and unable to
proceed further, in the cow-shed of a shepherd, who had wished to
restore them to good condition. For many reasons it seemed probable
enough that these were the horses in question, but the shepherd of
Wilsdruf had, according to the account of people who came thence,
already sold them to somebody--it was not known to whom; while a third
rumour, the originator of which could not be discovered, was to the
effect that the horses were dead and had been buried in the pit at
Wilsdruf. The brothers von Tronka, who, as might be supposed,
considered this turn of affairs the most desirable, seeing they would
be relieved by it from the necessity of feeding the horses in their own
stable--which they must otherwise have done, as their cousin, the
squire, had no stables of his own--nevertheless wished to be thoroughly
assured that the circumstances were correctly stated. Accordingly Herr
Wenzel von Tronka, in his capacity of feudal lord, wrote to the courts
of Wilsdruf, describing very fully the horses which, he said, had been
lent to him, and had since, unfortunately, been taken away, and
requesting them to try to discover where those animals were stationed,
and to desire the present owner, whoever he might be, to deliver them
up at the stables of the Chamberlain von Tronka, on an indemnification
for all expenses.

In a few days the man, to whom the shepherd of Wilsdruf had sold the
horses made his appearance and brought them, lean and tottering, tied
to his cart, to the market-place of the city. Unfortunately for Squire
Wenzel, and still more so for honest Kohlhaas, this man was the knacker
from Doebbeln.

As soon as Wenzel, in the presence of his cousin, the chamberlain,
heard an indistinct rumour that a man with two black horses, saved from
the flames at the Tronkenburg, had come into the city, they both set
off attended by some servants, whom they had hastily gathered together
to the castle-yard, where he was, that in case the horses should turn
out to be Kohlhaas's they might pay the expenses and take them home.
But how surprised were they when they saw a multitude, which increased
every moment, attracted by the spectacle, and assembled about the cart
to which the horses were fastened. The people were shouting amid peals
of laughter, that the horses which had caused the state to totter had
come to the knackers. The squire, who had walked round the cart, and
saw with confusion the miserable beasts, who looke