ueen Brunhild had been vanquished, the hero
laughed, and cried gaily, 'Then, noble maiden, thou must go with us to
Rhineland to wed King Gunther.'

'A strange way for a vassal to speak,' thought the angry Queen, and
she answered with a proud glance at the knight, 'Nay, that will I not
do until I have summoned my kinsmen and my good lieges. For I will
myself say farewell to them ere ever I will go to Rhineland.'

Thus heralds were sent throughout Brunhild's realms, and soon from
morn to eve her kinsmen and her liegemen rode into the castle, until
it seemed as though a mighty army were assembling.

'Does the maiden mean to wage war against us,' said Hagen grimly. 'I
like not the number of her warriors.'

Then said Siegfried, 'I will leave thee for a little while and go
across the sea, and soon will I return with a thousand brave warriors,
so that no evil may befall us.'

So the Prince went down alone to the little ship and set sail across
the sea.

CHAPTER XI

SIEGFRIED GOES TO THE CAVE

The ship in which Siegfried set sail drifted on before the wind, while
those in Queen Brunhild's castle marvelled, for no one was to be seen
on board. This was because the hero had again donned his Cloak of
Darkness.

On and on sailed the little ship until at length it drew near to the
land of the Nibelungs. Then Siegfried left his vessel and again
climbed the mountain-side, where long before he had cut off the heads
of the little Nibelung princes.

He reached the cave into which he had thrust the treasure, and knocked
loudly at the door. The cave was the entrance to Nibelheim the dark,
little town beneath the glad, green grass.

Siegfried might have entered the cave, but he knocked that he might
see if his treasure were well guarded.

Then the porter, who was a great giant, when he heard the knock
buckled on his armour and opened the door. Seeing, as he thought in
his haste, a strange knight standing before him he fell upon him with
a bar of iron. So strong was the giant that it was with difficulty
that the Prince overcame him and bound him hand and foot.

Alberich meanwhile had heard the mighty blows, which indeed had shaken
Nibelheim to its foundations.

Now the dwarf had sworn fealty to Siegfried, and when he, as the giant
had done, mistook the Prince for a stranger, he seized a heavy whip
with a gold handle and rushed upon him, smiting his shield with the
knotted whip until it fell to pieces.

Too pleased