ntertainment which
Assmannshausen boasted, then canvassed every home in the village, but no
one had seen anything of the man they described.

Coming out to the river front, deeply discouraged, the two gazed across
the empty water, from which all enlivening traffic had departed. It was
now evident to both that Roland had not entered Assmannshausen, for in
so small and gossipy a hamlet no stranger could even have passed through
without being observed.

"Well, Joseph," asked Ebearhard, "what do you intend to do?"

"There is nothing to do but to wait until our money is gone. It is
absolutely certain that Roland is not here. Can it be possible that
after all he returned?"

"How could he have done so? We know him to have been without money;
therefore why to Frankfort, even if such a trip were possible for a
penniless man?"

"I am sorry now," said Greusel despondently, "that I did not follow a
suggestion that occurred to me, which was to take the men direct down
the valley where we encamped, to the banks of the Rhine, and there make
inquiries."

"You think he went that way?"

"I did, until you persuaded me out of it."

"Again I ask what could be his object?"

"It seems to me that this mutiny made a greater impression on his mind
than I had supposed. After all, he is not one of us, and never has been.
You yourself pointed that out when we were talking of him at
Breckenheim. If you caught glances of contempt for us while we were all
one jolly family in the Kaiser cellar, what must be his loathing for the
guild after such a day as yesterday?"

"That's true. You must travel with a man before you learn his real
character."

"Meaning Roland?"

"Meaning this crew, guzzling up at the tavern. Meaning you, meaning me;
yes, and meaning Roland also. I never knew until yesterday and to-day
what a capable fellow you were, and when I remember that I nominated
Kurzbold for our leader before Roland appeared on the scene, I am amazed
at my lack of judgment of men. As for Roland himself, my opinion of him
has fallen. Nothing could have persuaded me that he would desert us all
without a word of explanation, no matter what happened. My predictions
regarding his conduct are evidently wrong. What do you think has
actually occurred?"

"It's my opinion that the more he thought over the mutiny, the angrier
he became; a cold, stubborn anger, not vocal at all, as Kurzbold's would
be. I think that after fastening the money to my belt he