upon
by the whole city as her pledged husband, had not quitted her, but had
been ready rather to shed his heart's blood in her service.

Verily Ursula believed that she had found a sure instrument of
vengeance, whereas she had heard say that Junker Henning von Beust was
one of the most dreaded swordsmen in the Marches. Herdegen, to be sure,
was likewise famed in Nuremberg as a doughty champion; yet it is ever
the way in Franconia, nay, and in all Germany, to esteem outlandish
means more highly than the best at home. Moreover she had many a
time heard my grand-uncle declare that the gentlemen of our patrician
families were not above half knights, and her intent was to sacrifice
Herdegen to the Brandenburger's weapon.

Howbeit she had reckoned ill. Hans, who did service to my brother as his
second at Altenperg, after striving faithfully to make peace between
the two, was witness how our Nuremberg swordsman, who had had the
finest schooling at Erfurt, Padua, and Paris, not merely withstood the
Brandenburger, but so far outdid him in strength and swiftness that the
Junker fell into the arms of his friends with wounds in the head and
breast, while Herdegen came forth from the fray with no more hurt than a
slight scratch on the arm.

The witnesses saw what he could do with amazement, and Sir Apitz von
Rochow avowed that at my brother's first thrust he foresaw his cousin's
evil plight; and they said that during the combat the supple blade of
the Nuremberger's bedizened sword was changed into a raging serpent,
which wound in everywhere, and bit through iron and steel. Afterwards he
set forth that perchance Junker Schopper, who was said to be even better
versed in all manner of writing than in the use of his weapon, had made
use of some magic art, whereat a pious Knight of the Marches would fain
cross himself.

Now whereas Junker von Beust had been in attendance on the King's
person, the end of the fray could not be hidden from his Majesty, and
so soon as the wounded man had been carried into the priest's house at
Altenperg for shelter and care, it was needful to remove his fortunate
foe into surety from King Sigismund's wrath. In this matter both Rochow
and Muschwitz, who were the Junker's seconds, demeaned them as true
nobles, inasmuch as they offered my brother refuge and concealment in
their castles, albeit they accused him between themselves of some secret
art; but he who was so soon to die counselled him to bide a whi