to offend harmless. Herr Hartmann's bad
management had rendered the idea of handing over police management to
the Presbyters more acceptable to Frederic III., as the Church alone
seemed to have an earnest desire to punish sin. Naturally the
Magistrate himself was numbered among the friends of the Geneva Ban who
would thus relieve him of a part of his burdensome duties. Such was the
man who now appeared on Paolo's battle-field of Schoenau. Half rake,
half pedant he presented at no time a pleasant appearance, but that day
he was as wonderfully decked out as if he had copied Holbein's picture
of the plague-doctor. In one hand he had a bottle of vinegar which he
clapped to his nose so soon as the smell of burnt bedding reached his
nostrils; in the other he held drawn his longest sword, as if to keep
away every danger from his person. If he had to touch anything, he
dropped the vinegar bottle into his pocket, and brought out a pair of
tweazers, with which he held out the objects, although he appeared well
protected by thick leather gloves. Doublet and hose were stuffed out
with camomile and peppermint, and in case this did not suffice, around
his breast and back hung hollow balls pierced with holes, from which
spunges steeped in medicines, spread a stupefying odor. Deadly fear and
silent rage at the disgusting duty imposed on him were expressed on his
dark countenance. His first magisterial duty was to arrest the peasant
who had caused the fire, and who for the time was bound to a tree. The
soldiers brought about by blows and curses the execution of the
precautionary measures, which the physician had been vainly
endeavouring for the last twenty-four hours to induce the obstinate
peasant-women to adopt. At midday the Magistrate held an inquiry as to
how the plague had crept in. At first the women kept a sullen silence,
till finally a young wench on whose features idiocy was plainly marked
stepped forward and related like some cackling hen her confused tale.
Every evening before the outburst of the pestilence, a dog with fiery
eyes had run across the village snapping at the houses. Wherever he had
stopped, the plague declared itself within seven days. The dog was in
fact no one else but the herb-woman of the Kreuzgrund, in whose hut he
always disappeared. The infection had left off at the Kreuzgrund, not a
single person had died there. "So she is again to the front," said the
Magistrate. "In the office there is already a series