aim to the comradeship that has been so much
prated about, swearing by the Three Kings of Cologne faithfully to
follow me, and obey my every word without cavil or argument, I will
pardon them, but the first man who rebels will show that my clemency has
been misplaced, and I can assure them that it shall not be exercised
again. Captain, your sailors are familiar with knotted ropes. Bid them
release all these men except the six condemned."

The boatmen, with great celerity, freed the prostrate captives from
their bonds, but some of the mutineers had been so cruelly used in the
cudgeling that it was necessary to assist them to their feet. The early
summer daybreak was at hand, its approach heralded by the perceptible
diluting of the darkness that surrounded them, and a ghastly, pallid
grayness began to overspread the surface of the broad river. Down the
stream to the west the towers of Bacharach could be faintly
distinguished, looking like a dream city, the lower gloom of which was
picked out here and there by points of light, each betokening an early
riser.

It was a deeply dejected, silent group that stood in this weird
half-light, awaiting the development of Roland's mind regarding them;
he, the youngest of their company, quiet, unemotional, whose dominion no
one now thought of disputing.

"Captain," he continued, "steer for the eastern shore. I know that
Bacharach is the greatest wine mart on the Rhine, and well sustains the
reputation of the drunken god for whom it is named, but we will
nevertheless avoid it. There is a long island opposite the town, but a
little farther down. I dare say you know it well. Place that island
between us and Bacharach, and tie up to the mainland, out of view from
the stronghold of Bacchus. He is a misleading god, with whom we shall
hold no further commerce.

"Now, Joseph Greusel, and Gottlieb Ebearhard, do you two administer the
oath of the Three Kings to these twelve men; but before doing so, give
each one his choice, permitting him to say whether he will follow
Kurzbold on the land or obey me on the water."

Here Kurzbold broke out again in trembling anger:

"Your pretended fairness is a sham, and your bogus option a piece of
your own sneaking dishonesty. What chance have we townsmen, put ashore,
penniless, in an unknown wilderness, far from any human habitation,
knowing nothing of the way back to Frankfort? Your fraudulent clemency
rescues us from drowning merely to doom us to s