re him, and,
to avoid the husbandmen gathering in their crops, he was often forced to
make a long circuit through thick forests of beech and maple. Here and
there he came on mighty barrows raised over the bodies of Danish
warriors and kings. Well might it make his blood boil within him to
witness these honors heaped upon the Danes for their deeds of blood and
cruelty to his fathers. Through such scenes, weary and footsore, in
constant dread of his pursuers, and with dark misgivings as to the fate
before him, he pressed on, until at last, near the end of September, the
gray walls of Lubeck, to which he had looked forward as a refuge, stood
before him and he entered in.[36]

Lubeck, the capital of the Hanse Towns, and by virtue of this position
monarch of the northern seas, had been for three centuries a bitter foe
to Denmark. At intervals the Danish kings had sought to check the naval
supremacy of Lubeck, and more than once the two powers had been at open
war. Of late, by reason of dissensions among the Towns, Denmark had
gradually been gaining the upper hand. But Lubeck was still very far
from acknowledging the right of Denmark to carry on an independent
trade, and the growing power of the Danish kings only added fuel to the
flame. Lubeck was, therefore, at this time a peculiarly favorable asylum
for one who was at enmity with Christiern. Gustavus doubtless had
reckoned on this advantage, and had resolved to throw himself on the
mercy of the town. He went directly to the senate, laid his case before
them, and asked them boldly for a ship and escort to take him back to
Sweden. This request apparently was more than they were prepared to
grant. They hesitated, and in the mean time the commandant of Kaloe
Castle tracked his prisoner to Lubeck, and appeared before the senate to
demand that he be surrendered. Many of the senators, unwilling to incur
the wrath of Christiern, were minded to give him up. Others, however,
were opposed to such a course. As a result, all action in the matter was
for the time suspended. Eight weary months dragged on, Gustavus
throughout that period remaining in Lubeck. Finally, in May, 1520, one
of the burgomasters, whose friendship the youth had won, espoused his
cause, and he was allowed to sail for Sweden. By good fortune he
steered clear of the Danish fleet, and on the 31st of May set foot
again on his native soil, near Kalmar.[37]

Meantime the Danish arms had not been idle. Soon after the ove