Wuertemberg.]

CHAPTER XIX.

The rugged rocks fantastic forms assume,
Seen in the darkling of the midnight gloom;
And the wild evergreens so dimly bright,
Seem to reflect a kind of lurid light;
This sight so strange may well our knight amaze,
He stops, upon the witchery to gaze.
WIELAND.

The spot to which they had arrived in this large cavern, possessed one
great advantage, that of being perfectly dry. The ground was covered
with rushes and straw; a lamp hung on the side of the rock, which threw
sufficient light on the breadth, and a great part of the length, of the
grotto. Opposite the entrance sat the stranger upon a large bear skin,
and near him stood his sword and a bugle horn; an old hat, and a grey
cloak lay on the ground. A jacket of dark brown leather, and trowsers
of coarse blue cloth, covered his person; an unseemly costume, but
which did not the less set off the powerful shape of his body, and the
noble features of his countenance. He was about thirty-four years old,
and his face might be called still handsome and pleasing, although the
first bloom of youth was worn off by hardship and fatigue, and his
beard having grown wild upon his chin, imparted to his look an air of
severity. Albert made these fleeting remarks as he stopped at the
entrance of the grotto.

"Welcome to my palace, Albert von Sturmfeder," said its inhabitant,
whilst he rose from his bear skin, and offering him his hand, begged
him to take a seat beside him on a deer skin: "you are heartily
welcome," he repeated. "It was no bad thought of our friend the
musician, to introduce you into these lower regions, and bring me such
agreeable society. Hans, thou faithful soul! thou hast been our major
domo and chancellor up to this moment, from henceforth we nominate thee
our head-master of the cellar and purveyor-general. Look behind that
pillar, and thou'lt find the remains of a bottle of good old wine. Take
my beech-wood hunting-cup, the only utensil left us, and fill it up to
the brim, to the honour of our worthy guest."

Albert beheld the exiled man in astonishment; though he might have
expected to find the energies of his mind unsubdued by the storms of
life, still he was prepared to see him brooding over his misfortunes in
sullen melancholy, driven by hard fate to seek shelter in