ler has
had less attentive listeners than those who hung on the lips of this
humble carpenter's apprentice, transformed into a sort of hero by a
sudden and unexpected accident. Out of doors it was already growing
dark, as the cold November wind swept past the house, driving a few
flakes of snow before it. But in the comfortable livingroom that
adjoined the workshop, the little company sat cozily enough round the
warm stove, listening eagerly to the lad who had seen the dreadful
Swedes, and, wonder of wonders! lived to tell the tale.

'As I lay hidden there in the truck,' said Conrad in conclusion, 'and
heard the soldiers coming like the noise of a great hail-storm, I
almost gave myself up for lost; and when the cover was dashed back,
like a starling falling out of a spout, I thought my last hour was
come.'

'That would not have been so very bad,' said the younger journeyman,
'if one only had to suffer death and nothing worse. But these Swedes
torture people as the very headsman himself would be ashamed to do. My
father died by the dreadful "Swedish Drink," and then they took my
eldest brother, and--ah! it's too horrible to talk about.'

'They hang people up by the feet,' said a miner who was present, 'and
light fires under them to make them tell where their treasures are
hidden. They make their way into the very bowels of the earth, so that
the miners themselves are not safe from them. When wicked General
Bannier was here three years ago, we hid ourselves from the Swedes,
with our wives and children, in the mines. To hinder them from
following us, we lighted fires at the bottom of the shafts, and put all
kinds of pungent things in them, that sent up a thick, stifling smoke
through every cranny and crevice. What followed? While I was sitting
by the fire putting on more fuel,--I had sent my wife and children
farther into the mine to be out of the reek,--something suddenly came
plunging down through the smoke-cloud, and I was astounded to see my
dog, this very Turk here, drop upon me with his four legs all tied
together and fastened to a cord. His tongue was hanging out, and only
a faint quiver or two told me he was not quite dead. What did the
cruel Swedes do that for? They wanted to try whether the smoke was so
bad that human beings would die coming through it, and they let my dog
down first to see.'

'Well, and what happened after that, neighbour Roller?' asked the
carpenter's young widow, as the speake