eed
the Imperial castle, which stood unharmed, but the stronghold of the old
Zollern family which had stood by its side--and bad burnt it to the
ground. This, indeed, was no mighty offence in the eyes of the
town-council, inasmuch as it bore no great friendship to his Lordship the
Constable and Elector, and had had many quarrels with him-nay, long after
this the council was able to gain possession of the land and ruins by
purchases--till, uncle Christian bitterly rued having sent his
men-at-arms, whose duty it was to defend the castle, out into the
country, though it were for so good a purpose as fighting against the
Hussites.

It might have brought him into bad favor with the Elector; however, it
did him no further mischief. One thing was certainly proven beyond doubt:
that knavish treason had been at work in this matter; at Nuremberg, under
the torture, it came out that the bear-master had been a spy and
tell-tale bribed by Laymingen to discover whither Pfinzing and his men
had removed.

And lest any one should conceive that here was an end to the woes that
had fallen on the forest lodge in that short time from midnight to
daybreak, I must record one more; for the new day, which dawned with no
hue of rose, grey and dismal over the tawny woods, brought us fresh
sorrow and evil.

Behind the moss-hut, wherein I had found my Herdegen with the dancing
hussy, the Swabian Junker and Ritter Franz had fought, without any heed
of the law and order of such combat--fought for life or death, and for my
sake. And as though in this cruel time I were doomed to go through all
that should worst wound my poor heart, I must need go forth to see the
stricken limetree at that very moment when the Junker had dealt his enemy
a deadly stroke and came rushing away with his hair all abroad like a mad
man. It was indeed a merciful chance that my Uncle Conrad and the
chaplain likewise had come forth to the garden, so that I might go with
them to see the wounded knight.

The youth was lying on the wet grass, now much paler than ever, and his
lips trembling with pain. A faded leaf had fallen on his brow and was
strange to behold against his ashen skin; but I bent me down and took it
off. By him was lying the uprooted limetree, from which that leaf had
fallen, and whereas the rain was dropping from it fast, meseemed it was
weeping.

And my heart was knit as it never had been before, to this young knight
who had shed his blood in my behalf; bu