seemed as if he could still be heard
groaning and roaring.

Sintram climbed up the wall of the moat, and made a sign to his
foster-father not to speak to him: he only said, "One of my best joys,
yes, the very best, has been taken from me; but, by God's help, I am not
yet lost."

In the earliest light of the following morning, he and Rolf stopped up
the entrance to the perilous passage with huge blocks of stone.

CHAPTER 24

The long northern winter was at last ended, the fresh green leaves
rustled merrily in the woods, patches of soft moss twinkled amongst the
rocks, the valleys grew green, the brooks sparkled, the snow melted from
all but the highest mountain-tops, and the bark which was ready to
carry away Folko and Gabrielle danced on the sunny waves of the sea. The
baron, now quite recovered, and strong and fresh as though his health
had sustained no injury, stood one morning on the shore with his fair
lady; and, full of glee at the prospect of returning to their home, the
noble pair looked on well pleased at their attendants who were busied in
lading the ship.

Then said one of them in the midst of a confused sound of talking: "But
what has appeared to me the most fearful and the most strange thing in
this northern land is the stone fortress on the Rocks of the Moon: I
have never, indeed, been inside it, but when I used to see it in our
huntings, towering above the tall fir-trees, there came a tightness
over my breast, as if something unearthly were dwelling in it. And a
few weeks ago, when the snow was yet lying hard in the valleys, I came
unawares quite close upon the strange building. The young knight Sintram
was walking alone on the ramparts as twilight came on, like the spirit
of a departed knight, and he drew from the lute which he carried such
soft, melancholy tones, and he sighed so deeply and sorrowfully...."

The voice of the speaker was drowned in the noise of the crowd, and as
he also just then reached the ship with his package hastily fastened up,
Folko and Gabrielle could not hear the rest of his speech. But the fair
lady looked on her knight with eyes dim with tears, and sighed: "Is it
not behind those mountains that the Rocks of the Moon lie? The unhappy
Sintram makes me sad at heart."

"I understand thee, sweet gracious lady, and the pure compassion of thy
heart," replied Folko; instantly ordering his swift-footed steed to be
brought. He placed his noble lady under the charge of