moment. He was filled with grief and shame
when he thought of his mission, yet he dared not turn aside from it. To
add to his misery, he was unacquainted with the technicalities of the
profession thus thrust upon him, and did not quite know how to set about
it.

For the first time in his life, too, he began to sympathize with the
robbers he had outlawed and persecuted, and to understand the risks and
perils of their life. Nevermore, he vowed, would he hang a man for a
trifling inroad upon his neighbour's property.

As he thus pursued his reflections a knight, clad from head to foot in
coal-black armour and mounted on a black steed, issued silently from a
clump of trees and rode unseen beside him.

Charlemagne continued to meditate upon the dangers and misfortunes of a
robber's life.

"There is Elbegast," said he to himself; "for a small offence I have
deprived him of land and fee, and have hunted him like an animal. He and
his knights risk their lives for every meal. He respects not the cloth
of the Church, it is true, yet methinks he is a noble fellow, for he
robs not the poor or the pilgrim, but rather enriches them with part of
his plunder. Would he were with me now!"

His reflections were suddenly stopped, for he now observed the black
knight riding by his side.

"It may be the Fiend," said Charlemagne to himself, spurring his steed.

But though he rode faster and faster, his strange companion kept pace
with him. At length the Emperor reined in his steed, and demanded to
know who the stranger might be. The black knight refused to answer his
questions, and the two thereupon engaged in furious combat. Again and
again the onslaught was renewed, till at last Charlemagne succeeded in
cleaving his opponent's blade.

"My life is yours," said the black knight.

"Nay," replied the monarch, "what would I with your life? Tell me who
you are, for you have fought gallantly this night."

The stranger drew himself up and replied with simple dignity, "I am
Elbegast."

Charlemagne was delighted at thus having his wish fulfilled. He refused
to divulge his name, but intimated that he, too, was a robber, and
proposed that they should join forces for the night.

"I have it," said he. "We will rob the Emperor's treasury. I think I
could show you the way."

The black knight paused. "Never yet," he said, "have I wronged the
Emperor, and I shall not do so now. But at no great distance stands the
castle of Eggerich von Egge