e.'

'What mischief are you episcopalians carrying on here?' angrily asked
the captain of the new comers.

'We surely shall not answer to a Hessian concerning that, while
standing upon our lord bishop's own ground,' blustered the serjeant.
'With greater right may I ask how you could yourself venture upon our
territory with weapons and arms, without escort?'

'Madman!' cried the captain, 'is that the way you speak to your allies?
We are sent by our lord to help yours against the rebellious
anabaptists. At present I am commanded to the defence of the
evangelical preachers, who are compelled to flee from Munster, and I
will not permit you to abuse them.'

'If you expect that I shall believe every thing you say upon your mere
assertion,' sneeringly answered the bishop's serjeant-major, 'you are
for once mistaken. The heretic priest is my prisoner.'

'Contemptible slave of a priest!' thundered the captain, 'when the word
of a knight is doubted, he has no other voucher than his good sword;'
and drawing forth his blade, he called to his followers, 'strike flat,
comrades.'

As if all the furriers of Munster had collected together in the tavern
to beat their skins, so clattered the Hessian blades upon the broad
backs of the episcopalians in mighty chorus. In a moment the room was
cleared, and the Hessians were sitting behind their full jugs, making
themselves merry over their easy and bloodless victory.

'Where do you desire to be conducted, reverend doctor?' asked the
captain courteously.

'I intend to go direct to Cassel,' answered Fabricius, 'to give an
account of my mission to the landgrave. If you will give me a file of
horsemen as far as Paderborn, I shall reach my destination without
difficulty.'

'With your permission, Mr. Captain,' said the landlord, 'I will myself
convey my confessor as far as Paderborn in my little wagon.'

'It is well!' answered the captain, casting a glance upon Alf, who had
unscrewed the knife from his staff and was preparing to proceed on his
way.

'Who art thou?' he asked in a severe tone.

'An honest journeyman armorer,' answered Alf, boldly, 'who am returning
to Munster in search of employment.'

'To Munster?' angrily repeated the captain: 'to that heated furnace
where the frantic mob are preparing misery for the country?--and
now,--directly? Dost thou belong to them?'

'Shame to him who denies his faith through fear of men,' cried Alf;
'yes, I am an anabaptist.'

'Munster