wound
a long and powerful blast; but the echo was the only answer he received.
He repeated the sound with the like effect. Again the Baron lost his
patience, and "Der terefel--" when all at once his steed made a dead
stop, and pricked up his ears as at some well known sound. The Baron
listened attentively, and distinctly heard the blast he had sounded ten
minutes before, responded by one so exactly similar, though apparently
at a great distance, that he could scarcely believe the "evidence" of
his ears. "By the mass but that must be the work of Mynheer von
Heidelberger himself, for no one in my own broad barony can wind that
blast save Rudolf Wurtzheim." He shrunk within himself at the very
thought; for to any one it was rather appalling to meet this being at
such a place and hour. The recollection of an adventure in these wilds
which occurred on this very eve, twelve-months previous, now rushed
vividly to his mind. The concurrence in the date was startling. In
short, on reflection, he began to think there was witchcraft throughout
the affair.

He had lost his companions of the chase in rather a singular manner; on
this afternoon, being unusually unsuccessful, the Baron, while hunting
a brace of favourite stag-hounds in a dell apart from the rest of the
field, suddenly struck upon a boar of remarkable size; attracted by the
cries of the dogs, the Baron spurred Hans to the pursuit, and did not
reflect that he was pursuing a route apart from the other hunters; and
trusting to his knowledge of the wilds he so often traversed, he bore
on with undiminished speed. The boar seemed to have a pair of wings in
addition to his legs. Suffice it to say, that though Hans chased him in
gallant style, yet the Baron eventually lost his way in the pursuit,
partly owing to the doubling of the animal, till both dogs and boar
completely disappeared from sight.

Entangled in the forest, the evening rapidly approached, a general hush
prevailed, and all endeavours to recover his track seemed fruitless.

The sun had now gone down for a considerable time, and a mist was
arising that obscured the little light which the luminary of night
afforded.

"Mein Gott," exclaimed the Baron, "mortal or devil, he has involved me
in a very disagreeable predicament, and to avoid him is, I fear,
impossible." He once more sounded a long blast; again the blast was
re-echoed after a short lapse of time, though seemingly at an extreme
distance. "Ah, there it c