"Amen," growled his listeners, and folded their h.o.r.n.y hands.
"But, alas! it won"t come to pa.s.s. We shall live to see the miscreant fatten and prosper, and grow grey in this vale of tears. To-morrow he will ride up triumphantly and drag out my Felix like a lamb to the slaughter. And others who have demurred by a word or look will be sacrificed too. Indeed I shall be very much surprised if any of you escape with your lives. It is his intention, I firmly believe, to extirpate every Schrandener from off the face of the earth. Like a herd of cattle that has been purchased for the shambles, he"ll drive you forth tomorrow morning, leaving your widows and orphans behind to weep and bewail your fate."
An e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of fury arose, so loud and violent that even the inciter of it recoiled in alarm.
"Quietly, dear people, quietly! No law-breaking. Although, truly, there is no informer amongst us, we would sooner bite our tongues out than betray each other. Hackelberg knows that. Thereby hangs a tale, eh, old friend? But who knows that our _Herr Captain_ may not himself be hanging about outside, spying through the windows."
Five or six heads turned, and were pressed against the panes.
"You think he wouldn"t presume to spy on us? Oh, I can a.s.sure you he is not the one to stop short at any low trick. I know what you"d like to say, and I can"t blame you for it--that if you catch him sneaking around at night-time, woe betide him!"
"We"ll strike him dead! Strike him dead!" fumed the topers.
"Don"t be for ever screaming that, children; it offends my ears. So much can be achieved quietly. Thus, bang! Some one has fired. Bang again--another report. Simply a poacher in the forest. It swarms with deer, eh, Hackelberg?" He laughed, and clicked his tongue.
"You mustn"t sit dozing there, my man. One would think you had no more blood in your veins than a jelly-fish. Have you forgotten how the late Baron had you flogged till your skin hung in ribbons. _Potztausend_!
How you danced and bellowed! It was a charming spectacle."
Hackelberg writhed and grunted over his gla.s.s.
"At that time you were a sportsman, a terror to your master, and your bullet never missed its mark. Drink away, man! It"s difficult to believe now that you were ever a good shot."
"I am, still," lisped the carpenter.
"Ha, ha!--pardon my laughing, old fellow. To begin with, you don"t even know what you"ve done with your gun."
"But--I do."
"And besides, your hand has become too slack, and your honour has evaporated, and your courage with it."
The carpenter laughed. An evil light gleamed in the corners of his eyes.
"What? You would maintain that you have a spark of honour left in your composition when you submit without a murmur to your daughter being brought to shame? And what"s more, you can bear to see her and her seducer at large. Didn"t she, your own flesh and blood, scorn you and slap away your proffered hand? Ungrateful, disrespectful wench that she is!"
The carpenter staggered to his feet.
"No one follow me," he roared, and shook his fist
"Where are you going?"
"That"s no business of any one"s."
The Schrandeners, even in their wrath, could not resist making fun of the drunkard, but Merckel signed to them to let him go in peace.
"He is going to scratch up his gun from the dungheap," he explained.
"Still, what good will it do?" he added with a sigh, while his eyes wandered uneasily to the door. "He"ll take care not to deliver himself into our hands at night. Tomorrow, at dawn of day, he"ll come, when none of you can defend yourselves, and hand you over to your executioners, along with my son Felix, and none of you will see Schranden again. So drink your last, children--take leave of old Father Merckel---- Ah! there comes Amalie," he said, interrupting himself, and the lackadaisical expression of his face changed to one of cheerful expectancy.
The door was thrown open, and Amalie burst in greatly excited. She whispered something hurriedly in his ear.
He beamed, and folded his fat hands as if in prayer.
"Children," he cried, "there is yet a judge in Heaven. The Baron is in the village."
The Schrandeners rose from their seats yelling with delight.
"Where is he? Who has seen him?"
"Tell them, Amalie!" he urged the barmaid, and sank back exhausted, like a person who is satisfied that his day"s work is done.
And Amalie told them. She had waited till the men on guard had finished their beer, and had taken a little stroll in the moonlight to get a breath of fresh air. Then she had seen a man coming across the fields from the Cats" Bridge. He was going in the direction of the churchyard, and wore an officer"s coat with scarlet collar and gold b.u.t.tons.
"Was he armed?" inquired a cautious son of Schranden.
Yes; she had seen his sabre flash in the moonlight.
This information afforded food for reflection.
"He has gone to inspect the guard," suggested some one, scratching his head.
Herr Merckel laughed ironically.
"Since how long has it been customary to review sentinels in the churchyard?" he exclaimed. "I tell you what he has gone there for. He wishes to pay his dear, chaste _Herr Papa_ a visit--to swear on his grave that he will avenge him, so soon as you are delivered into his hands as soldiers. Congratulate yourselves on the expedition."
At this juncture an ally cropped up on whom he had ceased to count. The old carpenter rushed in at the door, flourishing in his right hand an old fowling-piece, on which hung straw and manure. He seemed in a perfect transport of fury, beating his breast and capering about like one possessed.
"Who said I had no sense of honour," he screamed; "and that I allowed my child to be ruined? Where"s the hussy who has brought shame and disgrace on my grey hairs? I won"t make her a coffin. No; I"ll shoot her down--I"ll shoot them both."
"Come along to the churchyard," cried a voice among the villagers, who felt their courage rising.
The old landlord winced. "No, not to the churchyard," he exhorted them.
"In the first place, the ground is sacred; and in the second, you might miss him there. If you really wish to settle matters quietly with him once for all--I"m not supposed to know what you have against him, and don"t wish to know--well, my advice to you is to go to the Cats"
Bridge. Just there, you know, the bank is wooded--not thickly, certainly, but thick enough for you to hide behind."
"But suppose he returned by way of the village and the drawbridge?" put in the cautious trooper again.
Herr Merckel knew better. "Not he!" he laughed. "The Cats" Bridge is handier."
"Let"s be off, then, to the Cats" Bridge," yelled the carpenter, b.u.mping the b.u.t.t-end of his gun against the chairs and tables. There was a general stampede. Herr Merckel crammed bottles of schnaps into as many pockets as he could catch hold of, as his customers hurried out.
"Take it, friends," he cried, "and welcome! Defend your honour--defend your honour!"
Then, when the last had gone, he mopped his perspiring brow, and folding his hands, exclaimed with an uneasy sigh--
"Ah, Amalie, if only they don"t offer him violence!"