would now be here in my
inn or at the castle."

"You are right. Will you wait here for the band that is coming?"
inquired Anton, ready to start. "You would be safer in the castle."

"Who knows!" cried the host. "I can not leave; if I do, my whole place
will be laid waste."

"But your women?" asked Anton, holding in his horse.

"I must have people to help me," wailed the distracted man. "As they are
young, they must just endure it. There is Rebecca, my sister's child:
she belongs to a family that understands business. She knows how to deal
with the peasants; she knows how to get money from them, even when they
are dead drunk. Rebecca," cried he; "Mr. Wohlfart asks whether you will
go to the castle, to be safe from these wild men."

The face of Rebecca, surrounded with red hair, now emerged from the
cellar.

"What have I to do with the castle, uncle?" cried she, resolutely. "Who
do you call wild men? Our peasants are the wildest men in the whole
country; if I can get on with them, I shall get on with any. My aunt has
quite lost her wits, and there must be some one here who knows how to
deal with guests. I am much obliged to you, kind sir, but I am not
afraid; the gentlemen who are with the party will not let any harm
happen to me."

"Forward, my men!" cried Anton. They galloped farther on through the
village; all the doors were closed, but a woman's face was seen here and
there looking through the small windows after the riders. In this way
they came along the broad highway till they got near the wood.

One of the servants now said to Anton, "There is a young plantation on
the left as you enter the wood, where a hundred men might lie in ambush
without our seeing them, and if there, they would soon snuff us out, or
cut off our way to the castle."

"You are right," said Anton. "We will ride along the field till we have
got behind the plantation, where the trees stand singly, and we can
venture in and out. From thence we can explore the plantation on foot."
They turned accordingly off the road, and crossed the fields, keeping
their horses out of the range of shot from the wood. Now Anton bade them
dismount, gave the bridles into the superintendent's keeping, and
cautiously advanced. "Fire into the wood," ordered Anton, "and then run
back to your horses as hard as you can."

The shots rattled through the plantation, and were answered in a few
moments by an irregular fire and a loud yell. The balls whistled over