atulate you upon so
stalwart a traveling companion. With your permission I shall order a
meal, and sup with you, thus we may save time by talking while we eat,
because you will need to depart as speedily as possible."

"You mean in the darkness? To-night?"

"Yes; as soon as you can get away. There are urgent reasons why you
should be on the road without delay. How came you here?"

"On horseback; first down the Main, then along the Rhine."

"Very well. In the darkness you will return by the way you came, but
only as far as the Castle of Ehrenfels, three leagues from here. There
you are to rouse up the custodian, and in safety spend the remainder of
the night. To-morrow morning he will furnish you a guide to conduct you
through the forest to Wiesbaden, and from thence you know your way to
Frankfort, which you should reach not later than evening."

At this point the landlord, who had been summoned, came in.

"I will dine with my friends here," said Roland. "I suppose I need not
ask if you possess some of the good red wine of Lorch, which they tell
me equals that of Assmannshausen?"

"Of the very best, mein Herr, the product of my own vineyard, and I can
therefore guarantee it sound. As for equaling that of Assmannshausen, we
have always considered it superior, and, indeed, many other good judges
agree with us."

"Then bring me a stoup of it, and you will be enabled to add my opinion
to that of the others."

When the landlord produced the wine, Roland raised it to his lips, and
absorbed a hearty draught.

"This is indeed most excellent, landlord, and does credit alike to your
vines and your inn. I wish to send two large casks of so fine a wine to
a merchant of my acquaintance in Frankfort, and my friend, Herr Kruger,
has promised to convey it thither. If you can spare me two casks of such
excellent vintage, they will make an evenly balanced burden for the
horse."

"Surely, mein Herr."

"Choose two of those long casks, landlord, with bung-holes of the
largest at the sides. Do you possess such a thing as a pack-saddle?"

"Oh, yes."

"And you, my young friend," he said, turning to Kruger's son, "rode here
on a saddle?"

"No," interjected his father; "I ride a saddle, but my son was forced to
content himself with a length of Herr Goebel's coarse cloth, folded four
times, and strapped to the horse's back."

"Then the cloth may still be used as a cushion for the pack-saddle, and
you, my lad, will be compelled