Part 1 (2/2)
The sleigh had now turned out of the high road, and entered the forest.
For some time the way lay plain before them, but at length came a fork, where two roads met.
”Now, then,” exclaimed Max, ”which way? Blumenwald, thou hast been to Ole's before--must I take the right hand or the left?”
”Upon my word, I have forgotten!” exclaimed Walther. ”It was a dark night when I drove out with my cousins; but, it appears to me, upon the whole, that we took the right hand road.”
”Well, we can only try,” said Max; ”at least, if we don't get to Ole's, we shall have had a merry sleigh ride.”
He shook the reins, and the impatient horses darted off; but, my stars!
they had taken the wrong road! Deeper grew the wood; the roughness of the path momentarily increased; the trees became so thick that the moonlight no longer penetrated them, and Max at length stopped his horses once more, and gazed around him in bewilderment.
”Potstausend!” exclaimed the Burgomaster; ”where has the boy taken us? I tell you what, mein sonne, thou hadst best turn back, for we shall never get to Ole's to-night.”
”And thy sister will take her death of cold!” cried the Frau Von Geirstein, while Walther looked anxiously at the fair Matilda, who only smiled up at him, and drew her fur-lined hood more closely about her face.
Just as they were about to turn back, they heard a sound of sleigh-bells behind, and presently a small sleigh approached them, drawn by a spirited horse.
Max, without more ado, hailed the stranger, and begged him to set them, if he could, on the road to Ole's.
The new comer bowed courteously to the ladies, and replied, ”I shall be most happy to direct you thither, my respectable friends. In short, then, you follow the road before you for a time, then turn to your right; next, pursue your way in a southeast direction for a mile; next, turn toward the northwest, and then----”
”What, sir!” interrupted Max, ”do you suppose we can go to all points of the compa.s.s at once? What do you mean by your northwest and southeast?”
”Potstausend! is the fellow making fun of us?” exclaimed the Burgomaster.
”Surely the Herr Von Geirstein cannot suppose I would be guilty of so great an impertinence!” exclaimed the stranger. ”It is true, the road is somewhat obscure; may I not also have the pleasure of driving you to Ole's?”
”We thank you--you are most kind,” replied the mollified Burgomaster, who never doubted for a moment that his vast importance caused him to be known to all the world; ”but what will become of your sledge?”
”Oh, I don't fear for the sledge--that can remain here among the underwood; and my horse can be attached in front of yours.”
This arrangement was soon effected, and the stranger, who was so m.u.f.fled up in fur cap and coat, that scarcely a feature could be distinguished, mounted beside Max, and seized the reins.
Donnerwetter! how he shouted at the horses! cracking his whip, and calling them all manner of strange names. ”Now, then, pig with a wooden head! Get along with you, toad of serpents! To the mischief with the whole team!” till the foam flew on all sides, the iron-clad heels of the steeds rang like hammer upon anvil on the frozen ground, and sparks scintillated in the air!
Meanwhile, however, the effect of this rapid motion on the Burgomaster's family was anything but exhilarating. Now that the bustle of setting out was at an end, they one and all began to feel afraid of their strange guide, and to think there was something more than common in their adventure.
”He's a very odd-looking man, after all,” whispered the Burgomaster's wife; ”how do we know what sort of a fellow he is, and if he is taking us to Ole's at all? I, for my part, believe he's in league with some robber band, and we shall all be murdered.”
”Potstausend! it looks very much like it!” exclaimed the Burgomaster, who, although so big a man, was mighty chicken-hearted. ”I wish Max had not been so confoundedly hasty in accepting his advice.”
”I beg thy pardon there, father-in-law,” returned Walther; ”it was thou who bade him come in.”
The Burgomaster was about to make some peppery reply, when Max suddenly broke upon the whispered conversation by exclaiming:
”Since you are so good, sir, as to drive us, perhaps you will inform us to whom we are obliged.”
But the stranger, who, before this, had been the noisiest of the party, appeared to have become suddenly dumb, for he answered not a word.
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