a dozen dogs flew at me. At this I broke a stick or
something from the fence, and lay three of the dogs dead at my feet;
but when, tortured by their fangs, I was forced to give way, 'Phew!'
went a pipe--the dogs were in the yard--bang went the gate--the bolt
was drawn, and down in the road I fell, quite exhausted."

Kohlhaas, though his face was white, affected a jocose style, and said,
"Now, did not you wish to abscond, Herse?" and when the man, colouring,
looked on the ground, he added, "Now confess, you did not like the
pigsty, you thought the stable in Kohlhaasenbrueck much better--did you
not?" "Thunder of Heaven!" exclaimed Herse, "I left the harness and
horse-cloths, and the bundle of linen in the sty. Should I not have
secured the three crowns which I left in the red silk neckerchief, hid
behind the manger? Death and the devil!--When you talk so, you make me
wish to light that match again which I threw away;" "Nay, nay," said
Kohlhaas, "I did not mean so ill with you, I believe every word you
have spoken, and if there is any talk about it, I will take the
sacrament upon it; I am only sorry that you fared no better in my
service. Go to bed, Herse; go to bed. Take a flask of wine and
comfort yourself--you shall have justice." He then rose, asked for a
list of the things which the man had left in the sty, specified their
value; asked him the expenses of curing his hurt, and, after shaking
hands with him, let him go.

He then told his wife, Lisbeth, the whole particulars of the affair;
said that he was resolved to claim public justice, and was pleased to
see that in this design she fully agreed with him. For she said that
many other travellers, probably less forbearing than he, would go by
that castle, that it would be a pious work to stop disorders like
these, and that she would soon collect enough for the expenses of the
suit. Kohlhaas called her a dear woman, passed this and the following
day with her and his children, and, as soon as business allowed, went
to Dresden to make his complaint before the tribunal.

Then with the help of a lawyer of his acquaintance he drew up a
petition, in which, after a circumstantial statement of the wrong which
the Squire Wenzel von Tronka had done both to him, and his servant
Herse, he claimed that he should be punished according to law, that his
horses should be restored to their former condition, and that
compensation should be awarded for the wrong which he and h