Conrad Schmidt, dig here in this corner of the
cellar. He is a Sunday's bairn and will have good luck."'

'But I didn't dig for it,' said Conrad. 'The Swedes did it for me.'

'It all comes to the same thing,' said Juechziger, 'so long as we have
the box. Do you know, my son, what there is inside it?'

'How should I? See how it's all nailed and screwed up!'

'Have you brought back the safe-conduct?'

'Oh yes; I forgot that. One of the Swedish officers tied the paper
over my heart and under my left arm. I was not to let a soul see it,
he said, except the one from whom I first had it, and that was you, you
know, father. But I'm sure it's a different letter, and it's
uncommonly heavy.'

'Give it me here this instant,' said Juechziger, scarcely trying to
conceal his joy. 'It will be nothing but right if the Swedes have sent
their poor prisoners a ducat or two that they may get me to buy them a
few things. But mind you, don't say a word about it to a living soul;
for if you do, the money will all be taken from them, and I shall be
punished for my kindness into the bargain.'

Conrad handed the paper over to his step-father, who put it straight
into his pocket without stopping to examine it. 'You need not go back
to your mistress now,' he said, when the packet was safely stowed away.
'Much better stay here and attend to your sick mother. The good woman
is in sore need of all the care and help you can give her.'

Conrad was not too bewildered by all his adventures to suspect some
hidden meaning in his step-father's very sudden kindness. As he
thought about the story of the box and the safe-conduct, it seemed to
him to grow more and more suspicious, and he longed for some friend
with whom he could talk the whole thing over.

He could not relieve his mind to his sick mother, that was clear, for
she was far more helpless than himself. Master Prieme was a prisoner
of war; Roller was gone. Who was there left that he could trust, but
his comrade the Defensioner? Yet how could he get at Hillner, with his
step-father watching him as a cat watches a mouse, scarcely permitting
him even to cross the threshold of the house.

Meantime, the enemy had hauled a cannon up into the tower over the
Peter Gate, which was soon scattering death among the defenders. The
besieged also suffered severe loss from the fire of two heavy guns
planted close beside the town moat, near the Peter Gate, and covering
the next tower, that