eed. Hagen filled a drinking horn, while the two men
cut their arms and let their blood mingle in the cup. Having drunk,
they swore fidelity in the drink, and Hagen cut the horn in two with a
single blow, while Siegfried and Gunther joined hands.

Putting on his armour again, Siegfried declared they should at once go
forth and win Bruennhilde for Gunther.

"Wilt thou not rest, first?"

So eager was the enchanted Siegfried to win for another his own bride
that he would take no rest till it was done; so Hagen was left to
guard the hall till their return. Soon Gunther and the knight were
pushing off from the river bank, and floating down the middle of the
stream.

Hagen, the half Gibichung, half Nibelung, thought of nothing but
winning the Rheingold for the Nibelungs. He had sent Gunther after
another's bride, by means of an evil enchantment, and when she was
brought to the hall, she would certainly be wearing the ring. Thus the
prize of the Nibelungen would once more be within the grasp of an evil
race, and that which might be a power for good if rightly used, would
become a power for evil and be badly abused.

_Scene III_

While Siegfried and Gunther were on their way to fetch Bruennhilde, she
sat lonely upon her rock, looking at the ring given her by Siegfried.
As long as she looked upon it, she felt Siegfried to be near;
nevertheless she was lonely. Very soon she heard the thunder.

"It is Donner! It is like a greeting to me from the Eternals," she
thought, smiling half sadly. Once again she heard it and saw the flash
of lightning. In the clouds, she saw Waltraute, her sister, coming on
her winged horse, and Bruennhilde started up joyfully.

"Wotan has forgiven me," she cried, running to meet Waltraute, who
arrived in great excitement.

"Bruennhilde, I have braved the war-father's wrath to beg thee to save
the Eternals," she cried. "Since the day of thine enchantment Wotan
has sent us no more to the battle-field for heroes. He has roamed over
all the earth, till he is known as the Wanderer. One day he returned
to Walhall with his spear broken, and he ordered the ash tree to be
hewn in pieces and its splinters piled about Walhall. Then he summoned
all our heroes about him, mounted the throne with his broken spear in
his hand, and while we Valkyries crouched at his feet, he closed his
eyes and seemed to wait for calamity to overwhelm us.

"At last in despair I threw myself upon his breast and demanded to
k