t move so quickly as they can now. Thanks to this fact,
Freiberg had time to make all due preparation for the enemy's
reception. John George II., 'the father of his people,' was not remiss
in caring for the mountain city. He sent Lieutenant-Colonel George
Hermann von Schweinitz, a brave and experienced commander, with three
companies of infantry and one of dragoons, to conduct the defence.
These troops mustered only two hundred and ninety men all told; yet
this little band, aided by the citizens, gloriously held at bay for two
long months an entire Swedish army of eight brigades, with a hundred
and nine pieces of artillery.

Hillner, the journeyman carpenter, was still a free man; for Juechziger
had determined to find some other way of satisfying his thirst for
vengeance, and had therefore laid aside his schemes till a more
convenient season. In spite of the dark and doubtful future, busy life
reigned in the workshop of the carpenter's widow, as it re-echoed once
again to the din of tools wielded by the two journeymen and the
apprentice. One day--it was the 4th of December in the memorable year
1642--the hollow roll of drums was heard coming down the street, and
the senior journeyman, laying his plane on the bench, crossed the
workshop to look out at the window facing the street. Having done so,
he at once left the workroom and went out to the street door, followed
by his two comrades, to watch the entrance of the regular soldiers, who
were just marching into the town.

There were, as has already been said, only two hundred and ninety men,
yet the mere sight of them awakened joyful and reassuring feelings in
the breasts of all who saw them. The roll of the drums in itself had
an inspiriting effect. As the townspeople gazed at the long, level
lines, and heard the heavy, regular tramp beneath which the very
pavement seemed to shake; as they saw each bronzed face with its look
of stedfastness and assured courage, the open iron helmet on the head,
the breastplate covered by a military coat reaching to the knees and
allowing the body free play from the hips, the halberd grasped in the
strong right hand, and the shield in the left, bearing the Saxon
coat-of-arms,--as these various points were noted and remarked on, each
moment brought fresh courage to hearts that had been almost ready to
despond. In all ages there have been jealousies and strife between the
military and the respectable burgher class, and Freiberg wa