gion had nothing to do with it, the saying went--here Catholics,
here Protestants. The Pope gave his blessing to those who joined
Charles's banner, and wherever people had deserted the Church they said
that they were taking the field for the pure religion against the
unchristian Council and the Romish antichrist.

"But it really can not be a war in behalf of our holy faith," Barbara
here eagerly interposed, "for the Duke of Saxony is our ally, and Oh,
just look! we must pass there directly."

She pointed as she spoke to a peasant cart just in front of them, whose
occupants had been hidden until now by the dust of the road. They were
two Protestant clergymen in the easily recognised official costume of
their faith--a long, black robe and a white ruff around the neck.

Gombert, too, now looked in surprise at the ecclesiastical gentlemen, and
called the commander of the four members of the city guard who escorted
his carriage.

The troops marching beside them were the soldiers of the Protestant
Margrave Hans von Kustrin who, in spite of his faith, had joined the
Emperor, his secular lord, who asserted that he was waging no religious
war. The clergymen were the field chaplains of the Protestant bands.

When the travellers had passed the long baggage train, in which women and
children filled peasant carts or trudged on foot, and reached the
soldiers themselves, they found them well-armed men of sturdy figure.

The Neapolitan regiment, which preceded the Kustrin one, presented an
entirely different appearance with its shorter, brown-skinned,
light-footed soldiers. Here, too, there was no lack of soldiers' wives
and children, and from two of the carts gaily bedizened soldiers'
sweethearts waved their hands to the travellers. In front of the regiment
were two wagons with racks, filled with priests and monks bearing crosses
and church banners, and before them, to escape the dust, a priest of
higher rank with his vicar rode on mules decked with gay trappings.

On the way to Eggmuhl the carriage passed other bodies of troops. Here
the horses were changed, and now Gombert walked with Barbara in front of
the vehicle to "stretch their legs."

A regiment from the Upper Palatinate was encamped outside of the village.
The prince to whom it belonged had given it a free ration of wine at the
noonday rest, and the soldiers were now lying on the grass with loosened
helmets and armour, feeling very comfortable, and singing in their de