"Let my horse alone," said Albert, impatiently. "Come, sit down with me
under that oak, and tell me, without hesitation, why you left the town
so suddenly yesterday evening?"

"It was not with the Ulmers' good will; for they even wanted to induce
me to remain longer with them, and to give me board and lodging
gratis," replied the man.

"Yes, they would have put you in the lowest cell of the prison, where
you would have seen neither sun nor moon, the place appropriated to
spies and such like gentry."

"Excuse me, sir," replied the messenger, "though I might have been
somewhat lower, we should both have been under the same roof."

"Dog of a spy!" cried Albert, with anger burning on his cheek; "would
you place my father's son in the same rank with the fifer of Hardt?"

"What is that you say?" replied the other with menacing tone; "what
name is that you mentioned? do you know the fifer of Hardt?" At these
words he grasped his axe, though perhaps involuntarily. His compact,
broad-chested figure, spite of his low stature, gave him the appearance
of an adversary not to be despised: and many a man, single handed,
would have been staggered at his determined countenance and fierce eye.

But the young man leaped up, threw back his long hair, and met the dark
look of his companion with one full of pride and dignity; he seized his
sword, and said calmly, "What do you mean by placing yourself in that
threatening position? If I do not mistake, you are the man I mentioned,
the mover and leader of those rebellious hounds; away with you or I
will show you how such outcasts ought to be treated!"

The countryman struggled with rage; he threw His axe with a powerful
swing into the tree, and stood unarmed before Albert. "Allow me," said
he, "to give you another piece of advice, namely, never to let your
adversary stand between you and your horse, for if I had taken
immediate advantage of your order to take myself off, I should have had
by far the best of it."

A look at his horse proved the truth of what the man said, and Albert
blushed for his inexperience. He quitted the grasp of his sword, and,
without replying, seated himself again on the ground. The countryman
followed his example, but at a respectable distance, and said, "You are
perfectly justified in being suspicious of me, Albert von Sturmfeder;
but if you knew the pain that the name you have just mentioned gives
me, you would pardon my violent conduct. Yes, I am he who go