untain
springs, came in music on the ear; and had the traveller been more at
ease, the calm and tranquil scene must have diffused its soothing
influence over his heart. Carl, disregarding every thing save his own
melancholy destiny, strode along almost choked by bitter thought, and so
little heedful of the road, that he soon became involved in thickets
whose paths were unknown to him; he looked up to the heavens, and
shaping his course by one of the stars, was somewhat surprised to find
himself still involved in the impenetrable mazes of the wood. Compelled
to give more attention than heretofore to his route, he once or twice
thought that he distinguished a human figure moving through the darkness
of the forest. At first, not disposed to fall in with a companion, he
remained silent, lest the person, whoever he might be, should choose to
enter into conversation with him; then not quite certain whether he was
right in his conjecture--for upon casting a second glance upon the
object which attracted him, he more than once discovered it to be some
stunted trunk or fantastic tree--he became anxious to ascertain whether
he was in reality, alone, or if some other midnight wanderer trod the
waste, and he looked narrowly around; all was still, silent, and
solitary; and fancying that he had been deceived by the flitting shadows
of the night, he was again relapsing into his former reverie, when he
became aware of the presence of a man dressed in the garb of a forester,
and having his cap wreathed with a garland of green leaves, who stood
close at his side. Carl's tongue moved to utter a salutation, but the
words stuck in his throat, an indescribable sensation of horror thrilled
through his frame; tales of the demons of the Hartz rushed upon his
memory--but he recovered instantly from the sudden shock. The desperate
state of his fortune gave him courage, and, looking up, he was surprised
at the consternation which the stranger had occasioned: he was a person
of ordinary appearance, who, accosting him frankly, exclaimed, "Ho,
comrade, thou art, I see, bent on the same errand as myself; but
wherefore dost thou seek the treasures of the Nibelungen without the
protecting wreath?"--"The treasures of the Nibelungen?" returned Carl;
"I have indeed heard of such a thing, and that it was hidden in the
bosom of the Hartz by a princess of the olden time; but I never was mad
enough to think of so wild a chase as a search after riches, which has