, and the easy conditions which they had laid on him; but above
all, when he called to his memory the unhappy position of his beloved
Bertha, his inclination to proceed to Wuertemberg turned the scale.

"I will see and speak with her once more," thought he to
himself.----"Well, then," he called to the countryman, "if you will
promise never to say a word to me about joining the Wuertemberg cause,
and assure me that I shall not be looked upon as a partizan of your
Duke, but merely a guest of Lichtenstein, I will follow you."

"As far as lies in me, I can safely promise you," said his companion;
"but it is impossible for me to answer for what the knight of
Lichtenstein might propose. He is the Duke's warmest friend, and it is
not unlikely he may endeavour to persuade you to join his cause."

"I already know the terms you are upon with him, that you often visited
him in Ulm, and brought him secret intelligence of all kinds. He has
confidence in you, and therefore I wish to put you on your guard, not
to acquaint him with the state of my affairs; for I have my reasons to
keep them as yet unknown to him."

The fifer of Hardt eyed the young man some time with a look of
astonishment. "Where did you learn that I had been the bearer of secret
intelligence to the knight of Lichtenstein? But it signifies little to
me what my persecutors may have told you. I have a debt to pay, and
until it is fully discharged, I call not my life my own. My death, I
hope, will absolve me from my creditor." With these portending words,
he promised to follow Albert's wishes to the letter, and added, "Now
mount your horse, whilst I lead on, and you shall be welcome in the
castle of Lichtenstein."

CHAPTER XIII.

The herdsman says, "If you will trust in me
And follow boldly, I will bring you free;--
A secret path there is, to man unknown,
And trodden by the mountain goat alone."
L. UHLAND.

There were two ways from the spot where Albert had decided upon
following his mysterious guide, leading to the neighbourhood of
Reutlingen, in which the castle of Lichtenstein was situated. One was
the high road from Ulm to Tuebingen. It went through the beautiful
Blauthal, or blue valley; when, reaching the town of Blaubeuren, at the
foot of the Alb, it crossed immediately over that mountain, passing the
fortress of Hohen Urach, ne