Part 42 (1/2)
We placed ourselves in ambush near the bridge, as the doctor ordered us. It was still dark, when we heard the tread of horses approach the bridge, and at the same time perceived the signal which our cavalry on the other side of it had agreed to make as soon as the Duke's party issued from the wood. ”Now is the time,” cried the doctor; ”we instantly got up and occupied the exit from the bridge. As far as we could distinguish, four hors.e.m.e.n and a peasant formed the party. The two hindermost turned back and engaged our cavalry, whilst the other two, and the peasant, attacked us.
”We stretched out our lances, the doctor calling to them to surrender; but they paid no attention to the summons, and fell on us with determined fury. The man in the green mantle was pointed out as the prize, and we should soon have had him had it not been for the peasant,--if it was not, indeed, the very devil himself,--who with his axe felled the doctor and two of our comrades in a trice. One of our party revenged our leader's life by running the peasant through the body with his halbert, which encouraged us to renew our attack on the man in the green mantle. His companion sprang his horse over the bridge into the Neckar, and swam down the river. Having subdued the man who was our princ.i.p.al object, we let the other go, and brought the prisoner with us.”
”That was Ulerich, and no other,” cried Alban von Klosen. ”Ha! to jump over the bridge into the river! no other man in the whole world would have dared to do so.”
”We must follow him,” Truchses exclaimed; ”the whole of the cavalry must start immediately and hunt the banks of the river,--I myself will go----”
”Oh! sir,” replied one of the soldiers, ”you are too late; we left the bridge three hours ago, so that he will have got a long start, and, as no one knows the country better than he does, there is no chance of finding him.”
”Fellow! do you mean to prescribe to me what to do?” cried Truchses in fury: ”You allowed him to escape, and you shall be answerable for it.
Call the guard--I'll have you hung at once!”
”Pray be just,” said Fronsberg. ”It was not the poor fellows' fault; they would have been too happy to have earned the money which was set on the Duke's head. The doctor was the cause of his escape, and you have already heard he is not alive to answer for it.”
”It was you, therefore, who represented the person of the Duke,” said Truchses, turning to Albert, who had calmly looked on during this scene. ”You are always coming in my way, with your milk face. The devil employs you everywhere, when you are least wanted. This is not the first time that you have crossed my plans.”
”No,” replied Albert, ”for when you fell upon the Duke, as you supposed, at Neuffen, it was I who crossed your path there also; and it was I whom your men cut down that night.”
The knights were astonished to hear this, and looked inquisitively at Truchses. He reddened, but whether from anger or shame it was not known, and said, ”What are you chattering about Neuffen? I know nothing about that affair. I only regret that when they cut you down you had ever risen again to appear before me this day a second time. But as it is, I rejoice to have you in my clutches. You have proved yourself the bitterest enemy of the League; you have acted in the service of the exiled Duke both openly and secretly, thereby sharing his offence against us and the whole empire. Beside these crimes, you have been taken this day with arms in your hands. You are therefore guilty of high treason against the most ill.u.s.trious League of Swabia and Franconia.”
”Your charges are highly ridiculous,” replied the young man, in a tone of defiance: ”you made me swear to remain neuter between the two parties for fourteen days, to which I faithfully adhered, so true as G.o.d is my witness. You have no right to require an account of my conduct since that time, for I was no longer bound to you: and as to what you say of my being taken with arms in my hand, I would ask you, n.o.ble knights, who among you would not defend his life to the last when he was attacked by six or eight men? I demand then, as my right, the treatment becoming the rank of knighthood; and therefore I am ready to swear to a six weeks' neutrality. You cannot require more of me.”
”Would you prescribe laws to us?” said Truchses. ”You have learned a good lesson, indeed, from the Duke. I think I hear him speaking; but not one step shall you take to your friends before you own where that old fox, your father-in-law, is, and the road the Duke has taken.”
”The knight of Lichtenstein was taken prisoner by your cavalry,” he replied; ”but the road which the Duke has taken, I know not; and I am ready to give my word of honour upon it.”
”To be treated as a knight, indeed!” said Truchses, with a sarcastic laugh; ”there you deceive yourself altogether. You must first prove where you won the golden spur! No; such criminals as you, are, according to our laws, thrown into the lowest dungeons; and so I will commence with you.”
”I think that unnecessary,” interrupted Fronsberg. ”I will answer for Albert von Sturmfeder that he has a right to the golden spurs; besides which, he saved the life of a n.o.ble belonging to the League. You cannot forget the evidence of Dieterich von Kraft, how, through the intercession of this knight, he was saved from an ignominious death, and was even set at liberty. He has a right, therefore, to the same treatment by us.”
”I know you have always spoken a word for him, your darling child,”
rejoined Truchses; ”but this once it is of no avail. He must be sent to the tower of Esslingen this very moment.”
”I will stand bail for him,” said Fronsberg. ”I possess the right of a voice in council with the rest. Let it pa.s.s to the vote what is to be done with the prisoner. In the mean while, let him be conducted to my tent.”
Albert cast a look of heartfelt grat.i.tude at his kind n.o.ble friend, for having a second time saved him from a threatened danger. Truchses muttered an order to the guards to follow the orders of Fronsberg, who led their prisoner through the narrow paths of the camp to the tent of the commander of the infantry.
Shortly after he had arrived at his destination, the man to whom he was so highly indebted stood before him, but Albert could not find words to express his sense of grat.i.tude and respect. Fronsberg smiled at his embarra.s.sment, and embraced him. ”No thanks, no excuses,” said he. ”Did I not already antic.i.p.ate all this when we took leave of each other in Ulm? But you would not believe me, and were determined to bury yourself among the ruins of the castle of your ancestors. I do not blame you; for believe me the campaigns and storms of many wars have not yet hardened my heart so much as to make me forget the power of love.”
”My friend, my father!” exclaimed Albert, blus.h.i.+ng with joy.
”Yes, I am truly your father,--the friend of your father. I have often thought of you with pride, even when you stood opposed to me in the enemy's ranks. Your name, young as you are, will always be mentioned with respect; for fidelity and courage in an enemy are always highly esteemed by a man of honour. Most of us rejoice that the Duke has escaped, for what could we have done with him? Truchses might perhaps have committed a rash step, which we all might have had cause to repent.”
”And what is my fate to be?” asked Albert. ”Am I to remain long in prison? Where is the knight of Lichtenstein? Oh, my poor wife! may I not see her?”
Fronsberg smiled mysteriously. ”That will be difficult to manage,” said he. ”You will be sent to a fortress under safe escort, and given over to a guard, who will have orders to watch you strictly, and from whose charge you will not escape so easily. But, be of good cheer; the knight of Lichtenstein will accompany you, and both of you must swear to a year's neutrality and imprisonment.”
Fronsberg was now interrupted by three men, who stormed his tent;--it was Breitenstein and Dieterich von Kraft, leading the knight of Lichtenstein between them.