rned down. At the same time he again posted the
well-known mandate, this time, furthermore, on the corners of the
city hall itself, and he added a notice concerning the fate of Captain
von Gerstenberg who had been sent against him by the Governor, and
whom he had overwhelmingly defeated.

The Governor of the province, highly incensed at this defiance, placed
himself with several knights at the head of a troop of one hundred and
fifty men. At a written request he gave Squire Wenzel Tronka a guard
to protect him from the violence of the people, who flatly insisted
that he must be removed from the city. After the Governor had had
guards placed in all the villages in the vicinity, and also had
sentinels stationed on the city walls to prevent a surprise, he
himself set out on Saint Gervaise's day to capture the dragon who was
devastating the land. The horse-dealer was clever enough to keep out
of the way of this troop. By skilfully executed marches he enticed the
Governor five leagues away from the city, and by means of various
manoeuvres he gave the other the mistaken notion that, hard pressed by
superior numbers, he was going to throw himself into Brandenburg.
Then, when the third night closed in, he made a forced ride back to
Wittenberg, and for the third time set fire to the city. Herse, who
crept into the town in disguise, carried out this horrible feat of
daring, and because of a sharp north wind that was blowing, the fire
proved so destructive and spread so rapidly that in less than three
hours forty-two houses, two churches, several convents and schools,
and the very residence of the electoral governor of the province were
reduced to ruins and ashes.

The Governor who, when the day broke, believed his adversary to be in
Brandenburg, returned by forced marches when informed of what had
happened, and found the city in a general uproar. The people were
massed by thousands around the Squire's house, which was barricaded
with heavy timbers and posts, and with wild cries they demanded his
expulsion from the city. Two burgomasters, Jenkens and Otto by name,
who were present in their official dress at the head of the entire
city council, tried in vain to explain that they absolutely must await
the return of a courier who had been dispatched to the President of
the Chancery of State for permission to send the Squire to Dresden,
whither he himself, for many reasons, wished to go. The unreasoning
crowd, armed with pikes and s