ned to her bed.

Wolf saw Barbara's father, whose height surpassed the stature of
ordinary men by a head, hurrying up the stairs. It was a strange, and,
for children, certainly an alarming, sight--his left leg, which had
been broken by a bullet from a howitzer, had remained stiff, and, as
he leaped up three stairs at a time, he stretched his lean body so far
forward that it seemed as though he could not help losing his balance
at the next step. He was in haste, for he thought that at last he could
again acquit himself manfully and cope with one or rather with two or
three of the burglars who, since the Duke of Bavaria had prohibited the
conveyance of provisions into Ratisbon as a punishment for its desertion
of the Catholic Church, had pursued their evil way in the city.

He first discovered with what very small ill-doers he had to deal when
he held the little lamp toward them, and, to his sincere vexation, found
that they were only little boys, who, moreover, were the children of
honest folk, and therefore could scarcely be genuine scoundrels.

Yet it could hardly be any laudable purpose which brought them at so
late an hour to the cantor house, and therefore, with the intention of
turning the serious attack into a mirthful one; he shouted in a harsh
voice the gibberish which he had compounded of scraps of all sorts of
languages, and whose effect upon unruly youngsters he had tested to his
own amusement.

As his rough "Larum gardum quantitere runze punze ke hi voi la" now
reached the little ones, the impression was far deeper than he had
intended, for the cellar man's youngest son, a little fellow six years
old, first shrieked aloud, and, when the terrible old man's long arms
barred his way, he began to cry piteously.

This troubled the kind-hearted giant, who was really fond of children,
and, ere the little lad was aware of it, the captain's free left hand
grasped the waistband of his little leather breeches and lifted him into
the air.

The swift act doubled the terror and anguish of the struggling little
wight.

As the strong man held him on his arm he fought bravely with his fat
little fists and his sturdy little legs. But though in the unequal
conflict the boy pitilessly pulled the powerful monster's grayishy
yellow imperial and bushy mustache, and the captain recognised the child
from the Red Cock as one of the rascals who often shouted their nickname
of "Turkey gobbler" after his tall figure, conspicuous