cular outward expression to his state of mind; but no
one did ask. It seemed natural and congruous to all, and especially to
Karl, who never himself appeared but in such remnants of his dress
uniform as he had carefully preserved, and who curled his mustache, and
sang military songs all day long. As the greatest danger was to be
apprehended from the lawless in their own village, he summoned all the
men who had once served, and, with the aid of the forester, who was
respected as a magician, made an impressive speech, addressed them as
comrades, drew his sword, and cried, "We military men will keep order
among the boors here." Then ordering a few quarts of brandy, he sang
wild martial songs in chorus with them, gave them new cockades, and
constituted them a species of militia. Thus, for a time at least, he
gained a hold over the better part of the population, and heard through
them of any conspiracy that was carried on in the tavern.

When the whole force of the estate was mustered before the castle walls,
the men stared in amazement at each other. They had all been
metamorphosed by the last few days. The agent looked like a wild man
from some outlandish swamp, where he daily stood up to the hips in
water. Those from the new farm resembled forms of a vanished era. The
forester, with his close-cut hair, long beard, and weather-beaten coat,
looked an old mercenary of Wallenstein's army, who had been asleep in
the forest depths for two hundred years, and now reappeared on the
stage, violence and cruelty being again in the ascendant. The shepherd
marched next to him, resembling a pious Hussite, with the broad brim of
his round hat hanging low on his shoulders, a stout leathern girdle
round his loins, and in his hand a long crook, to which he had fastened
a bright steel point. His phlegmatic face and thoughtful eyes made him
as strong a contrast as possible to the forester. All in all, the armed
force of the estate did not amount to more than twenty men;
consequently, it was very difficult to maintain any regular system of
watching, either in the castle or the village. Each individual, it was
plain, would have to make the greatest efforts, but none of them
complained.

The next step was to see to the securing of the castle--to protect it
from any nocturnal assault in the rear. Anton had a strong wooden fence
run up from one wing to another. Thus a tolerably large court-yard was
inclosed, and an open shed was roughly built on