d forward; but Buchmaier held him by the
arm and said, "Let the older men come first."

This movement turned the scale in the minds of those who had halted
between two opinions, not knowing whether to imitate Buchmaier's course
or to condemn it. The old squire made his essay first, with a trembling
hand; after him, no one kept aloof, and the name of the judge in
particular was hacked into a hundred pieces. By degrees, all the
village assembled, and every one contributed his stroke amid shouts and
laughter.

The acting squire, informed of what had happened, thought of calling
the military from Horb. But his sapient minister dissuaded him from
such a requisition, as it would be of no use; "and, besides," thought
he, "let them make as much rebellion as they can; there will be a fine
crop of summonses, and every summons is a creutzer to me. Hack away,
boys: you are hacking into your own flesh, and that flesh is my
copper." With a joyous mien he counted his coming gains as he drank his
stoup of wine in the Adler.

Thus it happened that not one in the village remained innocent of the
offence except Soges and the squire.

Next Tuesday, at the suggestion of the old squire, the councilmen went
to court of their own accord and gave information of what they had
done. The judge stormed. His name--Rellings--is a word used in the
Black Forest to designate a tom-cat; and he might then really be
compared to a shorn puss, with spectacles on its nose and spurs at its
feet. He talked of locking up all the offenders at once; but Buchmaier
stepped forward with great decision and said, "Is that all you are good
for? Locking up? You won't do that yet a while. We are here to stand by
what we have done: we avow it freely, and there can be no such thing as
imprisonment before trial. I am not a vagrant. You know where I live. I
am Buchmaier, this here's Beck, that there's John the Blacksmith, and
that's Michael's son Bat, and we're all to be found on our own
freeholds. You can't lock us up without a sentence, and after that the
way is still open to Reutlingen and to Stuttgard, if need be."

The judge changed his tone, and summoned the men to appear before him
at nine o'clock of the following day. This was well at least, so far as
Soges thereby lost his creutzers. Thus do great lords and little lords
frequently err in their calculations.

Next day an array of more than a hundred farmers, with axes in their
hands, marched through the village