e not. My mouth's like a brick furnace!"

It was the brave Kurzbold who spoke, as he playfully kicked, not too
gently, those of his comrades who lay nearest him. He was answered by
groans and imprecations, as one by one the sleeping beauties aroused
themselves, and wondered where the deuce they were.

"Who has stolen the river?" cried Gensbein.

"Oh, stealing the river doesn't matter," said a third. "It's only
running water. Who drank all the wine? That's a more serious question."

"Well, whoever's taken away the river, I can swear without searching my
pouch has made no theft from me, for I spent my last stiver yesterday."

"Don't boast," growled Kurzbold. "You're not alone in your poverty.
We're all in the same case. Curse that fool of a Roland for throwing
away good money just when it's most needed."

"Good money is always most needed," exclaimed the philosophic Gensbein.

He rose and shook himself, then looked down at the beautiful but
unimportant rivulet.

"I say, lads, were we as drunk as all that last night? Was there an
impassable torrent here or not?"

"How could we be drunk, you fool, on little more than a liter of wine
each," cried Kurzbold.

"Please be more civil in your talk," returned his friend. "You were
drunk all day. The liter and a half was a mere nightcap. If you are
certain there was a torrent, then I must have been in the same condition
as yourself."

The spokesman of the previous night, who had been chided for not
springing on Roland before he succeeded in doing away with the treasure,
here uttered a shout.

"This water," he said, "is clear as air. You can see every pebble at the
bottom. Get to work, you sleepyheads, and search down the stream. We'll
recover that bag yet, and then it's back to Sonnenberg for breakfast.
Whoever finds it, finds it for the guild; a fair and equal division
amongst us. That is, amongst the eighteen of us. I propose that Roland,
Greusel, and Ebearhard do not share. They were all in the plot to rob
us."

"Agreed!" cried the others, and the treasure-hunt impetuously began.

Greusel and Ebearhard watched them disappear through the forest down the
stream.

"Greusel," said Ebearhard, "what a deplorable passion is the frantic
quest for money in these days, especially money that we have not earned.
Our excited treasure-hunters do not realize that at such a moment in the
early morning the only subject worth consideration is breakfast. Being
unsparing and prodi