him leave them, Kunz turned angrily round on him, and in
doing so caught his spurs in the bushes, and fell flat on his face.

Albrecht caught hold of the charcoal-burner's arm.

'Save me!' he whispered eagerly. 'I am the Elector's son; this man has
stolen me!'

The squire struck at the Prince with his sword, but the charcoal-burner
warded aside the blow with his long pole, and felled the man to the
ground. Kunz fought fiercely with him, but in answer to his summons for
help, and attracted by the barking of the dog, a number of other
charcoal-burners appeared on the scene to help their comrade, and Kunz
was disarmed and taken prisoner. They marched him in triumph to the
monastery of Gruenheim, where he was secured in one of the cells, and in
a few days was sent to Freiburg. On the 14th he was tried and condemned
to death. It is said that a pardon was sent by the Elector, but if it
were so it arrived too late, and Kunz was beheaded.

The rest of the robber-band with Prince Ernst did not fare much better.
The alarm bells had aroused the whole country; six of the men were
captured, and Mosen and the others with Prince Ernst took refuge in a
cave near Zwickau. Not daring to venture out, and half starving for want
of food, they lay there for three days in wretched plight. Then they
learned accidentally from some woodmen, whose conversation they
overheard, that Kunz had been taken prisoner, had been tried, and by
this time was in all probability beheaded. As soon as they received this
piece of intelligence, they held a consultation and finally decided to
send a message to the Amtmann of Zwickau, offering to restore Prince
Ernst if a free pardon were granted to them, but threatening, if this
was refused, they would at once kill him. Had they known that Kunz was
still alive, they might have stipulated for his pardon as well, but
believing him dead, they made no terms as regards his fate. The Amtmann
had no choice but to accede to their demands when their proposal reached
him. Prince Ernst was given up. Mosen and the rest fled away, nor were
they ever heard of any more.

[Illustration]

When the brave charcoal-burner, Georg Schmidt, was brought before the
Elector and his court, the Electress asked him how he had dared to fight
the robber-knight with no weapon but his pole.

'Madam,' he replied, 'I gave him a sound "drilling" with my pole.'

All the court laughed, and thenceforward he was always called Georg der
Triller