seem- ed on the poiirrt>f refusing. But the folk began to sway 80 dangerously, and the voice of their muttering sank ^^^ ^^^ j*^*^"*^ a growl, aa of a c aged wild beast which haa .'^ Broken aM Iters save the last, and wliich only waits an opportunity to put forth its strength in order to Bhiver th»talso, » * . ;f| HI I 1 i ii I .nw .-, I* . THE RED AXE "You are heartily welcome, most learned doctor," said Dake Otho, sullenly. " We would desire to hear you briefly concerning this matter." " I shall assuredly be brief, my noble lord — most brief," said Dessauer. " I am a stranger, and must there- fore speak by the great principles of equity which under- lie all law and all evidence, rather than acQording to the statutes of the province over which you are the distin- guished ruler. " The crime of witchcraft is indeed a heinous one, 11 80 be that it can be proven— not by the compelled con- - fession of crazed and tortured crones, but by the clear light of reason. Now there is no evidence that I have heard against this young girl which might not be urged with equal justice against every cup-bearer in the Castle of the Wolf sberg. " The Duke Casimir died indeed after having partaken of the wine. But so may a man at any time by the vis- itation of God, by the stroke which, from the void air, falleth suddenly upon the heart of man. No poison has been found on or about the girl. No evil has been al- leged against her, save that which has been Compelled (as all must have seen) by torture, and the fear of tort- ure, from the palsied and reluctant lips of a frantic hag." "Hear him I Great is the Stranger 1" cried the folk in the hall. And the shouting of the guards command- ing silence could scarce be heard for the roar of the populace. It was some time before the speech* of Des- sauer was again audible. He was beginning to speak again, but Duke Otho, without rising, called out rudely and angrily : "Speak to the reason of the judges and not to the puBrons of the ffloFT " I do indeed speak from the reason to the reason,'' said Dessauer, calmly; "for in this matter there is »o t88 mi SENT^NCB OF DEATH *T??i *^ennent, even pi witchcraft, but only of the ad- miniBiration of poison— which ought to be proven by the brdinwpr means'of prdducing some portion of the drug, both in the posseasion of the criminal and from the body of the ninrdered man. This has not been done. There has been no evidence, save, as I have shown, such as may be. easily compelled or suborned. If this maid be con- demned, there is nd one ot you with a Wife, a daughter, a sweetheart, who may not havte her burned or beheaded on just as little evidence-^if she have a single enemy in all the city seeking for the sake of malice or thwarted lust to'compasB her destruction. *' Moreover, it indeed matters little for the argument that this .damsel is fair to the eye. Save in so far as she is more the object of desire, and that when the greed of the lustful eye is balked " (here he paused and looked fixedly between his knees), "disappointment oft in .ijucha heart turns to deadly poison. And so that which was de- sired is the more bitterly hated, and revenge awakes to destroy. " But if beauty matters little, character matters great- ly. And what, by common consent, has been known in the city concerning this maid ? , "I ask not you, Duke Otho, who have lived apart in your castle or in far lands, a stranger to the city like my- self. But I ask the i)(Bople among whom, during all these past months of the plague, she has dwelt. Is she not known among them as Saint Helena ?" "Aye,'*<5ried the people, "Saint Helena, indeed— our savior when there was none to help ! God save Saint Helena 1" Dessauer waved his hand for silencel ' Did she not go among you from hou ^e to ho use. carrying, not the prsoh^up, buflEeTiealing draughtT Was not her hand soft on the brow of the dying, com- i^rtafjif about the neck of the bereaved ? Day and night. 'r^ •*li'lM> *| THE RED AXB whose fingers reverently^apped up the poor dead bod- ies of your beloved ? Who quieted your babes in her arms, fed them, nursed them, healed them, buried them— wore herself to a shadow for your sakes ?" "Saint Helena I" tliey cried; "our Saint Helena, the angel of the Red Tower 1" "Aye," said IJSessauer, in tones like thunder, "hear their voices I There are a thousand witnesses in this house untortur^, unsuborned. I tell ytfu, the guilt of innocent blood will lie on you, great Duke— on you conn- sellers of etil things, if you condemn this maid. Your throne, Duke Otho, shall totter and fall, and your life's sun shall se^I^a sea of blood I" He sat down calm and fearless as the Duke raged to Michael Texel, as I think, desiring that the fearless pleader could be seized on the instant, and punished for his insolence. But as the folk shouted in the hall, and the thunder of cheering came in througli the open win- dows from the great concourse without, Michael Texel calmed his master, urging upon him that the temper of the people was for the present too dangerous. And also, doubtless, that they could easily compass their ends by other means. I saw Texel despatch a messenger to the lictors who stood on either side of Helene. The body-guard of the Duke stood closer about her as the Duke Otho himself stood up to read the sentence. I saw that the form of it had been written out upon a paper. Doubtless, therefore, all had been prearranged, so that neither evidence nor eloquence could possibly have had any effect upon it. "We, the Court of the Wolfmark, find the prisoner, Helene, caljed Gottfried, guilty of witchcraft, and es- peoially of compassing and causing^ thr death^^nogf"^ predecessor, the most noble Duke 0a8imir,*and we do hereby adjudge that, on themorning of Sunday present- SENTENCE OP DEATH ly following, Helene Gottfried shall be executed upon the common acaffoldby the axe of the executioner Ot our clemency is this sentence delivered, instead of the torture and the burning alive at the stake which ,t wa- withm our power to command. This is done in consTd era ion of the^th of the criminal, and as the first ex- ercise of;«,^ncal prerogative o^ high mevoyT vnttTan angry roar the people closed in. ^and?r' ^"'^" *^«y ^fried; "rescue her out of their And there was a fierce rush, in which the outer barriers were snapped like straw. But the lictors had puTed down the trap-door on the instant, and the people surged fiercely over the spot Where a moment befofe Hdfne had stood. Before them were the levelled pikes and burning matches of the Duke's guard " Have at them !" was still the cry. "KiU the wolves I Tear them to pieces !" T*!?n1* *)'?>,°'°^,7*' °«^i««ipli^ed, and the steady ad- ^8s the streets without continued angry and throbbing with incipient rebellion. Duke Otho could scarce w^f S« r ^T" *^' ^^^'^-y^rd to his own apartments, liles from the nearest roofs were cast upon the heads of his escort The streets were impassable'^with angry men shaking their fists at every courier and soldier of the Duke. Women hung sobbing out of the windows, and til /.f ^^T ^'™'^*^'^ ^^'^ nncomforted tears riZr^ , ' °^°«1 r^««^^«ti°« ot their Saint of the plague, Helena, the maiden of the Bed Tower. »th wf oinr~~ ""V. CHAPTER XLV THE MESSAOX FBOM THE WHITE GATE I RUSHED out into the street, distract and insensate with grief and madness. I found the city seething with sullen unrest — not yet openly hostile to the powers that abode iiT the Castle of the Wolfsberg— too long cowed and down-trodden for that, but angry with the anger which one day would of a certainty break out and be pit- iless. The Black Horsemen of the Duke pricked a way with their lances here and there through the people, driving them into the narrow lanes, in jets and spurts of fleeing humanity, only once more to reunite as soon as the Hussars of Death had passed. Pikeme% cried "Make way 1" and the regular guard of the city paraded in strong companies. A soldier wantonly thrust me in the back with his spear, and I sprang towards him fiercely, glad to strike home at something. But as quickly a man of the crowd pulled me back. -^ *' Be wise I" he said ; "not for your own sake alone, but for- the sake of all these women and children. The Black Riders seek only an excuse to sweep the city from end to end with the besom of fire and blood." Then came my master out of the Hall of Judgment, his head hanging dejectedly down. As soon as he was observed the peo ple crowded about, sh akin g him by th e hand, thanking him for that which hehad done for their maid, their holy Saint Helena of the plague. THE MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE GATE insensate liing with wers that Qg cowed ihe anger ad be pit- way with B, driving of fleeing m as the d "Make uraded in with his to strike the crowd ike alone, •en. The city from ndgment, as he was im by the bTot their " We will not Buffer her to-be pnt to death, not even if they of the Wolfaberg raze onr city to the ground I" " Make way there!" cried the Black Horsemen — •* way, in the name of Dnke Otho I" " Who is Duke Otho ?" cried a vQice. " We do not know Duke Otho." " He iB liot crowned yet 1 Why should he take so much upon him ?" shouted another. " We are fr^ burgesses of Thorn, and no man's bond- slaves I" said a Ihird. Such were the shouts that hurtled through the streets and were bandied fiercely from man to man, betraying in tone more than in word the rn- tensity of the hatred which existed between the dncal towers of the Wolfsberg and the city which lay beneath them. In my boyish days I had laughed at the assemblies of the Swan— the White Wolves and Free Companies. But, perhaps, those who had thus played at revolt were wiser than 1. For of a surety these associations were yielding their fruits now in a harvest of hate against the gloomy pile that had do long dominated the town, choked its UbGrties^ and shut it off froiif the new, free, thriving world of the northern seaboard commonwealths to which of rfght it belonged. Sb soon as Dessauer and I were alone in my maister's tbbin at Bishop Peter's I tried to stammer some sort of thanks, but I could do no more than hold out a hand to him. The old man clasped it. "It Was wholly useless from the j^rst," he said ; j^'they had their 'jiurpose fixed and thdir course laid out, so tliat there ^as no turning of them. All was a mockery, so clear that even the ignorant men of the streets were nrtt diBceirdd. Accusation', evidence, pleadings, condemna- tion, sentence— all Were ready before themaid was taken ; - ay e , and, I tfaiak,Hb8for e Duke O aalmlrniw desdv i '4 4 I ■ il:! .iv. y "Also there is no court in the Wolf mark higher than '*■». THE RED AXE « * 'I- I'l the mockery we have seen to-day. The arms of the sol- diers of Plassenburg are oar only court of appeal." " It is two days before they can come," I answered. " I fear me all will be over before then." "Be not 80 sure," said Dessauer. "There is at pres- ent no Justicer in the Mark capable of carrying out the sentence, so long as your father lies on his bed of mortal weakness." " Duke Otho will not let that stand in his way— or I am the more deceived," said I, with a heavy heart. i At this moment there came an interruption. I heard a loud argument outside in the court-yard. " Tell me what you want with the servant of the most learned Doctor I" cried a voice. " That is his business, and mine — not yours, rusty soli of a stable-sweeper 1" was the answer. I went out immediately, and there, facing each other in a position of mutual defiance, I saw Peter of the Pigs and the decent legal domestic of Master Gerard v Sturm. " Get out of my wind, old Muck-to-the'Eyea 1" said the servitor, offensively; "you poison the good, wholesome air that is needed for men's breath." " Go back to your murderer of the saints," responded Peter of the Pigs, valiantly. " Your master and you will swing in effigy to-night in every street in Thorn. Sonie day before long you will both swing in the body — if a hair of this angel's head be harmed." " I must see this learned Doctor's servant I" persisted the man of law, avoiding the personal question. "Here he is," said I; "and now what would you with himP' " I am sent to invite you to come to the Weiss Thor. immediately, on business which deeply concems you." " That is iiot enough for me," said I. " Who sends ^fmBr^^ -^^- - "-- .'■"-; 8M of the 8ol- eal." answered. is at pres- ag out the I of mortal -1. way — or I eart. I heard a f the most rnsty eon . )ach other f the Piga erard v r said the wholesome responded d yon will ■n. SovcLe — if a hair ' persisted . you with '"eiss Thor 18 yon." rho sends \ Id O < o o O o u < , ■ I'M , 1 ! - 1 > 'PR ||jg> T^t » ii (A. t« 4 '■ ' THE MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE GATE Let come of moo bearing of faced idiot," said he, pointing contumelionsly to Peter of the Pigs, "and I will tell you,' I am not bid4en to pro- claim my bnsiness in the market sties and city cattle- pens I" " You do well. Parchment Knave," cried Peter ; " for it is such black bnsiiiess that if you proclaimed a syllable of it there you would be torn to pieces of honest folk. Thank God there are still some such in the world I" "Aye, many," quoth the servitor, "and we all know they are to be found in the dwellings of priestlings 1" I walked with the man to the gate, for I did not care to take him to where Dessauer was sitting. I feared that it might be some ill news from the Lubber Fiefid, who, though I had seen him clear of tfie gate, might very well have returned and told my message to Master Gerard. " Well," said I, brusquely, for I had no love for the Sir Rusty Respectable, "out with it— who sends you ?" *' It is not. my master," answered the man, " but one other." " What other ?" said L ' > " The one," h^ said, cunningly, "with whom on a for- mer occasion yon rode out at the White Gate." Then I saw that he knew me. " The Princess— " I began. * " Hush," he said, touching my arm ; " that is not a word to be whispered in the streets of Thorn — ^the Lady Ysolinde is at her father's house, and«would see you— on a matter of life or death — so she bade me tell you." " I will go with you," I said, instantly. " Nay," he said, dirking secretly, " not now, but at uin^ of the clock, when the city ways shall be dark, you must come — ^you know the road. And then you two dan conl e yr together s a fely, ap d eke ,^an4t please you, jocosely^ when Master Gerard will be safe in his study; with tiie lamp lie." SMf i i 1 f! i m ill m .....^.J IH'.-., f ; ;l II Q THE RED AXB I vent back to Dessauer, who during my absepoe, had kepf his head in his hand, as it deeply absorbed in thought. , "The Princess is in Thorn V said I, as a startling piece of news. " Ah, the Princess 1" he muttered, abstractedly : " truly she is the Princesq, but yet that will not advantage her a whit.'^ I saw that he was thinking of our little Helene. "Nay," I said; taking him by the arm to secure his attention, as indeed about this time I had often to do. "I mean the Lady Ysolinde, the wife of our cood Prince." * ;an Thorn?" said Dessauer. "Ah, I am lit^e sur-- prised. Twice when I was speaking to-day I saw a face I knew well look through a lattice in the wall at me. But being intent upon^my words I did not think of it, nor indeed recognize it till it had disappeared. Now the picture comes back to me curiously clear. It was the face of the Princess Ysolinde." " I am to see her at nine o'dlock to-night in the liouse of the Weiss Thor." " Do not go, I pray you !" he said ; " it is certainly a trap." ' "Go I viust, and will," I replied; "for it may be to the good of our maiden. I will risk all for that !" " I dare say," said he ; "so should I, if I saw any ad- tantage, such as indeed I hoped for to-day. But if 1 be not mistaken, our Princess is deep in this plot." " And why ?" said I. " Helene never harmed Her." "Helene is your betrothed wife, is she not ?" he said. He asked as if he did not know. " purely 1" said I. — *^Wclirh replied; ieiitentionBry;and so wen^oat. 296 # CHAPTER XLVI V A WOMAN SCOBKED ■A^rnine I was at the door of1;he dark, Bilent house by the Weiss Thor. I sounded theR>^^nocker Joudly, and with the end of the reverberations I heard a foot come through the long passages. The panel behind slid noise- lessly in its grooves, and I was conscious that a pair of eyes looked out at me. " You are the servant of the strange" Doctor ?" said the voice of the servitor. Sir Respectable^ "That I am, as by this time you m^y have seen !" answered I, for I was in no mood of mere politeness. I was venturing my life in the house of mine en|my, and, at least, it would be no harm if I put a bold See on the matter. He opened the door, and-^ain the same curio* per- fume was wafted down the passages— sobiethiug that I had never felt either in the Wolfsberg nor yet even in the women's chambers of the Palace of Plassenbi^. At the door of the little room in which she had first received me so long ago, the Lady Ysolinde was waiting for me. She did not shut the door till Sir Respectable had be-' taken him down again to his own place. Then quite frankly and undisguisedly she topk my hand, like one who had come to the end of make-believe. «- l Li "I knew you to-day in your disguise," she said ; •»it !■ an excellent one, and might deceive all teve a woman wfeoloTea. Ah, ybn start. It talgU di fight." " Will they carry out the terrible sentence ?" said I, eagerly. For I judged that she must be in her father's counsels. • ^ "Be patient," she said ; "we will come to that pres ently." J^aolinde sat Bilent a while, imd when J^ woold havft spoken further she moved her hand a little impatiently aside, in sign that I waa not to interrnpt. Yet even this - ■ 1 1 ■ 1 •^ Jii^. • •^i^ ? ; A woman' SCORNED WM not done ip her old imperious manner, but rather' sadly and with 4 certain wistfnl gentleness which went to my heart. • , When she sppke again it was in' the same even roice" with which she liad formerly told my fortune in that I very room. ' "That vhich I have- to say to you is a thing strange-' as it may seem unwomanly. But then, I did not ask «od- to make me fi woman, and- certainly he did not . make me as other. women. I have never had a true mate, never won the love whict God owes to every m^n and woman Ho brings into the worldy " Then I met you, not by any seekiiig of mine. Next, equally against my will, I loved you. Nay, do not start to-night. It is as well to put the matter plainly " "You did not love me,"safd I; -you were but kind to me, the unworthy son of the Executioner of Thorn Out of your good heart you did it." I acknowledge that I spoke like a paltering knave, but m truth knew not what to say. ^ " I loved you^yes, and I love^on !" she said, serene- ly, as though my wor^s had be^^^he twittering of a bird on the roof. "And I am notlTshamed. There was in- deed no reason for my folly-no beani^, no desirableness m you But-I loved you. Pass I Leyt .be. We will begin from there. You loved, or thou^you loved, , maid -your Little Playmate. Pshaw, yon loved hel, not! Or not as I countjyove. I was proud, accustomed to command, and, besides, a Prince's wife. The last' doubtless, should have held me apart. Yet-m> Princess- dom was but as straw bands cast into the fire to bind the flaine. As for you, Hu^o Gottfried, you were in love with your success, your future, and, most of all, with V^ t, Insolently dullard self.^ She smiled bitterly, and, because the thing she spoke was partly true, I had still nothing to answer her 899 ''WW Hugo Gottfried^'* Eilie said'^ yhen w« jTode^ to Plas86ii^rg in iriW| yoii loved this girl who^ saife:, "1 i©*tfd hef then, e^ of ,7;,n|n)|;:4.it was not done for the sake of *|y advance- ent i^,!Pl*a88enburg." ' ' % I felt again the great disadvantage I w&f under in tqaking to tlie Lady ^soliude. I never bad i word to but she! could put three to it. ..My best'-^peechea sounded empty, selfish, vain beside hers. And so was it ever. By dbwis ''alone could I vanquish her, and per- haps by a Certain! dogged masculipe persistence. * ^ "Princess," I said to her, "you ,l^aye asked me to meiet you here. It arf npt of the past,, nor yet of 'likings, imaginings, recriminations that I must speak. My love, " my sister, my playmate, bound to me by a thousand an- cient tendernesses, lies in prison in thia city of* Thorn, under sentence of a cruel .death. Will you help me to release her ? ,1 think that with your father, and there- fore with you, is the poWer to open her prison doors !" "And what is there then for , me ?" cried the. Lady Ysolinde, instantly, bending her h©a4 for erald eyes so great and clear that their shini cover all her face as a wave cov^s a rook ' " " What ^J^me ?" sho repeated, in followed. ; « K "For jq^jpfsaid I, "rthe gladness ini^cent life." / " TnahJ" sh e c ried,- with a g^s contenipt. " You mistake ; J am no ^od to give my blldad ahd butter to the next 80O ' A WOMAN SCORNED tell yow I am ih^ woinim who came first out of the womb of Mother,earth. I will yield only that which is snatched from me. What is mine is more mine than another's, because I t^uld suflEer, dare, sin, defy a world of men and women in 6rd*r to keep it, to possess it, to have it all alone to myself r "But,^' I answered, "who am I, that so great a lady should love me? What am I to you,, Princess, more than another ?» • '*That I know not 1" she answered, swiftly. "QoJy God knows that. Perhaps my curse, my punishment. My husband is a far better, truer, nobler man than you, Hugo. I know it; but what of that, fflkn I love him not ? Love goes not by the rungs in a ladder, stands not with the riiost noble on the highest'step, is not bestowed, like the rewards in achild^s school, to the most deterving. ,1 love you, Hugo Gottfried, it is true. But I wish a thousand times that I did not. Nevertheless— I do! Therefore make yo^^t r^kpning with that, and put aside puling shams and whimpering subterfuges." This set me all on edge, and I asked & question. "What, then, do you propose?' Where shall this comedy end f* "End I" she said— <' end I Aye, of course, men must ever look to an end. ^ Wommaif content with a contin- uance. That^^:^:nl4>algi*H»-«nd keep on loving me, thatisaflPwant r " "But,'ir began, "Hove--? %\' ^\ "Ah, 11 not say itt' %he cried, pitifu^, clasping her , i,%r not say that you love me not I' She paused a mom ent, and gWw'^ ore pena TtQ a g- sbe^ hands with a certain swift appeal in Ker foice— ^[dottol^^ it I For God's sake.^r the sake of innocent blood. looted rtflly apd golemnly at me. "I will *eU 3r(M!|i^e end that I see; o wd anuiwer xA^i&^ have done. I have &e< -( ;r 1 ; t ;, fif % f- se^atiemt ' -.^ ! ' I THE RED AXE thrice have I seen it. Karl of PlassStiburg, my husband, shall die. I have seen the Black Cloak thrice envelop him. It is the sign'. No man hath ever escaped that omen — aye, and if I choose, it shall wrap him abont speedily. More, I have seen you sit on the throne of Plassenburg and of the Mark, with a Princess by your side. It is wo/ only my fancy. Even as in tne old time I read your present fortune, so, for good or ill, this thing also is coming to you.'' She never tpok her eyes from my face. "Now listen well and be slow to speak. The Prince- dom and the power shall both fall to me when my hus- band dies. There are none other hands capable. So also is it arranged in his will. Here " — she broke ofiE sudden- ly, as with a gesture of infinite surrender she thrust out her whiteifhan^s towards me — " here is my kingdom and me. Takelis both, for we are yours— yours — yol^ !" I took her hands gently in mine and kissed th^. "Lady, Lady Ysolinde," I said, "you honor me, you overwhelm me, J. know not what to say. But think ! The Pri^lce is well, full of health and the hope of years. „Thi8».thought of yours is but a vision; a delusion — how can we speak of the thing that is not V* " I wait your answer," she said, leaving her hands still in mine, but now, as it were, on sufferance. Then, in- deed, I was torn between the love that I had in my heart for my dear and the need of pleasing the Lady Ysolinde— between the truth and my desire to save HeleneV Al- most it was in my heart to declare that I loved the Lady Ysolinde, and to promise that I should do all she Asked. But though, when need hath been, I have lied back and forth in my time, and thought no shame, something ' stuck^ in my thro at now ; and I f eH that if I denied my T^ve; who TJay pnson-bdund tSt night, I should never come within the mercy of God, but be forever alien and outcast from any commonwealth of honorable men. A WOMAN SCORNED , my husband, hrice envelop escaped that ip him about the throne of icess by your 1 tne old time ill, this thing The Prince- iv^hen my hus- able. So also ce off sudden- ihe thrust out kingdom and ed them, onor me, you But think ! lope of years, elusion — how er hands still B. Then, in- i in my heart ly Ysolinde— Helene. Al- y^ed the Lady ill sheAskeid. ied back and B, something I denied my should never irer alien and lie men. tt: I cannot. Lady Ysolinde,*' I answered, iit last. " The love of the maid hath so grown into my heart that I can', not root It out at a word. It is here, and it fills all my Again she interrupted me. J^^^°CJ^^ said speaking quickly and eagerly, <'they ell me this your Helene is an angel of mercy to the sick^ If she 18 spared she will be content to give her life to mj!'^ /'.I .'''I'''* *°^°^^ *^« P°°^' This cannot be h« Z T'^ ^" ^'Vf '^ '' *" °^«- Her love is not as the love of a w(fman like Ysolinde. It is not for any one man to possess in monopoly. Though you mal deceive' yourself and think that it will be,fif ed'and cTntred o^ you But she will never love you as I love you. , See, I would kneel to you, pray to you on my knees, make my- self a supphan t-I, Ysolinde that am a princess I With you, Hugo I have no pride, no shame. I would take LwiT if ^fT^' *f * '*'°^^ "^^^ surpriseth ifcd / taketh the heart of a maid." / She was now all trembling and distract, her lips red. / her eyes bright, her hands clasped and trembling as they/ were strained palm to palm. 7 "Lady Ysolinde, I would that this were not so " I be^ gan. ' A new quick spasm passed over her face. I think it ' came across her that my heart was wavering. "God ' °r *^f J' H°^° Gottfried, am not worth all this I" m' Bhe said, with a kind of joy in her voic6 and m h6r eye«, " t^^atters not. Ysolinde of Plassen- burg 18 as a ch]i^t must have its toy or die. Worth- mess has no mor€>o,do with love than creeds and dog- ms. Love me— Hugo— love me even a little. Put me noUway. J wm^ be so:true, so williflg. ^^riftrmr yr ^u, Hugo, I will wata the faces of others, deSd^flur en^! ■>4 ifif-- t *-" " mies, unite yonr weU-wislier8j mark the failing favor of Kj^^our friends. Wliat heart bo strong, what eye so keen %^ mine-for the greater the love the sharper the eyf to mark, prevent, countermine. And this maid, so cold '"^and icy, flo full of good works and the abounding fame of saintliness, let her live f^r the healing of the people, for the love of God ahd maH' both, and it liketh her. She shall be abbess of our greatest convent. She qhall indJd be the Saint Helena of the North. Even now I wilttsave her from death ai^ give her refuge. I promise it. I have the power in my hands. Only do you^^^go Gottfried, give me your love, your life, yourself ! sife was standing before me now, and had her arms about tiif, neck. I felt them quiver upon my shoulders. Her eyes'looked directly up into mine, and whether they ■ were the eyes of aii s^gel or of a tempting fiend I cp^d not tell. Very loj»lp*t any rate, they, were, and mi#it have tempted even Saint Anthonylid sin. ** '^'"'Wt'/ 1^^' ** '^'^' "^* i4 small wonder that 1 am BtroB^moYM; you have offered me great t^gs to- night. I feel my heart very humble and uaWorthy. I deserve ns^pir love. I am but a W, a soldier, dull and slow.^ere it not fne woman it U^rg ^ mf ay tr|i^ love, ear lady, and 5ge subject — till life shall le. My. hand ; first she had I finished she a if she would ^H - lengt h. 1 door. "One A WOMAN SCORNED day you shall know how precious is the love yotl have so :\ lightly cast aside. In a dark, dread hour, you, Hugo > Gottfried, shall sue as a suppliant. And I shall deny you. There shall con^ a day when you shall abase yourself— even as you^ave setQ Ysolinde the Princefis , abase herself to Hugo, the son of- thd Red Axe of the 'Wolf mark. Go, I tell you ! Go ■— erp I slay you with Ay knife Vi And she flashed a keen double-edged blade from some recess of her silken serpentine dress. " M.y lady, hear me," I pleaded. " Out of the depths jf my heart I pfotest to you^^" B$h r she cried, with a sudden uprising of tigerish fiteeness In her eyes, quick and chill as the glitter of fajPlteel. " Go, I tell you,^e I be tempted to strike I four l^eMfl Why, man, there is nothing in your heart but empA|rords out of monks' copy-books and proverbs dry and rotten as last year's leaves. Ye have seen me abased. By the lords of hell, I will abase you, Execu- tioner's son 1 Aye, and you yourself, Hugo Gottfried, shall work out in flowing blood and bitter tears the doom of the pale trembling girl for whom you have rejected and despisenl Ysolinde, Princess of Plassenburg l" CW.H-. mtH f*^f z. w li % f t'f CHAPTER XLVII " THE -RED AXE DIES STANDING UP How I sti?mljled down the stairs and found myself outside the house in the Weiss Thor I do not know. Whether the servitor. Sir Respectable, shewed me out or not has quite passed from me. I only remember tl)at I came upon myself waiting outside the gate of Bishop Peter's palace ringing at a bell which sounded ghostly enough, tinkling like a cracked kettle behind the door. The lattice clicked and a face peeped out. " Get hence, night - raker !" cried a voice. " Where- fore do you come here so untimeously, profaning the holy quiet of our minster-close ?" " There was no very holy calm in the kitchen t*other night, Peter Swinehead !" said I, my wits coming me- chanically back to me at the familiar sound. " Ha, Sir Blackamoor, 'tis yon ; surely your chafts have grown strangely white, or else are my eyes serving me foully in the torchlight." Instinctively I covered as much of my face as I could with my cloak's cape, for indeed I had washed it ere I went forth to see the Lady Ysolinde. " 'Tis that you have slipped too much of the Rhenish down thy gullet, old comrade," said I, slapping Peter on the back and getting before him so that he might re- mark nothing more. At thfttj hfting well pleased with my callin g him com rade, he lighted me cordially to my chamber, and there left me to the sleepless meditation of the night. m THE RED AXE DIETS STANDING UP )und myself > not know, v^ed me out member tljat te of Bishop ided ghostly lid the door. . "Where- ling the holy ;chen t*other coming me- yonr chafts eyes serving ce as I conld shed it ere I the Rhenish )ing Peter on he might re- ng him oom- er, and there ight. The next day was one of great quietness in the city of Thorn, An uneasy, sultry pause of silence brooded over the lower town. Men's heads showed a moment at door and window, looked furtively up and down the street, and then vanished again within. Plots were being hatched and plans laid in Thorn ; yet, while there was the lowerfng silence in the city, up aloft the Wolfsberg hummed gayly like a hive. Once I went up that way to see if I conld win any news of my father. But this day the door into the Red Tower stood closed, nor would any within open for all my knocking. So perforce I had to return unsatisfied. Several times I went to the Weiss Thor to spy the horizon round for the tjroops Of Plassen- burg. But only the gray plain of the Mark stretched itself out so far as the eye could penetrate — hardly a reeking chimney to be seen, or any token of the pleasant rustic life of man, such as in my youth I remembered to have looked down upon from the Red Tower. Beneath me the city of Thorn lay grimlyquiescent, like a beast of prey which has eaten all its neighbors, and must now die of starvation because there ate no more jbo devour. The day passed on feet that crept like those of a tor- toise, as the sullen minutes dragged by, leaden-clogged and tardy. But the evening came at last. And with it, knocking at the door of the Bishop's quadrangle and in- terrupting my long talk with.pessauer, lo I a messenger, hot-foot from the castlofa yp^)^ "To the learned DcMorjiad Jiis servant, Gottfried Gottfried, being in deatW utmost extremities, sends greeting, and desires greatly to have speech with them." ThuB ran my father's message in that testing hour where he had seen so many ! Yet I was but little sur- prised. There was no wonder in the fact save the won- der th at it a ho iild al l^ ^BQem go jgyyi^^ r'-J quickly. " I will go with you," he said ; " it will be safer. 807 For , » VVfi I hL «*1flJ,ll I'* J ■ ' THE REB AXE -, -, - > ■,■ ^ at leftat I can keep the door while you speak with youi? father/' „ . So, without further word, we followed the messenger up, the long, narrow, wooden-gabled street, and heard the * folk muttering gloomily in the darkness witt^, or talk- ing softly in the dull russet glow of their hearth-dres. For. there were but few lighted candles in Thorn that night. And I wondered how near or how far from us- the men of Plassenburg. might be encamping, aui^ thrilled t^ think that at any' moment a spy might ride in to warn Duke Otho of the spy within his city, oi\ the near ap- proach ofhfs foe. '' ^ Bat so far all was quiet at the Red Tower. The wioket- gate'fei the angle of the wall was open, and we passed in without difficulty. As I mounted &e stairs I heard the key tufn behind us. Obviously, therefore, we were ex- pected. The gate of the R,ed Tower had been left open fqr our entrance; and so soOn as J;^he birds were in the snare, it was shut, and the i^Hy goSllings. trapped. ^NeVertheless we climbed up and tip the dark Stairs , till WA came to the door of my father's garret. I pushed ft h^en without knocking, and entered. -^ **The most learned the Doctoi' Schmidt," I announced, lest there should be some stranger in the room. And^ indeed my precaution was necessary enough. For, frorii my father's bed- head, disengaging himself |iBluctantly, like a disttirbed vulture flapping up iromth 6 side of a dying steer, Friar Laurence rose oil t of the darkne88,'and, folding his robe about him, stalked pb the door urithont a^woi'd or nod to eijbGr of us. I stood holding the edge of it till I had watched him well down theij^irs. Then Dossauer relieved nfie at the staiv-head as lVen.fc .to ap- proach my father. J^f^ I saw a change in him, very startUng/ ^M^ \o s^e, "In the uttermost extremity" he was, ind^fpB he had^ written. A ghastly pallor overspread hiB i^d.jliia eyes^ i 808 t with youf 9 messenger id heard tbe \wi, or talk- h earth-fires. Thorn that from us- the ^thrilled t^ ) in to wdrn he near ap- ' \, ^ The wioket- ffe passed in 1 1 heard the we were ex- en left open were in the )ped. dark stairs t. I pushed [ announced, room. And . For, f roifi* |eluotantlj, h6 side of a arkness/and, door ijrithont ling the edge jtairs. Then yfenji .to ap- THE RED AXE DIES STANDING UP \- were wild, his hteathing came hoth quick and hard. The fire cast flickering lights pver. his face and on the out- lines of his lank figure Tjndfer the scarlet mantle which haU been cast over him. One corner of it was cast aside, J as if for air of coolness, and I could see a thing which gave me a cold chill in the marrow of my spines'. My father still wore tlie dress which he only donned !^when some poor soul yra^a about to die and' pay the for- feit. . At first Gottfried took no notice of me whatever, but lay looking at the ceiling, hi^ lips mattering something stfeadily, though what the words were I could not hear. " Father," I said at last, bending over him gehtly, " 1 hate tjome to see you." r H He i?BTnedi^to me, as if suddenly and regretfully sum- moned back R*om very far away. It was «t movement I"' ^had seen in many dying Shen. He looked at me, & range, luminous comprehension growing up gradually ^is eyes. . , ugo," he said, " you have come home at larft ! The" Little Playmate has come home, too. We three will mi^ke a merry party in the old Red Tower* We liave not been all Ijogether for so long. Lord Chriji*rlHit I have been a man much ijilone ! Hugo, whjMlid you leave me so long? Ah, well, I do not blame you, my son. You have been pushing your fortunes, doubtless, and you^, have — so they.teU me — become a great man in Plasseuburg. And tile little mai^is a lady of honor, and very fair to see. ,, But now you two have come to the old garret, like birds homj(ng to the nest." j • ' "Yes, father," I said to him, *'we hate *oth come home to you, the Little Playmate and I. An^d qpw yon will giyeoa your blessing 1" "* ,» "The Little Playmate -f- say rathitr the Little Prin- ces^" he cried, cheerfully, as, withstbe tat 6t one nho briiqfB ||ood tidings> b« sat up in jledk Then he pointed . 800 t,^ I w: il i £i THE RED AXE to A chair on which a pillow had carelessly been flung. "Little Maid," he said^. looking at the cnshion as if it had been Helene, *' I am glad you have come back to be wedded to my boy. Thai was l,ike, you. I ever wished it, indeed. But I never expected to see my children thus happy. Yet I always knew ypu and Hugo were made for each other. ' You are at your sewing, little maid. Well, 'tis natural. I mind me when my own love sat making dainties of just such delicate and wreathed whiteness." He paused, and then, his countenance suddenly chang- ing, he looked ^rfuUy and fixedly at the chair. " But, little maid, my own Helene," he cried, in a loud, gasping, alarmed tone, " what is this, best beloved ? Why, you are se|wing at a shroud ? Surely such f i^neral- trappings become not bridals. A shroud — and there is blood upon it 1 Put it down— put ii down, I pray you 1" The red flames on the fire crackled suddenly up about the back log and cast dancing shadows on his face. "Lie down and rest, dear father," I said softly to him, " the Little Playmate is not here — I, Hugo, your son, am alone beside you." " Hugo," he said, instantly appeased, and passing a lean arm about me, " my good son, my brave boy ! You will be kind to the little Princess. She' loves you. There is no man so beloved as you in all the city of Thorn. Many would have loved her besides Otho. Ah, but I threw him out of the window there. I threw a Grand Dnke^ut of tL' window ! Ha I ha I it was the "bravest jest 1" ^ He lauglied a little at intervals, as at a tale that will bear infinite repetition. " I, Gottfried Gottfried, threw a proximate reigning Prince out of the window ! How Casimir laughed I The thing pleased him well. And, the little maid, do you remember her, Eug9"? How she would teaoh tne— me, the Red Axe of Thorn— how to 810 een flnng. )n as if it back to be rer wished J children Lugo were ing, little r own love L wreathed nly chang- ir. , in a lond, beloved ? ih fi^neral- d there is •ray you 1" jr np about face. softly to [ugo, your passing a )oy ! You loves you. he city of ;^#1| . ;|* '^'■V.. ' .0»^^^. v-^r-/; -;^iS«*i{^^ ;"*^- V •.^SSsS — ■ ■\*v.^ i^ 3 O II ti ii? ►tho. Ah, I threw a it was the e that will pied, threw ow ! How well. And. How she ■n— how to . — i — ,^-. — . ' • f r 1 , ■ ^ , ■■ -s ■ ■ ■ — r-" ' < .':-\-'- t. * • , '■is ' ' Jj \l '■^ •M* THE RED ilXE PIES STANDING UP :'U dance tiiat first night, and how totteringly she carried the Red Axe ? The 11^ one took., heart that night. She will have a happy^uture, I know ; bo blessed, far away from this dark and damn6d place of the Wolfsberg. I am^lad she is not here to see m^die. That ts a sight for men, not for fair young loving women." ^ "Hush, my-fathier," | said, touching his dank brow; "you are Aot«.going to 'die. You will yet live to be strong and Well, a maA ajthong men." . For one ti^lW these tilings to dying men. And they smile and pft^ us by, amused at (Sur childish ignorance, as yon and I Ishall one day smile upon those others. And even thus did my fathom*. / \ ^ : "Nay, Htigo, I am sped," he answered. " This night ends all. Tlie door I have oped for so, many is opening from^within »for me. God's mercy ,be on a sinful man I Ere the ligHt of to-moirow's dawn the Duke's Jueticer must face the tribunal that has no assessor and no%t>urt of appeal." : ^ He threw ba?k the cloak which served him as a man- tle, and crying, "Give me your hand, Hugo I" Gott- fried Gottfried "staggered^ to his feet: " I will die standing up," he said, bending his brows and gazing about him uncertainly. He^pointed to thd walls of the garret. The fire was'flickeriHg low, but still making the place'light enough to see easily. There beside the bed was the Red Axe, with its a.hining edge undimmed, leanisg against the blpck. There across it was the crimson jnask which was never more to bind his eyes as he did the office of final dread. "Do yon see them, son Hugo ?" he cried, leaning heavily on my sbouldep atid pointing with his finger ; "they are gibbering at tne, mowing, processi^niiig by, and pointing mockingly at me.^ Do yon bear them laugbthg ? ^hat horrid one there with his head under his arite P laughing as if there^ were txo God ! vBnt I fii-ii^ ■ - ■ .' 1* ^1 * - *»,*-*.^^' L iS - 'fi \: i ri il ^4 THE RED AXE am not afraid. Mercy of Jesu ! Hath God ^imself no Jnsticer, that He- should pnnish me because t have ful- filled my charge ? I Ijave all my life been merciful, ever giving the blow of mercy first, and the drop of stupe- faction before the Extreme Question. Hence, fierJq^ ! Shapes inhtiman, torment me not 1 For in my day I ' was merciful to you and never struck twice* I will die standing np. The devil shall not fright^ sd©— no, nor ^11 his angels ! ' "God Himself shall not fright me 1 I appeal to His judgment throne 1 Get hence, false accusing spirits ! I stand at Cffisar's judgment- seat. Give me the axe, boy— I will cut down the evil, I will spare the good. Here is the Red-Axe, my son. Take it ! Strike with it strong and well. Strike, strike, and spare not I" Totteringly he handed me the, axe, and, clasping hia hands, he stood looking up. • ^ "Godi God r he cried in « great Tdice. "I see my • Judge face to faofijl am not afraid 1 BuW will Jiie standing up !" And in this manner, even as I tell it, died Gottfried *Gft«tffied, a stroSig man, standing up and not affaid. ^nd thete arms received him, as, beiiig deM, he fell headlong. ' . ." .*, , f--S ■\i ^--4-4- ->i:- mself no lave iul- iful, ever )f stupe- I, fieii$j ! ly day I [ will die —no, nor al to His ; spirits ! the axe, he good. :e with it !" »ping his ■ I see my : will J4ie Gottfried }t afraid, d, he feU s-j CHAPTER XLVm. HUOO GOTTfBIED, H^BD AXE OP THE WOtPMABK Then cried Dessaner from the door to nje as I stood thus holding my father in my arms : - \ "Haste you, lad; there are men comings across tlje- yard with torches. They are gathering in groups about the door. Now they are on the stairs^ — many soldiers— and with weapons in their hands !" .And scarcely had he^po|s^n when the sound of the' tramping of men in taste came to us up the turret, and the door of the garret was thrust violently open. A tar- moil of men-at-arms burst in on ud. t stood still, hold- ing Gottfried Gottfried, his head on my shoulde^r, though I knew that' he was dead. .But as one cam&forward with. a paper in his hand I stooped and laid ipy father gently on his bed. . An- oflScer of the Black Hussars, fantastically dressed, m their church-yard arrgjir, :with skull and cross-bones ^slasheid in siker across his breast, accosted mi^. y ^'''VlfcHugo Gottfried, son of .Gottfried Gottfried, in the nanje of the Duke Otho and the State of the Wolfmark, I arrest you ! Also you, Leopold von Dessaner, Chan- cellor of the Prindedom of BJaasenburfe. Yo.u are ac- oased as t^iee abd enemies of the commohweal. Yield jfOurselvea therefore to me, without condition." "I am indee4 Bago Gottfried," said I, ''but you«»ay Bee for yonrselves the mission on which I have come liither. And for this hoar, at Irast, yon' mi|^t have qiared yoar bratal entry. Behold!" f" r n^* z. "^ » I-* s u m THE RED AXE I caught a torch from the nearest soldier, and let its light shine on,the dead face of the fcrtirteenth Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark. The men started bacl^. The terrible countenance of the d^ad affected them even more thaiUhe grim figure of the Red Axe as they had seen him stalking from the Hall of Justice to the block. " Ah," said the officer, not wholly irreverently, " Gott- fried Gottfried has gone now to the dark place to which he hath sent so many. But, after all, he is dead— and I heard a monkish clerk prate the other day, ' Let the dead bury -their dead.' I have my orders, and the Dnke^Otho waits. Therefore I bid you follow me, Hugo Gottfried and Leopold von Dessauer." So, leaving the body of my father lying on the bed in his garret, we werfr constVned to follo^ our captors down the stairs. Across the court-yard we were hurried, and through the Hall of Justice into the private apart- ments of the Duke. Otho von Reuss, now Duke of the Wolfmark, ■vffla Btapding erect by the great chair in which, as my f&ther had so often described him to me, Casimir had sat so mapy dAys with his head sunk on his breast. The new Duke Xood up proudly, gazing at us witl^ frowning brows and fcwering, narrowed eyes. This was mighty fine, but I could not help thinking of the p«Of appearance he had made on the hill above the Hirschgasse as he slunk off when he saw an evil clause going desperately against, him. ^ "So," he said, "gentlemen both, I have caught you spying in my land- You*know what those have Jo expect who are caught in hwtile territory in disguise." I thought it was as well to take ^e high hand at once, especially since I saw that humility would avail us noth- ing at any rate. • . v i.-i " Before now 1 have seen Otho von Reusi in hostile 814 \ V ^ ad let its hereditary 3nance of ■im figure from the J, " Gott- to which id— and I b the dead ►ake Otho Goftlfied ;he bed in ir captors e hurried, ate apart- mark, VTAS my father atsoma^iy , new Duke brows and fine, but I ice he had e slunk off )ly against^ iaught yon e to expect 3." ,nd at once, ul us noth- I in hostile A V Tflt*"'""" -w/ HTTGO GOTTFRIED, THE RED AXE territory, and a right cowed traitor he looked !" said boldly. The Dirke smiled upon me, like a man that has a com plete retort on his tongue, but who is content for th(i present to reserve it. / V "My friend," he said, snavely, "I will reply to you' presently., I hav« a word to speak to your betters." He turned him about to Dessauer. " And what, Lord High Chancellor of Plassenbujg, think you of this masquerading ? Dignified, is it not ? And your wondrous speech in court that was to have done such great things. Will you be pleased to abide with us here in the Wolfsberg ? Or must you forsake us to pleasure the Emneror, whOj,*poor man, cannot sleep o' nights in his bed ac Ratisbon till the eloquent Doctor is come to cheer him with the full-flowing riil^ttf speech ?" "Duke Otho," said Dessauer, "my lif^^ indeed in Tour hands. I hold it forfeit. A few^years less or mor^ are but little to I^opold von Dessauer now. But therj is one who will most bloodily avenge us if a hair of ouf heads falls to the ground." ] " Who r said OtV, sneyingly. " Karl Miller's Sol^ I suppose. Ah, fool that you are, I hold your poor Ka^ in the palm of my hand 1" "It is like enough," said Dessauer, with a quick loo the look of a keen fencer when he sees an a^antagj " I l^ave often enough seen the palm of yHir hai^id ^roach Karl Miller's Son's treasury when I kept ttie moneys." i I saw the face of Otho twitch Jp^iigrily. But h© l/ad evidently made up his mind to ooriim^nd his temi^er, sure of having, that up his sleeve ^i#atpald sufficient-, ly answer all taunts. T^ "You mistake m6," he said, with >%d expected from the -briate. " I^ I»ove angratefnlv I am bnt\Af wly come m ^l^i^mbtlety than' tK>t meant to ly own, here T r si' 1 u 1;t=- THE RED AXE in tlm^Wolfmark. I have^learned from your host, Bishop Pete? how precious a thing forgiveness is. And now I am. resolved to practise it. There is a time to love and a time to hate ; a time to war and a time to be at peace. This is the last news I had from the holy clerk whose rev- enues I pay. So lay it to heart, as I have done." "Glad am I," said Dessauer, courteously, as if he had been turning a phrase on the terrace at Plassenburg— "glad am I that in your hour you are to be mindful of for they are like old wine, which grows bet- lower with the years." eed well," said Otho von Reuss, ironically. ._iowu the Chancellor Dessauer many years, and W^yfa more honorable and more wise with each decade. "But now 'tis with this young man that I would speak," he said, changing his tone. " He at leaat^ mine own servant, and so I have other words for him. Hugo Gottfried, you remember that you insttlted me, striking me on the face with a glove, because I offered certain civilities to a maid of honor to the Princess of Plassenburg. You wdunded me in the arm. Your father, of whose death I have heard but now, cast me forth like a cur-dog from a 'chamber window. Between you ye have Shamed me, and would shame me worse—for the sake of the murderess of mine uncle, Duke Casimir." " Well do you know that the Lady Helene is innocent oj that crime, or any other," said I ; " she is purer than your eyes can look upon or your heart conceive. Yet, solely because she knows you for the foul thing you are, Helene lies condemned in your dungeons to-night. I ask you to grant me but one boon— that I may die with her!" " Nay, m,j friend, gentlest scfuire of dames, defender of the opi^essed, I have better things in store for you and your mftid than that I" 81« \, Bishop ,d now I love and it peace, tiose rev- if he had mburg — indfal of •owB bet- •onically. \y years, rith each I would t leas _ for him. llted me, I offered rincess of 1. Yonr , cast me Between rprse — for Casimir." J innocent lurer than ive. Yet, ^ you are, -night. I y die with , defender re for you HUGO GOTTFRIED, THE RED AXE He pajised atid looked a long while at in||p[R seecaed, chewing the cud oi revenge upon that which he had to say to me. At last he caine a step nearer, that he might look into my eyes. "Hugo Gottfried," he said, slowly, "son of Gottfried Gottfried, you are my servant how. I said that I would forgive you all for the sake of old times in exile together. And now you and I are both again in our own land. They that kept us out of our offices are dead, and wei standing in their places. There" is a maid down there in the Wolfsberg dungeons who to-morrow must meet her fate." He pa^ed « moment and laid Kis hand on Tny shoul- der impressively. nd you, Hugo Gottfried, Hereditary Justicer of the edom. Red Axe of the Wolfmark, art the man who st carry out that doom !" . Again he paused— and the world seemed instantly to dissolve into whirling vapor at his words. I had iftver once thought of such a conclusion. Yet I was indubita- bly, by my father's death. Hereditary- Executioner of the Wolfmark. Bed Axe of Thorn I was, and ty a terrible chance I had returned in time to be installed in mine office, even as the Lady Ysolinde had foretold. ' But a strong thought swelled triumphant in my heart. " Well," said I, looking the sneering tormentor in the face, " if flo be that I am your Hereditary Justicer, it will be long ere a sentence so monstrous shall be carried out by me. I will not slay the innocent, nor pour out the blood of a virgin saint, ior a million deaths. You can torture me with all your hellish engines, and you will find that a Gottfried has learned how to suffer, as well as how to make others suffer, in fourteen generations. Ag God strengthens me, I will never carry out your sentence —do with me what you will." 817 ^ I \ ' / 1 / / K > \ • •~ p t " " « ,» - ' • , ' ' ■ -f ' ^^ •t 'V • / J ^^^^^^^^Bjl^ ) ■■■■■■■■■1 |iHM| ■■■MHjMHMBBHIjI "J ^^^^^^H Hi ■ ^^^^^^^^H ^^ 1 W^M ^^M ^H ^1 ^^^1 ^^H I ^^H ^ HH HH HI Hi HHHi HJH 1 w - • *' •■ - * • * '^ .* -. " - \ ■^ ^ 4 ,, -.f " - \ ■■«»; .r 1) t « • <1 * -1 - '- - . H r^ If -" .* t 4 f ■ ' ^ - / ' • / . \ ' 'I 4 ' V i N IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) *•/' I # k /. {./ A m 1.0 I.I f U£ IIIII2.0 2.5 2.2 IL25 i 1.4 m 1.6 ~-> Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 874-4503 t » ^ . rW-'-'J'i iio ^ ./ \ vj»" ■■-n«^ .%J^'>: i r U.f\t A *»^'..'«SP&.W'i. ytm^ !im llt-^J, -.A^ n i;>m' THE RED AXE ** Nobly said, Jasticer of the Mark !" said Otho. " I had thoaght of that I But in case yov«honld refuse to do your lawful office, it may be well for.you to remember that I have other inatrnments that mayhap will please you less." ^ He threw open a door suddenly, and ^e looked into an underground hall, where a dozen men were carousing — Duke Casimir's Hussars of Death, black - browed, evil- faced, slack -jowled villains every man of them, cruel and sensual. A blast of ribald oaths came sulphurously np, as if the mouth of hell had been opened. *' Listen !'' said Otho, with his hand on my shoulder. And a jest jstruck to our ears concerning the priso^r, the Little Playmate — a jest which sticks in my memory to this day. And even yet I hope to cleave the jester through the brain, meet him when I may. The Duke shut the door, and turned to me again. His eyes narrowed to a thin line which glittered with hate and triumph. "If you, Hugo Gottfried, Hereditary Executioner of the Mark, refuse to do your duty at the time appointed upon the prisoner condemned, I, Duke Otho, solemnly declare that I will cast your fair and tender lamb into that den of wolves down there to work their wills upon. Hark to them 1 They will have no misgivings— no qualms, no noble renunciations.'' Then he turned to me airily and confidently. " Well, my good Justicer, will you carry out the just and merciful sentence of the law, and baptize your Bed Axe with the blood of her for whose sake you chose to insult and wound a Duke of the Mark ?" I turned away, sick at heart. " Give me time. God's mercy — give me time I" I oried. "At least let me see Helene. I will give you my answer to-night. But, first of all, let me see my beloved." xi-^j*^'' ^:W 118 . ^ c*^ Otho. " I d refuse to ) remember will please ked into an larouslng — •owed, evil- hem, cruel ilpharously shoulder, le priso^r, ay memory the jester Eigain. His 1 with hate cutioner of I appointed 0, solemnly lamb into wills upon, ivings — no I HUGO GOTTFRIED, THE RED AXE yul"? '?.''«^J^°^ *^d °^o«* merciful," he said, smUing till his teeth showed. - Observe, I do not even cast yof into prison to make sure of you. Go your ways " (he sat down and wrote rapidly) ; "here is a pass which will-en- able you to visit the prisoner. At midnight I shall ex- p^ctjou to tell me that to-morrow you will fulfil^our He handed me the paper and motioned us away. We are free to go r said I, wonderingly. 'Surely," he replied, smiling. "Are you not both my friends, and can Otho von Eeuss be forgetful of old times ? Oome and go at your pleasure. , Be sure to be Here to give me your answer at midnight to-night-or-" He pointed With his hand to the door he had again opened and with the fingers of his other hand beat time to the blasphemous chorus which came belching up from 7 » •^^ ' ut the just e your Red )u chose to J timer I 11 give yon me see my IPI-^l ■M CHAPTER XLIX THE BBBPBNT'S STRIFE Dazed and death-stricken by the horror of the choice which lay before me, I hastened down the street, hardly waiting for Dessauer, who toiled vainly after me. I knew not what to dt) nor where to tutn. I could neither think nor speak. But it chanced that my steps brought me to the house of the Weiss Thor. Almost without any will of mine^own I found myself raising t^- knocker of the house of Master Gerard von Sturm. Bespectable instantly appeared. I $sked of him.i^ Lady Ysolinde would see me — giving my name pliftl .^ For since Duke Otho knew me, there was no need if con- cealment any more. ^ The Lady Ysolinde would receive me. I followed my conductor, but not this time to the room in which I had seen her on the occasion" of my last visit. It was in her father's chamber that I met the Princess. The room was as I had first seen it. Only there was no ascetic old man with keen, deep-set eyes and reced- ing forehead to rear his head bacjc from the table as though he would presently strike across it like a serpent from its coil. For the moment thtfropm was empty, but, ere I had time to look around, the curtains moved and the Lady Ysolinde appeared. Without entering, she set a hand on the door-post, and stood poised against the heavy curtain, waiting for me to speak. WO ^ THE SERPENT'S STRIFE Her face was pale, her thin nostril/ dilated. Antrer and scorn sat white and deadly on every teature. ' bo, she said, intensely, as I did not speak "von have come back already, most noble Hereditary Jnstfcer of the Mark ! Even as I told you-so it is. You come woman whose love yon refused. You would beg her to spare her enemy. ' Ere you go I shall see you 1 you knees ; ah that will be sweet. I have been on my knees -can I believe it ? Nay, I shall not forget it. I, Ysolinde of Plasseuburg, have pled in vain to you-to you ' ' tott'one ''''''* "^ '^"^ ^"'"'^ '"^ malice turned me "My lady," said I, "well do yon know that I would never ask aught for my own life,f hough the ReTl^ tself were at my neck. But it is for th, maid I love for the little child I carried home out of the arms of tl; man condemned. I ask for her life, who never wronged ' yon or any in all this world. You hate heard Tj my misfortune to be my father's son -I must take away my love's sweet life, or, if I do not-" I could proceed no further for the horror ^hich rose in my me an.^J'"'' '^'" '^' '"'^' '"^""^^ ' ''"^ *^*^«r ^^^^ told " Then," cried I, " if the power lie with you a/ von hope for mercy to your own soul, be mercif uirCe the - maiden Helene from the death of shame, a^d me from becoming her murderer I" ' tion^!";!'^" a^s^ered, with delicatest meditative inflec- Ihe'nron^ """^""^ 'T'' '^^^ "^'^^'y i« f-"^^ indeed. would n^f h / '??P^r * ""'^- T^^ ^^^«« i« bent that would not bend. Hearken, yon and your puling babe Lvet t?dr ^«^",«^^',W- your liv'es inLXs' o save^or to destroy-her life and your sufleripg-to make ^ . — i I if; ' ill; THE RED AXE or to break, I wonld fling them to destruction, eten as I cast this cnp into the darkness \" j And as she spoke the wreathed beaker of Yenioe glass sped ont of the window and crashed on the payement without. ".Thus would I end your lives," she said, "for the shame that yoji two put npon me in the day of my weak- ness." "Lady," I cried, eagerly, "you do yourself a wrong I Your heart is better than your word. Do this deed of mercy, I beseeph you, if so be you can. And my life is yours forever I" " Your life is mine, you say," cried she ; " aye, and that nieans what ? The wind that cries about the house. Your life* is mine — it is a lie. Yo^ur life and love both are that chit's for whom you havef despised — rejected — MBr And I grant that at that moment she looked noble enough in her anger as she stood discharging her words at me with hissing directness, like bolts shot twanging from the steel cross-bow. \ "And, lest you should think that I have not the power to save you, I will tell you this — when you shall see the neck bared for the blade of the Red Axe, the fine tresses you love, that your eyes look upon with desire, all ruth- lessly cut away by the shear(i of your assistants — ah, I know you will remeniber then that I, Ysolinde, whom you refused and slighted, had the power in her hand to deliver you both with a word, according to the immacu- late laws of the Wolfmark. Aye, and more — power to raise you both to a pinnacle of bliss such as yo^ can hardly conceive. In tl^at hour, when you see me look down upon your anguish, you will know that I can speak t^e word. You will watch my lips till the axe falls, and under your hand the young life ebbs red. 3ut the lips of Ysolinde will be sUent 1" w lion, eten as I >f Venice glass the payement said, "for the ij of my weak- rself a wrong I this deed of ^nd my life is le ; " aye, and oat the honse. and love both ed — rejected — 1 looked noble ring her words shot twanging not the power 1 shall see the the fine tresses lesire, all rnth- sistants — ah, I "solinde, whom in her hand to o the immacn- lore — power to ch as yo^ can •a see me look iiat I can speak 8 axe falls, and Bat the lips THE SERPENT'S STRIFE " Such knowledge is an easy boast. Lady Ysolinde r T whether mdeed she had the power she claimed ' blackbonnd t^'^' T^'^^ *" *^^ great, collection of blacl^-boand books and papers about the walls ; "see the secret IS there-tbe secret for the lack of which you ^haM Btnke your beloyed to the dea^h to save her rom the un namable. shame. I know it , my father has Zeldl to me. Uaye seen the parchment in these hand Bu ' -you shall never hear it, she never profit by it and my vengeance ^hall be sweet-^so sweet I" ^ JfZ t^: ""'''' ' '''-'''' ^^^^'^^°^- ^-^^ *^*t it ^ be'l^'VorT./'"V^''*^^'°"^^^'^ «*^d I, "if this Hell for Ihf^ 1 . ' ^' " ^'^' ^'"^ ^"«* b°r« in Great Hell for this deed you are about to do. Having had no Ser^y' on yt ^^^^^^^^ '^^ «^^" ^^ ^^ ^^dftoty: for meTJy JwiU h^'".?'^ '''''' "^"^^^^^^ -^ PnW lor mercy 1 will have had my revenffe. And aft«r +1,0* come earth, heaven, or hell^I shalfnot care L ti^ then be the same to Ysolinde r ^ ^i wiu ?cS?r^T^* 5, ''^^^'^ *^*y ^«^'yet once more. The Little Playmate,"! said, "the maid whom I have ever loved, though I am not worthy to touch hT is no chance chUd, no daughter of the Red Axe o Tho;n fe f."'? u'"'"'''' ^'*^ ^°"^d «^d sent to Karl the Prmce the fuU proofs that Helene is the daughter of the last and rightful Prince, and therefore in hefown 2ht Princess of Plassenburg." ^ ' friZrn ^^: *' A ^l "^^ ^"«/-"yon lie I You think to mgbten me. And even if it were true-thrice fonr times fool to teU me I ^r shall not I, the Pr7n Ls of Plassenburg, the wife of tte reigning Prince stendfnr 7J^ ^e ^d dignity. Iwild^o he^^;':;',^' though a UiouBiM faij he^ds, well-beloved, VedeZ 888 Iih III THB BBD AXB of men, the envy of women, were to be rolled in the ^ dust." .^'^^ "Then farew6ll, PrinceBS," I cried ; "you are wrong- ing to the death of deaths two that never did you wrong, who loved each other with the love of man and woman before ever you crossed their paths, and who since then have only sought your good. You wrong God also, and you lose your soul, divorcing it from the mercy of the Saviour of men. For be very sure that with that meas- ure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." She did not answer, but stood with her hand still - against the door-post, her head raised, and her lips curl- ing scornfully, looking after me as I retired with a smil- ing and" malicious pleasure. So, without further speech, I went out from the pres- ence of the Lady Ystdinde. And thus she^had the first part of her revenge. rolled in the )u are wrong- id you wrong, a and woman ho since then God also, and mercy of the ith that m^as- :ain." ler hand still . her lips cnrl- d with a smil- from the pres- B had the first 4« >^ CHAPTER L THE DUNOEON OP THE W0LF8BER0 And now I must see the Little Playmate. Judge ye wl^ether or no my heart was torn in twain .as" I went up the long High Street of Thorn, back to the Wolfsberg, alone.^ For I had compelled Dessauer to return to Bishop Peter's, in order to avert popular suspicion, since our real- names and errands were not yet known there. And when I parted from him the old man was so worn out tliat I looked momently for him to drop on the rough causeway stones of the street. Many pictures of my youth passed before me as I mounted towards the castle that night. I remembered the ride of the wild horsemen returning from the raid such long years agone, the old man who carried the babe, and the Red Axe himself, who now lay d^ad m the Tower —my father, Casimir's Justicer, clad now as then in crim- son from head to heel. Ere long I arrived at the Wolfsberg, and as I came near the Red Tower I saw that the gate was open. A little crowd of men with swords and partisans was issu- ing tumultuously from it. Then came six can'ying a cof- fin. I stood aside to let them pass. And not till the last one brushed me did I ask what was their business abroad with a dead man at such a time of the night. "Tis one that had wrought much fear in his time,*' answered the soldier, for I had lighted on a sententious fellow—" one that made many swift ends, and now has oome to one himself." u^ THB BED AXB i \ '* You mean Gottfried Gbttfried, the Duke'a Justicer ?** said I, speaking like one in a dream. " Aye," he replied. " The Duke Otho is mightily afraid of the plague, and will not have a d^ad body over- night in his castle. Since they condemned the Saint Helena, Qod wot, the Duke is a fear-stricken man. He sleeps with half a dozen black riders at the back of his door, as though that made him any safer if a hanaful of ^ pinted gold were dealt 'out among the rascals. But when was a Prince ever wise ?" ' "My father's funeral," thought I. "Well, to-night- it is, indeed, ' let the dead bury their dead '; Helene is yet alive 1" Surely I am not wanting in feeling, yet my heart was strangely chill and cold^. Nevertheless, I turned and fol- lowed the procession a little way towards the walls. But even as I went, lo 1 the bell of the Wolf sberg slowly eiadf brazenly clanged ten. I stopped. I had but two hours in which to visit the Little Playmate and tell her all. "Good-bye, father," said I, standing with^my ha* off ; *' so you would wish me to do— you who met your God standing up— you who did an ill business greatly, because it was yours and you were born to it. Teach me, my father, to be worthy of you in this strait, to the like of which surely never was man brought before 1" The men-at-arms clattered roughly down the street, shifting their burden as if it had been so much kindling- wood, and quarreling as to their turns. I heard their jests coming clear up the narrow street from far away. I stood still as they approached a comer which they must turn. • . I waved my hand to the coffin. "Fare you well, truS father; to-night and to-morrow may God Jielp m6 also, like you, to meet my fate stand- ing up f And the curve of the long streetTiid the ribald prooes- 886 w'b Justicer ?" to is mightily ^ad body over- ned the Saint ken man. He le back of hia f a hanilfnl of rascals. Bat Well, to-night- ; Helene is yet my heart was turned and f ol- he walls. Bat erg slowly tia^ bat two hours tell her all. th my ho^off ; met your God :reat^y, because Teach me, my , to the like of •er wn the street, nuch kindling- I heard their om far away, ler which they and to-morrow my fate stand- ) ribald prooes- TH» DUNGEON OF THE W0LF8BERQ flion. My /atljer was gone. I had made choice. The dead was burying his iead. I went on towards the prison of the Wdlfsberg t, so it |was nominated by a sort of grim superiority in tht^t ^lace which was all a prison— the castle which had loifded i\ so long over the fed clustered roofs and stepped gables olThom, solely because it meant prisonment and Hei^th to|the rebel or the refuser of the Duke's eiactions. )ften had I seen the straggling proceswon of prison^ ersVise, head following head, up from that weary stair- \ casd my father standing by, as they came up from the cells! counting his victims silently, like a shepherd who tells ms flock as they 'pass through a gap in the sheep- fold. . For^ne, alas I there was but one in that dread fold to- night. And she my one ewe lamb who ought to have lain in my bosom. I clamored long at the gate ere I could make *the dfowsy jailer hear. As the minutps slipped away I grew more and more wild with fear and anger. At midnight I must face the Duke, and it was a^yten— how long I knew not, b^ut I feared every momeBi|p^at I might hear the brazen clang as the hammer stru!!k eleven. For time seemed to make no impression on me at Ml that night. • " ' ^ At last the man came, shuffling, grumbling, and curs- ing, from his truckle-bed. r- . "What twice-condemned drunken roysterer may you be, that hath mistal^en the prison of Duke Otho f^r a trull-house ? ^' - "An order from the Duke— to see a prisoner I Come to-morrow then, and, meanwhile, depart to Gehenna. Must a man be forever at the beck and call of every sleepless sot ? * Urgent ' — is the Duke's mandate. Shove it through the lattice then, that a lantern may flash nponit." , aw i / V THE RED AXE» I pushed nnder the door a broad piece of gold, which proved moro.to the purpose than much speech. - ', The door was opened and I showed my pass. That and thfe gold together worked wonders. " ^ ^ The jailer rattled his keys, donned a hood aad wooUea wrapper which he took down from a nail, ainj wem dpnghing before me down the chill, draughty passages. I could hear the prisoner? leaping from their conches within as the light of his. cresset filtered beneath their doors, ^hat hopes and fears stirred them 1 A sum- mons, it might be, for some one in-that dread Warren to come up for a lastjook at the stars, a walk to the head- ing-place through the soft, velvet-dark night — then the block, the lightning flash of bright steel, a drench of something sweet ahd strong like wine upon' the lips, and —silence, rest, oblivion. But we passed the prison doors one' by one, arid the jailer of the Wolfsberg went coughing and rasping by to another part of the prison. • "'Tis an ill place for chills," he grumbled. "I have never been free- of t^em sinpp first I— came to this place, no — nor my wife neither. She has been dead these ten year^, praises to the jjyx ! Ah, would you ?" (The torch threatened to go out, so he held it down- ward in his hand till the pitch melted and caught again, arid meanwhile we stood blinded in the smoke and glare which the strong draught forped in our faces.) • At last came the door, a low, iron-spiked grating, like any other of the hundred we had parsed. , " Key-metal is not often weared on this cell," the man chuckled. "Those stay not long above ground that bide here." ** The door swung back on,, its creaking hinges. I slipped the fellow another gold" piece. *'l piust come in with you," he said ; "you*inight do li S { k J 'THE IXUNGEON OP THE WOLFSBERG the wench an ill tnnf which of would cheat the Dn hi8 show and me. of my head to-morrow." r flUp^)ed hi») another piece of gold, and then three to- gether. J , "Risk it, man," I said. "Have I not the Da ke'g own pass ? I will do her no harm." "Well," he flaid, "pray remember I am a manl^ith flTe poor motherless children. My wife died of falling down a flight of steps ten years agone-praiab the Lord for His mercies. For He is ever mindful of us, the sinful s children of meir." ^ The sound of his yoice died away as the door closed I turned, and was alone with Ihe Beloved. The jailer had stack the cresset in its niche behind tl* ^oor and Its glow filled the little cell. At firsTI could not see the Little Haymate— only a rough pallet bed and something white at the head o? it.. But as fhe cresset ^yrned up morfi clearly, and my eyes became accu8>6rhed to the bleared and streaky light, I saw Helene, my love, kneeling at her bed'^- head. I stood still and waited. Was she asleep ? Was she- was she dead ? J almost hoped that she might be. Then the Duke's veiigeaftce would be balked indeed. "Helene !" 1 said, softly, as one snpaks to the dyin^- " Helene, dear, dear Helene!" ' Slowly she lodked up. Her face dawned on me as one ' day the face of the blessed angel will shine-when he calls me out of purgatory. "My love— my love I" she said] sweetly, like the first'- ,^:^otrof aliymn ,when the choir breathes the sweetanttsio"* . K ^ tather than sings it.^ r ^ -^h. Lord oHnnocence, that pure' loving facj, the pur- ple deepness m the eyes, the flush on the cheek as on that • of a httle child asleep, the soft curled hair whi<}h crisped in the-hollow of the neck— the throat itself— > A *-V M ; !," ' ?'■ ' ii g -^ THE RED AXE Etehial God, that I ehould be. alive to think of the *horror 1 '^ . ^ i J[ But time was passing swiftly, The minutes- wejre slip- ping by like men running tof their lives. I raised Helene from, her knees, and she nestled her head on my shoulder. "You have come to me 1 I knew you would come. 1 saw you oirthe day-the day when the:^«idemned me to die " ^"^ I broke inioan angry, desperate, protesting cry, so that I heard my own voice ring strangely through that dumb, horrible place. And it was I who sobbed in her arms with my head on her shoulder. " Hush, dear love," she said, clasping her arms caress- ingly about my head ; "do not fear for me. God will keep your little one. God has told me that He will brmg me bravely through. Hush thee, then ; do not so, Hugo, great playmate! This I cannot bear. Help me to be good. It will not be long nor painful. Do not weep for your little girl ! I think, somehow, it is for our love that I suffer, and that will make it sweet 1" But still I sobbed like a child. For how-how could I tell her? ' . , Presently the power returned slowly to me, seemg her smiling so bravely up at me, and rising on tiptoe to kiss my wet face. , , , -n ^™ Then I told her all-in what words I hardly remem- ber now. , , "Love of mine," I said, "I have but an hour or less to spealuwith you-and ah I such terrible things, such inconceivable things, to say ; a horror to reveal such as never lover had to tell his love before." ,, , . , She drew one of my hands down and softly patted her breast with it. t* -i. v +-„- " Fear not," she said ; " tell it Helene. If it be true that love conquerB aU, your little laaa can bearit I 880 ik of the wejre slip- istled her come. I )mned me Lg cry, so ongh that )ed in her ms caress- God will will bring so, Hugo, me to be t weep for r love that how could seeing her itoe to kiss lly remem- lour or less tings, such eal such as patted her f it be true witr a THE DUNGEON OP THE WOLFSBERO ^ " \ ^an^f/" fid I, " with purpose to see yon, and by . tee^heiy (it skills not to ask whose) I was taken at my \ dead father's bedside." ^ ' \ , l^Y ^*'u'! ^^ ^' '^^ ^"^^' eoing a step away to . look at me, but coming back again immediately; "then \ there are but you and me in the world, hA I" l1 ^^^'' T'^ ^* '' ^°* ^°^ ^*^ I *^" yo^tfe rest ? My father died like a man, and then they took me, still « 'u^'°! ^?. ^^^ '"^ ""y ""^^^ I ^a« confronted with a fle^d of hell m the likeness of Duke Otho." Aj I mentioned the Duke's name I could feel her snu(^der on my neck. A '^f~ ^°* ^ °*°°°* *®" y^'^ ^^»* ^e has bidden me do, ui^der penalties too fearful to conceive or speak of " She\put her hands up, and gently, timidly, lovingly stroke^ my cheek. ^^ " De^ love, tell me I Tell the Little Playmate I" she said, as ^mply and sweetly as if she had been coaxing me to whisp6r to her some lightest childish secret of our plays together in the old Red Tower. I was sMent for a space, and then, spurred by the thought of \ the swiftly passing time, the words were wrenched out of me. "He says that I, even I, Hugo Gottfried, my father's son, being noV hereditary Red Axe of the Wolfmark, must strike off the head of the one I love. And if I will not, then to thdvilest of devils for vilest ends he will de- liver her. Ah, l^od, and he would do it too I I saw the very flame of help's fire in his eyes." Then I that ^te saw a strange appearance on the face that looked ^p in mine. As on a dark April day, with a lowermg sky, you have seen the wind suddenly stir high m the heWens, and the sun look through on the dnpping green 6^ the young trees and the gay bour- geoning of the floweiB, so, looking on my love's face as she took m my wordsi there awakened a kind of sprinir- \ 881 *^ • y I ' \ '% THE RED AXE time joy. Nay, wherefore need I say a kind of joy only, t wTmore. 'it was great, overleaping, Budden-spn-g- ing gladness. Her eyes swam m lustrous !>e»^ty- /he smiled up at me as I had never seen her smile before. "Oh,Iamglad,Hugo^80glad! I love you, Hugo 1 It will be hard for you, my love. And yet jou wUl be brave and help me. I had far rather dieat your hand than live to be the bride of the greatest man m all the world. Do that which will save me from shame , do it gladly, Hugo. I fear it. I saw it in the eyes of tha* Ln Otho von Reuss. But only to die will be easy with you near by. For I love you, Hugo. And I could just Ly a prayer, and then-well, and then- Do not cry, Sugo^why, then you would put ^e to sleep, even as of old you did in the Red Tower 1 Thi« i« "Nay, nay, dear love! You must not do so. This is not like my Hugo. See, / do not cry. Do you remem- Zr when you took me up and laid me on your bed, and our father came and looked ? You said I wa. your little wife. So I was, even though I denied it, and now I can trust you, my husband. I have never been aught else but your little wife, you see-not in my heart, not in my heart of hearts ! „«tin^ " I ha^ been proud with you, Hugo-spoken unkind things For love, you know, is like that. It hurts that whichitwould diefor. But now you will know once for all that I love you. For death tests all. And you mO. help me. You ViU not cry then, Hugo-not then, when we walk, you and I, by the shores of the great sea. You will only send me a little voyage by myself , as you usea to make me go to the well in the court-yard, to teach me not to be frightened I v^a will " And then you will be with me when I go. Y on wui watch me; soon, soon you will come after me. ^es^am glad, Hugo-BO glad. For-bend down your ^'^jNtJ- IwiUconfeat. Your little girl is suoh a coward. Ste -4- joy only, a-spring- ity. She lefore. a, Hugo 1 )u will be onr hand in all the me ; do it 38 of that easy, with jonld just > not cry, even as of ). This is an remem- your bed, I was your b, and now teen anght heart, not :en unkind hurts that w, once for ad you will then, when tsea. You 18 you used to teach me . You will . Yes, I am eaT,Hai<>— »ward. Slie f;' ■■■ ■ ■ t 1 w t-xft% ^j***-^ "T.^- l_-i ^fe^»^«fcW! :t. THE DUNGEON OF THE WOLFSBERG is afraid of the dark. But it will not beodark— and it will not be long, and it will be sure. If my love stand by, I shall not fear. And, after all, it ia but a little thing to do for my love, when I love him so." What I said, or what I did, I know not. But when I came a little to myself, I foand my head on my knees, and Helene soothing and petting me, as if I had been a child that^ad fallen down and hurt itself. ** I would have been a good wife to you, Hugo ; I had thought it all out. At first I would have been such an ignorant little hduse-keeper, and you would have needed —oh, such great patience with me 1 But so willing, so ready, Hugo ! And how I should have listened for your foot 1 Do you know, I used to know it as it came across the court-yard at Plassenburg. But I could not run and meet you then. I could only slip behind the window-lat- tice and throw you a kiss. But when I was indeed your wife, how I should have flown to meet you \" 1 think I cried out here for very agony. " Hush, Hugo 1" she said. " Hush, lad, and listen. There are stairs up aloft — I saw them in a dream. I saw the angels and the redeemed ascending and descending as I prayed, even when yon came in to call me back. I shall ask God to let me wait at the stair-head a little while for you — ^till it should be time for you to come, my dear, my dear. You would not be very long, and I could wait. I would listen for your feet upon the stair, dear love. And when at last you came, I should know your footfall ; yes, I should know it ever so far away. You would not be thinking of me just then. And when you came to the top of the golden stairs, there — there, all so suddenly, would be your little lass, with her arms ready to welcome your The door of the cell creaked open. The jailer appeared. " It is time 1" he said, curtly, and stood waiting. We stood up, -and I looked in her V »^ind oar one ,ve been my cast myself of the first little wife. lied in his THE NIGHT BEFORE THE MORN cloak and some chance wrappij^g he found about the house. " God keep me from eter spending such a night again I I thought it would never come to an end. Out in the square in front of the Wolfsberg I could hear a knocking —dull, continuous, reverberant. At first I thought it must be within my own head. So I asked the soldier, after a little, if he heard it also. I had some faint idea that it might be Prince Karl of Plassenburg with his army thundering at the gates of Thorn." ,"'Tis bu) the scaffold going up in the Grand Place without J" fiaid the soldier, carelessly; " I heard that the Duke had bidden them work all night by torch-light."^ I tried to sleep, but the knocking continued, across my brows till I thought I must go mad. while I rose and Went to the window from wl so often looked down wistfully up6n the plaw children. Opposite me, in the middle of the opej>^pace, loomed a dark mass— a platform, it seemed,.j^d a dozen feet • above the road — the black silhouette of a ladder set anglewise against it, and that was all. Lower, plain- er, somehow deadlier than a gibbet with its flamboyant beam, which one never sees empty without imagining the malefactor aswing upon it ; the heading-block did not frown, it grinned— yes, grinned like the eye-holes of a skeleton with a candle behind them, while the torches glinted through the interstices of the framework as it was being nailed together. All night the' dull dunt - dunting went on without. And I sat awake by the window and awaited the dawning. The city seethed unslaked beneath. When first I looked from my chamber window the so^e was free to all who chose to enter it. But as the flpking went on the news spread through the town of Thorn, ^ m ' H^ X THE BED AXE m "They are making, the scaffold for our Saint Helena 1** So the word ran. And within an hour the courts and alleys of Thorn belched forth thousands of angry men. Pikes were carried like staved, the steel head hidden up the long, white burgess sleeve. Working-men of the trades, 'prentices, and market porters drew their swords and came forth with the bare blades in their hands, leaving the scabbards at home to take carfe of themselves, as was their custom. ' • , Wives cried from escalierjwindows to their men to come in by and lie decently down, to be ready for thetr work in the morning. And the men so addressed paid not the least heed, as, the manner of men is. These things and many others I saw, scarce knowing what I saw. ^ And so, with the hum of gathering crowds, the hours passed slowly over. But the temper of the people in the square grew more and more difficult, and soon the guard had to be brought down from the castle. The great gates beneath me were open, and the Wolfsberg vomited the black men-at-arms to keep the Duke's peace. But this brought only the quicker strife. Yells re- ceived them as soon as their steel partisans showed up in the square. "Oppressors of the^ople, ye cbme to your reward I" cried many voices. C " We will give you your last breakfast— of cold, tem- pered steel I" cried another, from the bowels of the crowd. " To the Wolfsberg— ho I Break in the doors 1 We will have our Saint Helena forth of their cursed prisons T It was no sooner said than done. Like a wave the people rushed in a black irregular mass at the front rank of the guard. The soldiers of the Duke were swept away like chaff ; I could see one here and anoliier there strug- gling in the Yortices of the angry multitude. ' mt Helena I** ys of Thorn Pikes were np the long, the trades, swords and inds, leaving lelves, as was • heir men to ady for thetr [dressed paid n is. These aowing what Is, the honrs people in the on the gnard le great gates vomited the 9. e. Yells re- showed np in our reward T -of cold, tem- of the crowd. ) doors 1 We rsed prisons 1* e a wave the he front rank re swept away" r there strng- 9. . ' THE NIGHT BEFORE.THE MORN " On to the Wolfsberg 1" cried the crowd. But when the first of them reached the castle gates, lol they stood open, and there behind them stoodfile on file of matchlock men with, their matches burning in their hands and their pieces trained upon their repts. " Give them the fire 1" cried a voice, that of Duke Otho, as the crowd halted a moment irresolute.j The bright red flame started out here and there from muzzle and touchhole, and then ran along the line in an irregular volley. ^ A terrible cry of fear went up from the folk.j^ For though they had heard of the new ordnance, and even seen one 6r two, they had never realized the effect of a fusillade. And when a man on either side sank down with, a hollow sound "like a beast in shamble-thills, and theman in front fell over on his face without a sound, the multitude turned, broke into groups," fled, and disap- peared in a moment like a whirl of snow which the wind canters, dow^i the street in a veering- flurry. Then the gates shut to, and the deep lines of match- lock men were hidden from view. After this the city thrilled and murmured worse than ever, humming^ke an angry hive. But the Wolfsberg kept its counsel. Not yet had deliverance arrived for the captives within its cells. And the dread morning was coming fast. At last, wearied out with crowding emotions, I went and cast me down on my bed, lind^ instantly falling asleep, I slept like a log till one touched me on the shoulder. Looking up, I saw the Duke Otho. He had come Ao make sure of hia vengeance — the vengeance which I knew well vas not his, but that of Ysolinde, Princess^ of Plassenbarg, '^ : i i ! '&it CHAPTER LH , --^"^ THE headsman's RIGHT " ?T8li, Jnsiioor of the Wolf m^irk !" said Otho, imiling mockingly upon me like a fiend. I started- np and gazed abq^j^ewildered as the com- ing terrors of the morniiHg biiUKe upon me. " 'Tis scarcely an hour to sunrise," be continued, ''and I warrant the noble ^ed Axe will desire to feel the edge of his tool and see that his assistants are in their places." The Dukp paused as be went out of the door, and looked at me. "I can promise you a distinguished company at the first public performance of your honorable pffice/'he said, with a polite gesture. So Boon as he was gone I roM to my feet. Aci! bf oad, black oaken stool, wheWon . from boyhoo^ been niy habit to place my clothes neatly fold! found a suit of new red cloth, plain and tich, with an t^SQiiptibn upon a strip of vellum laid across the breast, that these were ^ gift from the most Illnstrions e Wolfmark. my fate was my fate, there was little g at t^J»iat. 3o I set to and did upon me try of EillJmfe. They were made after the my father^s, cap and hosen and shoon all of red, with a cloak of red to cover all. Then I went to the Playmate's room, and before the niche where her little Prie-Dieu had stood, I kneeled me 840 - facm JL-s 10, gmiling I the com- oontinaed, ire to feel^ ^nts are in door, and any at the e/' he said, oo^ >idf h, with an bhe breast, IllnBtriona was little d upon me after the loon all of before the meeled me H BADS MAN'S RI0H9 said snch a prayer 9/^ at the moment I oonld compass. Bnt little wfts needed. For i think God in heaven Himself was praying for as both that day. When I went forth into the 8qnare,iew there were who knew ir remembered me, bat all knew my attire. Then indeeK it did my heart good to hear the.great ananimoos roar of execration which went np from the maltitdde as I came oat. The soldiers had their work oat oat to pash a way for me to the scaffold. ♦ " Butcher him — ^tear him to pieces — wolf's cab that he is— 4ie that was her foster-brother to slay oar Saint Helena 1'^ Jt made me proad to hear them. And as they rnshed farioasly against the escort, intent to kill me, we swayed from side to side. . " Down with the Red Axe 1" they shoated. " Down with the bloody hoase of ^ottfried and all that belong toitr And 1 felt inclined to cry " Amen 1" Then, when I had mounted the few steps which led to the platform on which stood the black headsman's bl^c)||» I gazed about me in wonder, holding the Bed Axe in my hand. And to my disordered vision I saw the crowd swell and whirl aboat me on earth and in the air, bubbling and tossing, like a pot boiling furiously. Then ,1 bethought me of the work I had to do, and prayed that I might be given strength to do it swiftly and featly, that the suffering of my love might, not be long. Also I thought of the lecherous evil demons of the Black Riders, and thereat was somewhat comforted. At the worst I could give my love a better end than that. Then appeared my Lord Duke Otho. An enclosure had been formed for him by the palace wall, covered .with a^ red hanging, as though my sweetheart's death were a gala sight. And when he had come to the ffont and arranged, nis folk, lo !, there by his side stood Yso- 841 '# ■iJsifcyi^-if'f.WS;'*^--^^-. Mf- ^ •m <^',.^^'^.' WrJ^'"- ■ Mit'l^ ft' W'/ ^'.f*-. - (■. V^-:^M ^^:: .^ M ill I r. B ■■< f. i" !S ■■ I. sf il ii THE RED AXE ~ linde. Princess of Plassenburg, with her father. Master Gerard. They had a place close by the Dnke, and Otho ofttimes bent over to confer graciously with his council- •> ■ lor. But Ysolinde looked neither to right nor left, nor yet spoke to any, keeping her eyes fixed, as it seemed, on *.^ " the shining blade of the Red Axe in my hand. Then, as these fine folk stood waiting and gloating among the festoons of their balcony, the devil or God (I know which, but I will not say, Idst I be thought a blas- phemer) put an intent into my heart. I walked to the edge of the scaffold, and I looked at the barrier of the enclosure. They were of the same height, and the dis- tance between them little more than six feet. I"jexamined them again, and yet more intently. I saw the steely smile on Duke Otho's face. Already he was tasting the doublq sweetness of his revenge. " Wait," I said, within my heart, as I also smiled a lit- tle, "only wait a little, Otho, Dnke of the Wolfmark. "Wait till this bright edge be sullied with m^ swe€t love's blood. And then — then will I leap upon you, and the Red Axe shall crash deep into the brain that hatched and fostered this hellish intent. And by the gentle heart of her who is about to die, so also will I serve Gerard the lawyer, and Ysolinde, his daughter, for their treachery against the innocent. Then, amid the flash of steel and the heady whirl of battle, shall Hugo Gottfried be very content to die !" It would take more than one stroke to dull that which my father had sharpened. And I lifted up the Red Axe and felt the edge with my thumb. It was razor keen. ^ But the action was observed, and taken as a proof of caHousness. And then what a yell of hate surged up around me ! I could have taken those burghers of Thorn to my heart. And I thought if only our Kart would come. Alas 1 it was a full day too 86on ; for I felt sure that these burghers would proclaim him at the 84S THE HEADSMAN'S RIGHT bher. Master :e, and Otho his conncil- aor left, nor t seemed, on *^ d. md gloating '^il or God (I ►ught a blas- ilked to the wrier of the and the dis- ntly. I saw eady he was smiled a lit- i Wolfmark. ^ swe€t love's iron, and the ^hat hatched f the gentle will I serve ter, for their 1 the flash of igo Gottfried ore than one I sharpened, dge with my M a proof of be surged np burghers of ily our 'EmT I 86on; for I u him at the gates, and that the house of Otho and Casimir, the brood of the Wolf, would, like the shadow of the raven as it flitc by in -the sunshine, pass awajr. For by that time there would be no Otho. They would find him low enough, with an axe cleft in his head. So soon as the sun's light tipped the eastern clouds with rose, the Black Hussars came riding forth. ., The guards and matchlock men lined the way from the castle gates. They blew np their matches to be ready. Sud- denly in the midst of the armed throng there appeared a radiant figure coming down the steps of the castle from the Hall of Judgnaent. At the sight the people threw themselves wildly in that direction. The dark lines of the guard reeled and wavered. There was the sharp click as the pikes en- gaged. The shouts of the captains of the matchlock ^ men were heard. But the trained bands stood fast, and the rush was stayed. Then came our Helene down tow- , ards me, walking delicately, yet proudly erect as a young tree. She was clad all in white and wore her hair plaited high npon her head, so that the shape of her neck was clearly seen. And I who stood there with the axe in my hand seemed to have a thousand years to think all these things, and even to mark the lace upon her dress. I saw her come nearer and nearer to me. Yet feeling was dead within me. I seemed to sleep and wake and sleep again. And when at last I awoke, there came a strange feeling to me. It was my wedding-day, and my bride was coming to me, lily pure, clad in whiteness. Then at the foot 6f the scaffold there came one forth from the ranks, a captain of the Duke's guard, and with honor and respect offered Helene his arm. ^hfrdeoKiwdit^ with a proud 8mil% and i^ that w«e^ W near could hear her clear voice say, " I thank yon, sir, but I need no help. I am strong enough to walk thus far.'' 848 I THE RED 'axe And she mounted the steps of the scaffold as thongh they had been those of the grand staircase at Plassenburg. But when she saw me, standing in my habit of red from head to heel, she seemed a little taken aback. Quickly, however, she came forward and took me by the hand, looking up at me with the love -light making her eyes glorious. "Hugo," she said, "I am glad you are here— glad that I am to die by no le^s loving hand. That will be sweeter than to live with any other. And, indeed, I deserve so much, for I have not known much joy in my lifej save in the old days when I was your Little Playmate." Then there came a stern voice from the enclosure : "Executioner of the Mark, do your duty !" It was the voice of Master Gerard. And then I looked over and saw Gerard von Stnrm standing a little in front, vdth his daughter's wrist field tightly in his hand as though he would drag her back. With that a loathing came over me, for I said within me, " Is the woman so anxious for the blood of the inno- cent whom she has hounded to death that she would in- trude on the scaffold itself ?" Then I remembered the duty of the Justicers, ere the sentence was carried out, to recite the crimes of the condemned. So I cried aloud, even as I had heard my father do. " The crimes of Helene, Princess of Plassenburg, sole daughter of Dietrich, lately Prince thereof — guilty of no evil, save that she has been the savior of this people of Thorn and their deliverer in time of pestilence 1" ^he people hushed themselves with astonishment at my words. And then a cry went up. *'The Red Aie speaks true— she la innocent -^inno- eent^ But the voice of Gerard von Sturm came again, stem as that of the recording angel : 844 ii Id as though Plassenburg. t of red from k. Qnickly, »j the hand, ing her eyes •e — glad that ill be sweeter I deserve so ny lite, save mate." aclosnre : von Stnrm 's wrist neld ag her back. said within of the inno- be would in- cers, ere the imes of the father do. lenburg, sole !— guilty of I this people lence I" nishment at cent-'— inno- again, stem :'.i> THE HEADSMAN'S RIGHT "Executioner of the Wolf marie, do your duty!'* Scarce knowing what I did, I went on with my formal accusation. "Hielene, Princess of Plassenburg, who is about to ie, is also guilty of loving me, Hugo Gottfried, son of •Gottfried Gottfried, and of none other crime. For this the Duke has decreed that she should die. It is her own will that she should die by my hand." Helene came forward and put her hand in mine in token that I spoke truly, and there fell a great silence across the people. I saw the Lady Ysolinde straining at her father's hand, like a dog in a leash when the quarry rises. Then my love kissed me once, just as though she had been saying good-night in the Red Tower, simply and sweetly, like a child, and laid her head down on the block as on the white pillow of her own bed. " God do 80 and more also to them on whose heads is th§ innocent blood of my love and my wife!" The words burst from me rather than were uttered. I raised the blade. But ere the Red Axe could fall there arose a wild 'scream from the Duke's enclosure. Some one cried, "Let me go 1 He has said it 1 He has said it 1 I will not be silent any longer I" It was the Lady Ysolinde, who had broken away from her father's hand. " The girl is his wife," she went on. " He has claimed her — according to the laws of the Wolf mark, that cannot be broken, he has called her his wife. It is the Execu- tioner's right. One woman he can claim as his during his term of office— one only, and for his wife. Duke Otho, I call upqn you to allow it I Chancellor Texel, I call upon yon to read the law! I have it here in m y hand. Read 1 Read 1 / wiU save my soul / / will save my soul !** And ere any one could stop her, the Lady Ysolinde, sobbing and laughing both at once, had overleaped the MB THE RED AXE light barrier^ and was thmsting a parchment with a seal into the hands of the Ohancellor Michael Texel. " She is mad. Let the justice of the realm be done 1" cried again the voice of Master Gerard. And I think the Dake would have ordered it to be so. Bat there arose not only a roar from the people, but, what Otho minded far more, an ominous murmur among the nobles and gentlemen and from the ranks of men- at-arms. * "The law 1 The law ! Read us the law !" And even Otho dare not trifle with the will of the free companions of the Mark. For in all the realm they were now his only supporters. Helene had risen to her feet, and stood, pale of face but erect, resting, as was her wont, one hand on my shoulder. Then Michael Texel read the scroll aloud. " It is the immemorial privilege of the Hereditary Ex- ecutioner of the Mark, being of the family of Gottfried, a privilege not to be abrogated or alienated, that during the term of office of each, he may claim — not as a boon, but as a right — the life of one man for a bondrservant, or the life of one woman for a wife. Thus, by order of the States' Council, to be the privilege of the Gottfrieds for- ever, it has been proclaimed I" As Michael Texel went on, I saw the countenance of the Duke and the lawyer change. I knew that salvation had come to us like lightning from a clear aky, and I hastened to demand' the right which was mine own. So soon as he had finished I shouted with all my power : " I CLAIM HbLEKE to be MY WIFE T , Then went up such an acclaim from the people as nev- 0r hft^ b<<<^n heard in t^^ ftn*''**nt oitVi Bvg n thg gentle men within the enclosure threw their hats in the air. The soldiers put their helmets on the points of their vpwn, and the oaptains waved thsir colors am tA m vio- m it with a seal )zel. m be donie I" d it to be so. people, but, irmuF among inks of men- 11 of the free Im they were L to her feet, ^as her wont. jreditary Ex- of Gottfried, , that during ot as a boon, idrservant, or • order of the ottf rieds f or- untenance of ihat salvation f aky, and I ,ne own. with all my >eople as nev- » in the air. inia of tiieir I M 1^ ft Tie- b > a / jU .^v^Jfflk^^ Jiii^.^^»^^ k.^ ^ THE HEADSMAN'S EIGHT V, tory. The thnnder of the cheering ronsed the yery rooks and jackdaws from the towers of Thorn and the bastions of the Wolfsberg till they went drifting in a black cloud clamorously over the city. Then Helene put her arms about my neck, and, upon the scaffold of death, before all the people, we plighted our troth. "The Bishop— the Bishop Peter !" cried the people. And, leaping upon an officer's horse, a messenger rode post-haste to the palace, the crowd making way for him. Duke Otho disappeared through a priyate door, for the thing was oyer-strong even for him. He knew his weak- ness too well to war with the immemorial priyileges of the Wolf mark. Bulera stronger than he had been broken in doing battle against ancient rights and amenities. Besides, the nobility were afraid of their own perquisites if one of so ancient a charter as that of the Hereditary Justicer were refused. Then from the palace came the Bishop, with due and [decorous, attendance of crosier and solemn procession. nd there, amid a turmoil of joy and the ringing of ey- ry bell in the city, we, that had gone out to be together in death, were joined in the bonds of youth and life. But the Lady Ysolinde saw not — heard not. ' For they ad carried her out white and still from the place where e had fallen fainting at the foot of the scaffold. i-ill«. K ' .'. tl li 1 '! 1 11 1 ' ll i- m m.' CHAPTER LIII THBXFBBBB FIBND'S EBTUBir All these things had overpast so quickly that when Helene and I found ourselves alone in the Red Tower it seemed to both of us that we dreamed. We sat in a kind of buzzing hush, on the low window- seat of the old room, hand in hand. The shouts of the people came up to us from the square beneath. We heard the tramp'of the soldiers, who cheered ns as they passed to and fro. Being at last alone, we looked into each other's eyes, and we could not believe in our own happiness. " My wife !" I said, but in another fashion than I had said it on the scaffold. " My husband 1" answered Helene, looking up at me. But I think, for all that we realized of the truth, we might as well have called each other King and Queen of SJjeba. We had been conducted with honor to the Red Tower. For since it was in virtue of my hereditary •ofl&ce- that I had obtained the great deliverano^, Idared for the pres- ent seek no other dwelling-place. For Helene's sake, indeed, I should have felt safer elsewhere. Besides, desperate and full of baffljid hatred as I knew Duke Otho to be, I did not believe that he would dare to molest rag ___^ ^r^-m a/\ynj% J-itv^a a4- laon^ n PVl Ck TMLttCk AT T.tlft TlftAT^lfl- their unbounded jubilation at the deliverance of their Saint Helena from the jaws of death on the vei^ scaf- fold, were too recent to be trifled with by a. prince sit- 848 ■Ivii^ jkly that when e Red Tower it he low window- e shouts of the heneath. We ered ns as they we looked into )ve in our own lion than I had k|ng up at me. »f the truth, we g and Queen of the Red Tower. ,ry*oflBicethat I ed for the pres- Helene's sake, here. Besides, new Duke Otho dare to molest nf iiia XMUVnl erance of their a the Yerj scaf- by a. prinoe sit- A . TH^/LUBBER FIEND'S RETURN ting BO Inseenre in his ducal seat as ptho of llie Wolf-* mark. So here in the ancient Red Tower, I thought, we might at least be safe enough till my good fellows of Plassenbarg, with the Prince at their head, should swarm hammering at the gates of Thorn. To us, sitting thus hand in hand, there entered the Bishop Peter. " Hail 1" he said, blandly, and in his grandest manner, as we knelt for his benediction ; *• hail, bride and bride- groom ! God has been good to you this day. Bishop Peter, the least of His servants, greets you very well. May you have long life and prosperity unfailing." I thanked him for his gracious words. " The folk of the city are full of joy," he. said. " I think they would almost proclaim you Duke to-day." " I desire no such perilous honor," I replied, smiling; ^' it were indeed an ill-omen to have a Duke habited fdl in red." "It is your marriage-dress, Hugo," said Helene; "I will not have you speak against it." Ever since the strain of the scaffold she had notx)nce broke down — no, nor wept — but only desired to sit very close beside me, touching me sometimes, as if to make sure that I was real. Deliverance had been too great and sudden, and those things which had come so near to us both — Death and the Beyond — had left a salt and bitter spray on our lips. "And*what of the Lady YsoUnde ?" I asked of the Bishop. Now the Bishop Peter was a' good man, but, like many of his brethren, a lover of great, swelling words. **The Lady Ysolinde," he said, oratorically, "by the immedia^ MSistjmce oflhe city giard, was placed in W" litter and deported, all nnconsciotis as she was, to her father's honse in the Weiss Thor, virhere she still remains. 849 •^.^ t.j'Oa. ,4'«N5,>i - •'\* 11 < 1^1 l1 :! • THE RED AXB ' Ba\ her most seasonable extract from the laws of Wolfmark, which so opportunely saved the life of yotif fair wife, and led to. this present happy consammatia|^ I have here by me, even in my hand." > "^ And with that the Bishop drew the rolled parchmeeft from his pocket and handed it to mei with all the orig-* ' inal seals depending from it. Now I have small gift for the deciphering of such ancient documents, being only skilled in the common sci-jpt of the day, and not over-well in that. So that I had to dejieftd upon the offices of Bishop Peter for the interpretatljl. " I think," said the Bishop, after he had" finished read- ing it over, "that this4ocument had best remain in my own possession. It may be safer under the seal and pro- tection of the Church^ — even as, to speak truth, you and your wife would also be. I am a plain man," the Bishop continued, after a pause, "but remember thai there is ever a place of refuge at the palace — and one which even Duke Otho is not likely to violate, remem- bering the experiences of his predecessor, Duke Casimir, when he crossed* his sword against the crosier of this unworthy servant of Holy Church." " I thank youj" said I. " I would that it were possi- ble to avail myself of your all too generous offer. But it will be necessary to abide at least this one night in the Bed Tower." "Ah," he said, " why this night ?" "Great things may happen this night, my Lord Bish- op !" said I, and glanced significantly -tn the direction of Plassenburg. "Ah," said the Bishop again, "so then the power of Holy Church may not be the only restraint upon Duke Otho by to-morrow at this time !" —And, catling his attendants, the Suafe and; fer-seeing" prelate made his way with gravity and reverend cere- mony down the streets of Thorn towardi^ his palace. 850 \ ihe laws of he life of yottf consummatig^ rtSl' lied parchmeeft th all the orig-* have small gift cuments, heing le day, and not end upon the iXr. d" finished read- t remain in my le seal and pro^ eak truth, you Dlain man," the remember that )alace — and one violate, remem- , Duke Casimir, crosier of this t it were possi- is offer. But it ae night in the my Lord Bish- n the direction 3n the power of tint upon Duke rand fer-seeing reverend oere- I his palaoe. THE LUBBER FIEND'S RETURN So, bit by bit, the long day passefl away, and I thought* it would never end. For Helene and I sat and waited for that which might happen, with beating and anxious hearts. Ofttimes I ran to the top of the Red Tower, and sometimes it seemed^ that I could see a moving cloud of dust, and sometimes a flurry of startled cattle afar on the horizon. But till dusk there came to our aching eyes no better evidence that the lads of Plassenbnrg were coming to our fescue and to the deliverance of the dowil- trodden city of Thorn. The soldiers of the garrison were still encamped in the great square. There was also a constant swarming and mustering of men upon the ramparts of the Wolfsberg. Dute Otho had certainly enough men to make a credita- ble resistance. True, they were Free Companions, and without other loyalty^than that which they owed to their paymaster. And beneath this warlike show lay the city, rebellious , and turbulent to the core, the merchants longing for un- hampered rights of trad^ and security in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labors, the craftsmen claiming free- dom to work in their guilds without a payment of labor- bond tithes to the Duke, and especially without the fear of being snatched, away at any moment from their benches and looms to join in his forays and incursions. Towards the gloaming I had come down from th ) roof of the tower, and was standing, glOomy, and little like a bridegroom, at the little window whence I had so often looked down upon the playing children of Thorn. Sud- denly a great hand was reached up from the pavement, a folded paper was thrust in at the lattioe, and I saw the face of the Lubber Fiend looking up at me from the street below. — **Oome np"hSthef, gooff Jan,'* I cried- to Wmr **t will rtin and open the gate I" Bat the Lubber Fiend only shook his head till his 861 T \ THE reh axb ■ ■!i U i I 'fi n\ ears flapped like burdocks in the 'wind by the wood •edges. -r *' Jan will come none Mrithin that gate to tell where he has been/' he said. '^ Jan may be a fool, but he knows better than that." "And where have yon been ?" I asked, eagerly. Jan the Lubber Fiend stood on his tiptoes and whii> pered up to me with his elbows on the sill. " You are sure the Duke is not. behind you ?" ** There is none here— except my wife," I said, smiling. And I liked speaking the word. *" "I have seen the great Prince," said Jan, nodding backward, and smiling mysteriously, "and he is com- ing, but not by himself. There are such a peck of mad fellows out there. There will not be much to eat in Thorn when they all come in. Better make a good din- ner to-day, that is my advice to you. And I was bid to tell you that when all was ready for their coming a fire is to be lighted on a high place, and then the Prince will come to the gates." ' - I longed much to hear more of his adventures, but neither love nor money would induce the thrice cautious Jan to set a foot within the precincts of the Red Tower. "I will light a bonfire when it is dark at the White Gate," he said, as he retracted himself into the dusk. " I know what will make, a rare blaze. And the Prince cannot come too soon." So indeed I thought also, as I looked out and saw the swarms of Duke Otho's men in the court -yard and about the square, and reflected on our helplessness here in the Red Tower within the defenced pretincts of the Wplfsberg. liL-i ■ r.y«dflf« .,V^*- by the wood tell where he )at he knows ■ / igerly. )es and whia> in ?" /" said, Bmilin||:. Tan, nodding I he is com- peck of mad ch to eat in e a good din- I waa bid to 3oming a fire le Prince will irentnres, but rice cautious ) Eed Tower, at the White to the dusk, id the Prince and saw the rt-yard and ilessness here Dincts of the CHAPTER LrV THE OBOWNINO OF DITKB OTHO But at loAg and Itet the most tardy-footed day comes to an end. And so, just as fast as on any common day, the sun at last dropped to the edge of the horizon and slowly sank, leaving a shallowing lake of orange color be- hind. The red roofs of Thorn grew gray, with purple veins of shadow in the interstices where the streets ran, .6r rather burrowed. The nightly hum of the city began. For, un- der the cruel rule of the wolves of the castle, Thorn was ever busiest in the night. Indeed, the cheating of the guard had become a business will understood of all the citizens, who had a regular code of signals to warn each other of its approach. Lights winked and kindled in the Wolfsberg over against me. I could see the long array of lighted win- dows where the Duke would presently be dining with Michael Texel, High Councillor Gerard von Sturm, and most of his other intimates. There, beneath, were the stables of the Black Riders, and before them men were constantly passing and repassing with buckets and s sol- dier gear. I wondered if the Duke had news of the approach of the enemy. S o B001 as I judge d it safe I we nt to the top of the B«l^ower mid ififolded the paper which Jan the Lub- ber Fiend had brought me. It was without name ,imd address or signatore, and read as follows : z «68 > -fe.,.. .^' (->.> yr '■■/# o^ l«^ THE RED AXE ^' "To-night we shall be all In readiness. When the time Is ripe let a fire be lighted upon some conspicuous tower or high place of the city. Then we will come." Thereafter Helene, being lonely, climbed np and tot down beside me. I handed her the paper. "To-night will be a stormy one in Thorn and the Wolf sberg, little one," said I. " I fear you and I are not yet out of the wood." The Little Playmate read the letter and gave it back to me. I tore it up, and let the wind carry away the pieces one by one, small, like dust, so that scarce one let- ter clave to another. Her hand stole into mine. "Ah," she sighed, "I am beginning to believe in it nowl To-night may be as dangerous as yesternight. But at least we are together, never to be separated. And to us two that means all.'* It was a strange marriage night, this of ours — thus to sit on the roof of the Tower, under the iron beacon which had been placed there in my grandfather's time, and listen to the hum and murmur of the city, straining our eyea meanwhile through the darkness to catch the first spear-glint from the army of the Prince. " If they do not come by midnight, or if Jan Lubber Fieii,d does not light his fire by the White (Jate, we must e'en risk it and kindle this one here on the Bed Tower." So the night passed on till it was about eleven, or it might be a quarter of an hour later. Then all suddenly I saw a little crowd of men disengage themselves from that private entrance of the Hall of Judgment by which, on the day of the trial, Dessaner and I had entered. Thftj r" ^B straight towards the Bed Tower at a qniok ran. Dear love," said 1[ to Helene, "lee yonder! Be 8M the time is ripe T high place of : r~ I np and tot torn and the >a and I are gave it back rry away the carce one let- believe in it yesternight. larated. And )ur8 — ^thus to beacon which r's time, and straining onr atch the first t Jan Lubber lite OtAie, we 3 on the Bed eleven, or it , all suddenly mselves from ant by which, had entered. ar at a qniok yonder I Be .i^. '^ THE CROWNING OF DUKE OTHO ready tp light the beacon.' I fear me mnoh that our time has come to fight for life." " Kisa me, then/' she said, " and I wiU be ready'for aU that may be. At worst, we can die together, true hus- band and true wife." o » uo- of ^T^i^rp**"*'* *^r * *^^d«ri»»« knock at the door of the Red Tower. I crouch^ on the stairs behind and listened mtently. I could hear the breathing of several men. "He is surejy within," saida voice. "The tower has been watched every moment of thb day." Again came the loud knocking. A "J^l^^'r''' *^® "^"^ °' *^® ^^'^^ '" oried the voice. And the door was rattled fiercely against its fastenings. But I knew weU enough that it could hold against any force of unassisted me^ For my father had ever taken a special pnd^ in the bars and defences of the single low door which led into his much-threatened residence So I crouched in the dark of the stairs and listened with yet more quivering intentness. Presently I could hear shoalders set to the iron-studded surface, and a voice counted, softly, "One-two-three-nind a heave I" But though I discerned the laboring of the men straining themselves with all their might, they might as weU have pushed at the rough-harled wall of the Wolfsberg. " It wUl not do," I heard one say at hist " We can- not hope to succeed thus. Bring the powder-bair and prepwe the fuse." « «- --k «iu So then I knew indeed that our time w^s at hand I mounted the stairs three at a time tilll came to the foom where Helene was waiting for me in the dark. "Fire the beacon on the Tower I" I bade her-J^onr enemies are upon qi I" iMi*^ "'*^***** n»y 1 ii»me iryou,"Higbl»^iSr" <• Nay, Uttl^jBiit^ tt li better that you bide on th« roof MB M \i L :n*is-^ . ■.^^*L u<-,ia^^ J i THB RED 4.XB and see tkat the beacon bnrus. Ton will find plenty of tow and oU in the niche by the stair-head. '' I cenM hear Helene give Tent to a little sigh. Bat she obeyed instantly, and her light feet w^t pattering t$ np the stairs. Then I waited for the explosion, which seemed as if it wonld neyer come. I had my dagger in my belt, bnt of pnre instinct my right hand seized the Bed Axe. For I had more skill of that than any other weapoi), and as I -" ^ had oast it down when they brought ns in from the scaf- fold that morning, it lay ready to my hand. So I waited at the stair-head, ^nd watched keenly the narrow passage np which the men mnst come one by ao)^ I measured my distance with the axe-handle, and made a trial sweep or two» so that I might be sure of clearing the stones on either side. I conld not see that there would be much difflcnlty in holding the place for a while, if only Prince Earl wonl^haste him and come. For to me the game of breaking heads and slicing necks w^ld be easy as cracking nnts on an anvil — aii least, so long as they wMtld come np singly. ' / Presently I heard the roar of bnming fnel above me, and imnfedia'tely after a cry from below^ Through the narrow stairway lattice I could see the uncertain flicker of flames lighting np the street. Men ran backward across the open square, looking up as they ran. So by that I knew that Helene had done her work, and was now watching the burning beacon, as Jhl^ames flicked upward and clapped their fiery applaiieive palms. Bat at the same Boment, ^19 the foot of the Btairs, there oame the load report of the explosion beneath the door of the Bed ^wer, the rumble of stones, and then an eager\rush of men to see what had been effected. irltrrttiSiptrMTlrtpped ti« BsaTERT^ Bui it Was not to be so soon.^ The iron bars, which my lathe^ iMd ettgiiMired so that they sank deep into B66 1^5 / i^Vikd*. Ji_'*i*?'U«''i,i.^''^^ M^^. TBE CROWNINO OF DtJKE OTHO the wall on either Bide, still held nobly, and I heard the loud voice crying again for a battering-ram. The sol- diers of the attacking party went scurrying across the yard, and presently returned, carrying between them a young tree cleared .of its branches, but with thorough bark still upon it. _ * Without, in the square, the turmoil increased, and the streets echoed with shouting. A wild hope came into my heart that Prince Karl had not awaited the summons of the beacon, and ^that his troops were already in the streets of Thorn. But even as the thought passed through my- brain I knew that it was vain. On the other hand, it was ievident that in the town the general alarm had been given, for the trumpets blew from the ramparts of the Wolfsberg, and the call to arms resounded incessantly in the court-yard. I doubted not also that many a stout burgher was getting him un- der arms— and but few of them to fight for the Puke. Suddenly the bars of the door jangled on the stones under the swinging blows of the battering-ram. I heard fe6t clatter on the stair. They came with a rush, but long ere they had arrived at the top the pace slackened. Only one man at a time could come up the stairway, and it is always a drag upon the enthusiasm of an assanlt when at least two cannot advance together. The light flickered and filtered in from the torchesrin the streets, and the reflected glow of the bonfire on the roof made the stair-head clear as a lucid twilight. I waited, with the axe swinging loosely in one hand. A head bobbed up, clad in a steel cap. But as tiie unseen feet propelled it upward the. Eed Ax^took little reck of the head. jBetwixt the steel cap and the rim of steel of and a thinner white line of neck. The Bed Axe swung. I bethought me that it was a bad light to cat off oalres' }MiA» in. Bat the Bed Axe m»de txo miitftke. 1 had M7 ^4^1^ '■$■■• THE RED AXE learned my trade, "there was not even a groan — (iply a dull thud aomo way underneath, anoh as yon may hear when the children of the quarter, ploy football on the streets. . ' ' \ Then the foremost of the assailants were blocked\ by ,the fallen body, and the feet of the men behind wi?re stayed as the strarigb round plaything rebounded amo^g them. • . • \ "Back r they cried, who were in front. ' ' \, "Forward!" replied thWe who were hindmdst an^ knew nothing.. . 1 i* Gome, men-^n and finish it I", cried the voice which^ had commanded the powder-flask and the tree — the'voice I now knew to be that of Duke Otho himself. But the kick-ball argument of the Bed Axe was might- ily discbun^gihg to those immediately coilcemed, and as I felt the muscles of my right ami and waited, I could hear Otho reasoning, threatening, coaxing, all in vj^. Xhen his tones modnted steadily into hot anger. He re- viled his followers for dogs, cowards, ours who hcd eaten his bread and now would not rid him of his enemies. "A thousand rix-dollars to the man who kills Hugo Gottfried r* he shouted. "But, hear ye, save .the girl aUveP' Yet not a man would attempt the first hazard of th^ stair. "Knaves, traitors, curs I'* he cried ; " would that there were so much as a single true man among you — ijkt there is not one worth spitting upon I" "Our yourself r growled a man, somewhere in the darkU««you have most at stake in this. Try the iktair yourself if you are so keen. We will follow fast enough 1" 'f God jifariake me dead if I do not I" nhoi it W«re onlj to shame you cowards.** He paused to prepare his weapons. • ' 'Follow me, men t** he shouted again ; " all together l" \ ■,\ ti' ■ i iifii. r^ ji 1 *•* ' \ t^t^ ?^ t,^ • «. iV'.^ * V A.A* jsVv'''vfi« j<.|fe«.v, ,i.\ A- y^ OHAPTEB LV THB LADY YSOMNDB SAVES HEB SOUL 'k n ,11 The Dnke's body sank down npon that of the soldier, still further blocking the passage. And as for his head, I know not where that went to. Bat the rash of his fol- lowers was utterly checked by the barrier of dead. With a wild cry, ** The Duke is dead ! Duke Otho is slain T' they rushed down and out of the Bed Tower, eager at once to escape unharmed, and to ;'carry to their compan- ions in the Wolf sberg the startling news. Nevertheless, I cleared my anoi, wiped my axe, and again stood rbady. ** Oome r I cried — " come all of yoti* You desire to kill me P Well, I am still waiting P* - But not a man answered. The stairway was clear, save of the headless dead. And then, sadden as summer thunder, through the dumb and empty silence, I heard dear and loud the clanging of the hamolters of Prince Karl Vpon the gates of Thorn. At that I felt that I must roar aloud in my fierce joy. I shouted angrily for more and more assailants to come up the stair, that I might kill them all. I yearned to be first at the gate, to see the men whom I had led break their way in to deliver the city. I, more than any other, had- brought them there. I h|id trained them for that work. Best of all, across the stairway beneath me lay dead Otho, Duke of the Wolf mark, beheaded by the Bed Aiie of hia own Justioer. ** Hosbaiid I Hugo I Are you wounded F^ said a Is^ft / '''i¥^A^}=l 1 \. i THE LADY Y$OLINDE SAVES HER SOUL , I . ypice behind me, a voice which in 9 moment recalled me, , from my bloody imal^nings and baresjirk f nry of fighting. "Helenel" I cri^d. * She approached, and woafd have thrown her arms . abont me. Bnt I held ont my hand to keep her off. ** Not now, chil(l," I said ; " touch me not. I am tin- wounded, but wet V And so I was, wet with that which h^d spouted from the neck of Otho vo4 Renss, as his trunk stood a mo- ment headless in. the btairway ere it fell prone — a hide- ous thing to see. "Oome, Helene," ij said, "we must away. There is other work for your{ husband to-night. -' You I will j)lace with the Bishoji Peter. But my place is with the men of Plassenburg and with Karl, my noble Prince." ' And I took her by jthe hand to lead her outy ■ ""!N"ot that way \" ^he cried, shrinking back. For the bodies of the two slain men lay there. And the stairs ran red f rolm step to step in red drips and lap- pering pools. I So I bethought ihe of what we should do, and ran forthwith for my father's cord, with which he was used to bind the malefactors upon the wheel. **Oome, Helene, 'f said I, and straightway fastened the rope to the iron bail from which I had made so many de- scents to the pavejbient in the old days of the White Wolves. I I let myself dowfn, and there in the angle of the tower wall, I waited to catch my wife. She delayed somewhat, and I could not think wherefore. But at last she j came, bringing the Bed Axq in her hand. \ "Go not weaponless 1" she said, tii^d I reached up and toole from h er haftd that w hich had aifeady served me "80^ weir. The Bed Axe had done its Work now, and she was gratofnl. | j Ml ■^"^s»iJJl^., .Voftl-Sit.V THE RED AXE Then full lightly she descended to my aide, and we / went down the streets of Thorn, which were filled with hurrying burgesses, all with weapons in their hands, rush- ing to discover the cause of the clamor. I took Helene hastily to the palace of the Bishop. And when I ar- rived there I saw Peter himself with his head out of a window. " I come to claim your protection for my wife 1" I cried. * He came down immediately with an attendant. "Fear not," I said, "you will never be called in ques- tion for this kindly deed. ■ The Duke Otho is slain, and the army of Prince Earl of Plassenburg is already at the gates." " The Duke is dead !" he gasped. " Who slew him ?" "Who but the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolf mark should slay a traitor ?" said I, smiling at his astonish- ment. And I held up the Red Axe, on which there was no)v no crystal-clear rim of shining steel. All was crim- son from haft to edge — red as blood. " Here, for an hotir, Helene, little wife, I must leave you 1" I said. „ But now she sobbed and clung to me as she had not done before, even in the dungeon. " Stay with me," she said. " I need you, Hugo I" I tobk ^er by the hand. " Little one," I whispered, as tenderly as I could, " I would not be worthily your husband if I went not to meet those who are fighting to save ns all this night. They have come from far to deliver ns. I were false and recreant if I went not to their assistance." **I know— I know," she said. "Go I" , And with that she gave a hand to.the'good Bishop and went quietly within, withr no more than a smile over her shoulder, like a wa^ry April sun-glint. —Their tbetooic me With MI speed to ffie Weiss Thor,"" whwre I judged tho chief struggle wokld take place.' us*-* , ide, and we ) filled with liands, rash- book Helene when I ar- lad ont of a ay wifel" I lant. led in qnes- is slain, and ready at the slew him ?" i Wolfmark is astonish- h there was 11 was crim- mnst leave ig to me as t. Engor I could, " I xreht not to this night, ire false and Bishop and ile oyer her VeisB *fhor,' take place/ THE LADY YSOLINDE SAVES HER SOUL And as I came I heard the rattle of shot and the jarring thunder of the forehammers. The aoldfers without Bhouted, and the men Within more- feebly replied. I came, in sight of the gate. There on my left hand was the house of Master Gerard von Sturm. A fire ^as still flickering upon the tower of it. Without I could hear the cheering and clamoring of the besiegers. But the gates remained obstinately shut. They were stronger than the Prince had anticipated. As I stood, uncertain what to do, I saw a slim white figure, the figure of a woman, flash across the open space towards the gate. The men who defended the gate . towers were all upon the top of the wall. Before any could stop her she had thrown herself upon the wheel by which the bars were unfastened, and with a few turns had drawn them as deftly as evil Duke Oasimir had been wont to remove the teeth of the rich Hebrew folk when he wanted supplies. The White Gate slowly opened upon creaking hinges. The faces of the soldiers of Plassenburg were seen with- out, the weapons gleamed in their hands as they came on shouting fiercely. The guards of the Duke rushed forward to close the gate. But the woman had clamped the wheel and stood holding the bar. It was the Lady Ysolinde. She saw me as the soldiers of Duke Otho dosed threateningly upon her. She waved her hand to me ^most happily. "I have saved my soul, Hugo Qoi^ried!" she cried. "/ have saved my soul r At that moment a soldier of the Black Riders struck , her fiercely with his lance. I saw the white bosom of »*^her dress redden as he plucked his weapon to him again. I I was in time to catch her in my arms as the soldiers of Plassenburg, with Prince Karl at their head, came — ^-tlHfoagl^ihe White (Stetelflre a spring-ttde, earning alT" before them. 868 vJ^«i«ftjJU-.», *-j* «*'■■ THE RED AXE '4- I 'I I i!; 1^ The Prince stayed at his wife's side. " Yflolinde V cried the Prince, aghast, bending over her — n^t heeding, nor indeed, as I think, even seeing me. */Karil" she said, looking gently at him, ^* try and forgive me all the rest. Bat be glad that I opened the White Gate for you. I, Ysolinde, your wife, did it for your sake." I put her into het husband's arms. I saw at a glance that there was no hope. She could not live many mo- ments with that lance-thrust through her breast. She looked at him again. "Karl — say 'Ysolinde, I love yon 1'" she whispered, almost shyly. He looked down, and a rush of unwonted tears came to the eyes of the Prince of Plassenburg. ^ "Ysolinde, I love you 1" he made answer, in a broken s, voice. She smiled, and then looked over his shoulder up at me. " Hugo Gottfried, have I not saved my soul f" she cried. And so passed. i' t- * ' 3''' I -^ CHAPTER LVI A HELEKA, PRINCESS OP PLA8SEKBUR0 There was, however, deadly work yet before the men of Plassenburg. We, found, indeed, that the townsfolk were with us almost to a man. Their guild train-bands gathered and mustered at their halls. The guards at the city gates fraternally turned their arms to the ground. " The Prince will restore your ancient liberties I" I cried. And the people shouted. "Prince Karl of Plassenburg and our ancient liberties !" Then we made our way up the street by different routes to the Wolfsberg. There was little fighting till we arrived under those vast and gloomy ^'walls. The Black Riders had disappeared within. Those worst tools of grim tyranny had early withdrawn themselves, knowing that small mercy would be shown them by the people if once the Wolfsberg were taken. But the com- mon soldiers of^e fighting rank, sons and brothers of the Women of Thorn, tore off the badge of the bloody t)uke8 and with loud shouts marched with us as com- rades. BotfWhen we came before the walls, and with sound pf trumpet and loud shouts summoned the Wolfsberg to surrender, a discharge of musketry from the walls, and the determined faces of a multitude of defenders showed us conclusively that all was not yet over. It was no use wasting men in attacking the great pile of buildings with the force at our disposal. We had meIi^i1l plenty^ but for breeching we needed the cannon 866 r^ II .THB RED AXE left behind by these swift forces, which, marching day and night, had arrived in the very nick of time before thewalls of Thorn. Severtheless, it was not the fate of the Wolf sberg to be taken by Lazy Peg and her compeers. These pondferons pieces* of ordnance were presently being dragged through the swamps and over the brick- dust barrens of the borderlands, and it might be three or four days before they could arrive to aid us. There was nothing, therefore,) to do but to sit down and wait, draw- ing a cincture that not a mouse could creep through about the cliffs of the Wolfsberg. But deep within the heart of the old Bed Tower there was one stronger than Lazy Peg fighting for us. " Fire I Fire I" cried the people in the streets. " The Wolfsberg is on fire I" And so, surely, it was. The flames burst out from the windows of the Red Tower and were rapidly carried by a dry fanning northerly wind along the wooden workshops and kennels to the main building, where the Hall of Judgment was soon blazing like a torch. The defenders seemed paralyzed by this misadventure." Some ran to the castle well. Some threw themselves desperately from the walls, others crowded to the gates, and through the bars besbught our Prince's pledge thSt mercy would be shown them. Then the crowd without were ill to deal with, for they cried aloud, " No mercy to the murderers I Show ua our Saint Helena !" Then it was that I leaped once more upon the scaffold, which had seen such a sight the day before, and cried, " Duke Otho is dead ! I, Hugo Gottfried, slew him with ' this Red Axe. Prince Karl is come to save you, and to give you back your ancient liberties. Your Saint Helena is my wife, and is safe under the protection of Bishop Peter." But though they cheered at my words they would not 866 r^ larohing day ! time before )lf sberg to be ire presently 3r the brick- it be three or There was I wait, draw- eep through Tower there ns. eets. "The ; was. The Red Tower rtherly wind to the main soon blazing jzed by this rell. Some rails, others •esoughtonr ;hem. ith, for they ! Show U3 ;he scaffold, , and cried, )W him with ' re yon, and four Saint roteotion.of f would not HELB^TA, PRINCESS OF PLASSENBURG cease from crying, " Show us Saint Helena, and if she bid us we will have mercy on the wolves of the Wolf s- berg 1'' So it was necessary for Helene to be brought and to show herself to them, for the sake of the poor souls sore driven and in jeopardy 'twixt tie fire and the knives. "Have mejMifej|i the poor folk !" she cried, when they had ^one 8tfH|Hp because of her safety. "At worst, they are bi^mlVgnided, ignorant men !'* By this time the doors of the Wolfsberg were thrown open from within, and the men crowded out, Casting down their arms in heaps on either side the gate. They were then marched, under charge of the soldiers of Plassenburg, to various strongholds which were pointed out by the Burgomeister and the chiefs of the guilds. The fortified halls of the trades were filled with them. By daybreak the whole of Thorn was in our hands, while the gray barrens of the Wolf mark were lit for leagues by the flaming Wolfsberg, which, on its craggy height; vomited fire and sparks into the blackness of night. And the reek of this great burning hung for days after in the heavens. Thus was an end made to the iniquities of the house of the Black' Duke Casimir and the Red Dnke Otho. And the last Duke mixed his ashes with that of the fatal Tower. For on the morrow there re- mained only the blackened walls and glowing skeleton beams of all that mighty palace — which, indeed, has never been rebuilt. For the people of Thorn, under the mild and equitable rule which followed, erected a great memorial church upon the spot — as may be seen to this day, a landmark from far to witness if I have lied in the tale which has been told. So the Prince Karl gave back to Thorn its liberties, as he had promised. But the regality of the Dukedom he kept for himself, and he took the Wolf mark and made 867 THE RED AXE I' l III ^{^ it part of his dominions, till, as he had formerly under- takep, the broom - bush kept the oo# , thronghont the length and breadth of Plassenbnrg and the Mark. It was a noble home > coming when we returned to Plassenbarg — victorious and famoas; but also there was mourning deep i^nd solemn for the Princess Yso- linde, who .by her sacrifice had wrought such great things for the arms of Plassenbnrg, and had died* in the moment of victory. Then, when tdter the stately fhner^ of the dead Prin- cess we returned back to'the palace, it was the Prince's pleasure that Helene and myself should ride on either hand of hiffl through the city. ^ And when we were announced in the court, and the councillors of ^tate stood about, my wife Was named by her true name, " Helena, Princess of Plassenburg 1** Whereftt the courtiers opened their mouths and wi- dened their eyes — thinking, perhaps, #hat that ancient wizard. Chancellor Leopold von Dessau er ^d suddenly gone mad. But when the representatives of the cities of the Princedom, and the delegates from Thorn and the Mark, had been received with due honor, the Princfe bade his Chancellor recount all he had. learned from my father, and all that he had discoveired in the ar-. chiv€s of Plassenburg{ ' • Then, when Dessauer had finished. Earl the Prinoe arose. *' I am," he said, "a plain, brusque man. And speech was never my stronghold. But this I say. When Earl the Miller's Son goes the way of Eing's son and beggar's son, it is his will that Helene, legitimate Princess of Plassenburg, shall reign over yon. And also that her husband, Hugo, who, as you know, won her from dread* fnl death, shall stand by her right hand.'' MS t ^1^ merly nnder- onghont the Mark. retamed to t also there Mnoess Tsd- ; Bach great had died' in le dead Prin- the Prince's de on either mrt, and the as named hy abnrg 1'* nths and wi- that ancient i^d suddenly sities of the >m and the , the Princfe earned from i in the ar-. 1 the Prince And speech When Karl and beggar's Princess of tlso that her from dread' HELENA^ PRINCESS OF PLASSENBURG Then the nobles and great lords, fearing the Prince, and perhaps also ^nyying a little the man who was the Prince's general of his armies, shouted amain : " We swear to obey the Princess Helena I" Whereat uprose the Little Playmate, very princess-like and full of sweet regal dignity. - " I thank you, noble Prince," she said. "I am glad that I can claim so honorable a name and lineage ; but I had ratber be no Princess, nor anything else than that " which my husband hath made me — the wife of th? caps- tain-general of the armies' of Karl, the only true and noble Prince of Plassenburg r Then the Prince rose and clasjiied her in his arths, kissingher fondly on both, cheeks, v , ; "Ffear not," he said, "dear and loyal lady. - If you live to be the Princess, your goodman shall M the Prince. Never shall the gray mare flaunt it first in Plassenburg I" / ' And he gave us each a hand, and conducted us to a pair of seats which had been s^t level with his on the platform of the Council-chamber of the'Princedomk* The Prince Karl lived many days after the wiiining of the Wolf mark and the ending of the ducal Wolves. But he gave less and less care to the regalities, leaving them even more completely to me, sitting mostly in the pleas- aunOe by the river -side, or in t^e far -regarding room.^ which had been the Lady Ysolinde's. " >. Also he never looked again, on the face of k woman— except as it might be to bid them good-day — sav^ on that of my wife, Helene, who, as you who know her may guess, waxed but the sweeter and the fairer as the years went by. And the blessing of children came to us, and in this thing the Prince Kaxl was even happier than we. One day, however, it chanced that he was seated in full Oonncy, and, right noble he looked. > I had just ^ TflE RED AXE I ^ handed him a paper to sign. But he looked neither at m© nor yet at the paper. His eyes were fixed on the locked doors of the privy bedchamber, through which only those of princely blood might oome. He stared so long at it that to recall him I put my hand on his sleeve and sfud, " Prince, the Council waits your pleasure 1" But he heard me not, his eyes being fixed on the door. " Your pardon, my lords and knights," he said, at last, fighting a little stiffly with his utterance, "but it seemed that I saw the Princess, my wife, come through the door, clad in white, and beckon me with her hand. I must go to her, my lords ; I think she waits for me. The PHnce Hugo will take my place at the Council." And the old man took a step from the high seat. But at the foot of the throne he stumbled and fell into my arms. He said but one word after that, with his eyes still fixed on the bolted door. "rsoUndel" And so the Prince Karl and his wife were united at last. Since then we have lived long, the Little Playmate and I J but never have we been other than comrades and friends— lovers also, which is- the best of all. And so (an the good God please) we shall abide till the end tjomes. And in the gloaming we two also shall see the beckoning finger from beyond the bolted door and turn our feet homeward, passing the bourne of the new life hand in hand — and undismayed. XHB Bzn> «fe neither at :ed on the igh which I put my incil waits L the door. ki(}, at last, it seemed . the door, I most go 'he PHnce seat. Bat [1 into my eyes still. ed at kst. irmate and :ade8 and And BO the end 11 see the and tnm I new life I il- 1 which even Duke Otho is beringrthe experiencea of 1 when he crossed* his swo] unworthy servant of Holy " I thank youj" said I. ble to avail myself of your will be necessary to abide ; Bed Tower." "Ah/'hesaid, "why tl " Great things may hap] op !" said I, and glanced of Plassenburg. "Ah," said the Bishop Holy Church may not be Otho by to-morrow at this Aiid, calling his attend prelate made his way wit mony down the streets of