nd attitudes stood clearly out upon the reddish
background of the rock; and the immense expanded vault of the cavern,
with its setting of oak and pine whose twisted roots appeared where they
had pierced through the rock, gave a majestic air of grandeur to the
spectacle.

"Well, Maitre Bernard," cried Christian, "it is broad daylight; had we
not better start?"

Then, speaking to Fuldrade, who seemed buried in thought--

"Fuldrade, this old gentleman cannot drink our kirschwasser, yet I cannot
offer him water. Have you anything better?"

Fuldrade took up a milk-pail, and, with an intelligent glance at
Christian, went out.

"Wait a moment," she said; "I shall be here directly."

She rapidly tripped over the wet meadow; the drops of rain, collecting in
the large leaves, poured about her feet in little crystal streams. At her
approach to the cave the finest cows arose up as if to greet their young
mistress. She patted them all, and, having seated herself, began to milk
one, a fine white cow, which, standing motionless, with eyes half-closed,
seemed grateful for the preference.

When her pail was full Fuldrade made haste back, and, presenting it to
Bernard, said, smiling--

"Drink as much as you like; that is the way we drink milk warm from the
cow in the country."

Which was done at once, the good man thanking her many times, and
praising the excellence of this frothy milk, flavoured, as it were, with
the wild aromatic plants of the Schneeberg, Fuldrade seemed pleased with
his eulogiums, and Christian, who had slipped on his blouse, standing
behind them, staff in hand, waited for the end of these compliments
before he cried--

"Now, master, en route! We have plenty of water now to turn the mill for
six weeks without stopping, and I must be back by nine o'clock."

And they started, following the gravelly road under the hill.

"Adieu!" said Maitre Bernard to the young girl, who gently bowed her head
without speaking; "farewell! and may God make you always happy!"

The next day, about six in the evening, Bernard Hertzog, having returned
to Saverne, was seated before his writing-desk, and describing in his
chapter upon the antiquities of the Dagsberg, his discovery of the
Merovingian arms in the woodman's hut in the Nideck. Then he went on to
prove that the name of Tribocci, or Triboques, was derived from the
German _drei buechen_--that is, three beeches. As a convincing proof, he
referred to the three trees and