ove under his head, while certain mysterious
whisperings met his ear; at last, something laid hold of his head.

"What is that!"

"Ja--ha--hai! it is me, master," said a voice, accompanied by a
chattering of teeth.

Vendel looked round. Hanzli stood before him, his face of a livid
green, his knees knocking together, and his hair standing on end.

Vendel thought he beheld a spectre. He tried to cry out, but his
tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, and he could not articulate a
syllable.

"Master!" exclaimed the youth with upturned eyes; and, trembling
violently, he fell upon both knees, and seized the collar of Vendel's
night-dress so tightly, that the latter thought he was going to choke
him, but he did not--no, he did not; on the contrary, Hanzli began to
weep bitterly, and to kiss his master's huge hand, while he could only
exclaim in a voice choked with sobs, "Master, master!"

"I hear, my lad; but what is the matter with you?"

"Oh, nothing the matter with me; but my master is ruined for ever;
they are going to seize him and carry him off, and make a terrible job
of him!"

"What are you talking of, Hanzli, my lad?" exclaimed the amazed
brewer; "what do you mean?"

"Well, do you know, master, what the enemy, this terrible,
vitriol-drinking enemy, has come for?"

"Not I."

"Nor did I know it before, but now I know it all. Oh! to think that it
was for _that_ they have come across kingdoms and worlds with fire and
sword! to think that they have been searching governments and realms
for _that_!"

"For what?"

"Why, did I not say it?"

"For my wife, perhaps?" cried the ex-patient, starting up, hunger and
thirst alike forgotten.

"That would have been a good idea!" thought Hanzli; "they might have
done that, but they did not. It is for you yourself, my beloved
master--for you alone that all this war is waging," he whispered, with
upraised eyes, pointing with his long ape-like arms to his master, who
had fallen on his back; for though he did not understand the
circumstances of the affair, he was very much alarmed for all that.

He stared at Hanzli, and Hanzli stared at him; both seemed afraid of
renewing the conversation.

"But why--what does the French Emperor want with me?" asked Vendel at
last, in a voice faint with suspense and terror.

"Ay," replied Hanzli, "that is the thing! They have a great project
about you, master. I saw the green csako hussars whispering together,
and shaking their he