Is not omnipotence God's first attribute? And now, on the march from
Schouwen through Brabant, power beckoned to him. He had already tasted
it, when the mutinous army to which he belonged attempted to pillage a
smithy. He had stepped before the spoilers and saved the artisan's life
and property. Whoever swung the hammer before the bellows was sacred to
him; he had formerly shared gains and booty with many a plundered member
of his father's craft.

He now carried a captain's staff, but this was mere mummery, child's
play, nothing more. A merry soldier's-cook wore a captain's plume on the
side of his tall hat. The field-officer, most of the captains and
the lieutenants, had retired after the great mutiny on the island
of Schouwen was accomplished, and their places were now occupied by
ensigns, sergeants and quartermasters. The higher officers had gone
to Brussels, and the mutinous army marched without any chief through
Brabant.

They had not received their well-earned pay for twenty-two months, and
the starving regiments now sought means of support wherever they could
find them.

Two years since, after the battle of Mook-Heath, the army had helped
itself, and at that time, as often happened on similar occasions,
an Eletto--[The chosen one. The Italian form is used, instead of the
Spanish 'electo'.]--had been chosen from among the rebellious subaltern
officers. Ulrich had then been lying seriously wounded, but after the
end of the mutiny was told by many, that no other would have been made
Eletto had he only been well and present. Now an Eletto was again to
be chosen, and whoever was elected would have command of at least three
thousand men, and possibly more, as it was expected that other regiments
would join the insurrection. To command an army! This was power, this
was the highest attainment; it was worth risking life to obtain it.

The regiments pitched their camp at Herenthals, and here the election
was to be held.

In the arrangement of the tents, the distribution of the wagons which
surrounded the camp like a wall, the stationing of field-pieces at
the least protected places, Ulrich had the most authority, and while
exercising it forced himself, for the first time in his life, to appear
gentle and yielding, when he would far rather have uttered words of
command. He lived in a state of feverish excitement; sleep deserted his
couch, he imagined that every word he heard referred to himself and his
election.

D