s for
the Duke from the knight of Lichtenstein, namely, that the men in power
are out of the land, do you know----"

"Is it the meeting they now hold at Noerdlingen you mean?" interrupted
Albert. "Oh! yes, we know it, for it was that news which determined the
Duke to commence operations."

"Well, when the cats are away, the mice will play," said the fifer;
"the garrisons are every where careless. None of the League think any
more of the Duke, their attention being wholly taken up with the
meeting at Noerdlingen, where it will be decided, whether Austria, or
Bavaria, or Prince Christoph, or the Leaguist towns Augsburg and Aalen,
Nuernberg, and Bopfinger, will reign over us."

"What long faces they will make," exclaimed Albert, smiling, "when they
hear that the chair about which they are quarrelling is already
possessed:

'The frog jumps into the muddy pool,
Tho' he may set upon a golden stool!'

says the proverb; they may shoulder their guns and give up governing
now. And the Wuertembergers, what are their feelings towards the Duke at
present? Do you believe many will come to his assistance?"

"He may reckon upon the citizens and peasantry," replied the fifer.
"How it stands with the knights, I don't know; for when I asked the old
man of Lichtenstein, he shrugged up his shoulders and muttered a couple
of curses: I fear that matter is not so well as it should be. But
citizens and peasants hold to a man for their Prince. Many
extraordinary signs have appeared, which encourage the people. Lately
in the valley of the Rems a stone fell from the sky, on one side of
which a stag's horn and the following words were engraved, 'Here's to
good Wuertemberg for ever,' and on the reverse, in Latin, 'Long live
Duke Ulerich.'"

"Did you say it fell from the sky?"

"So it was said. The peasantry were overjoyed at it, but the officers
of the League put the magistrate of the place where it had fallen into
prison, and wanted to extort from him the name of the person who had
engraved the letters. And when it was proclaimed, upon pain of severe
punishment, that no one was to speak of the Duke, the men only laughed,
and said, 'We dream of him now.' They all wish him back again, and
would rather be oppressed by their legitimate Lord than be flayed by
strangers."

"That's as it should be," said Albert. "The Duke and his cavalry may be
here in a few hours. His intention is, to cut his way straight through
the c