ll the
hopes of the country. Kohlhaas, who had lost none of his own men in
the encounter, fired the town anew on the following morning, and his
criminal plans were so well laid that a number of houses, and nearly
all the barns of the suburbs were reduced to ashes. He then again
posted up his decree, and that in the corners of the town-house, adding
an account of the fate of Captain von Gerstenberg, whom the governor
had sent out against him, and whom he had demolished. The governor,
greatly enraged at this defiance, placed himself with several knights
at the head of a band of a hundred and fifty men. To Squire von
Tronka, who had sent him a written petition, he gave a guard, to
protect him from the violence of the people, who wished him to be
turned out of the city without more ado, and after he had posted guards
in all the villages around, and also had garrisoned the walls of the
city to defend it from a surprise, he set out on St. Gervas's day, to
capture the dragon that was thus laying waste the country. The
horse-dealer was cunning enough to avoid this troop, and after he had,
by his clever retreats, lured away the governor five miles from the
city, and had made him believe by various preparations that if pressed
by numbers he would throw himself into the Brandenburg territory, he
suddenly faced about at the approach of the third night, and galloping
back to Wittenberg for the third time to set it on fire. This
frightful act of audacity was achieved by Herse, who had entered the
city disguised, and the conflagration, through the action of a sharp
north wind was so destructive, and extended its ravages so far that in
less than three hours, two-and-forty houses, two churches, several
schools and convents, and the governor's residence were levelled with
the ground. The governor, who believed that his adversary was in
Brandenburg, at break of day, found the city in a general uproar, when
having been informed of what had passed, he returned by forced marches.
The people had assembled by thousands before the house of Squire von
Tronka, which was fortified with boards and palisades, and with the
voices of maniacs were demanding that he should be sent out of the
city. In vain did two burgomasters, named Jenkens and Otto, who
appeared at the head of the whole magistracy, clad in robes of office,
show the necessity of waiting for the return of a courier who had been
sent to the chancery to ask permission to send the sq