is way convey her to Castle Ringstetten. The knight could
accompany them on horseback. But the horse appeared to be too much
exhausted to carry his master so far. Seeing this, the man advised him
to mount the waggon with Bertalda. The horse could be attached to it
behind.

"It is down-hill," said he, "and the load for my greys will therefore be
light."

The knight accepted his offer, and entered the waggon with Bertalda.
The horse followed patiently after, while the waggoner, sturdy and
attentive, walked beside them.

Amid the silence and deepening obscurity of the night, the tempest
sounding more and more remote, in the comfortable feeling of their
security, a confidential conversation arose between Huldbrand and
Bertalda. He reproached her in the most flattering words for her
resentful flight. She excused herself with humility and feeling; and
from every tone of her voice it shone out, like a lamp guiding to the
beloved through night and darkness, that Huldbrand was still dear to
her. The knight felt the sense of her words rather than heard the words
themselves, and answered simply to this sense.

Then the waggoner suddenly shouted, with a startling voice: "Up,
my greys, up with your feet! Hey, now together!--show your
spirit!--remember who you are!"

The knight bent over the side of the waggon, and saw that the horses
had stepped into the midst of a foaming stream, and were, indeed, almost
swimming, while the wheels of the waggon were rushing round and flashing
like mill-wheels; and the waggoner had got on before, to avoid the swell
of the flood.

"What sort of a road is this? It leads into the middle of the stream!"
cried Huldbrand to his guide.

"Not at all, sir," returned he, with a laugh; "it is just the contrary.
The stream is running in the middle of our road. Only look about you,
and see how all is overflowed!"

The whole valley, in fact, was in commotion, as the waters, suddenly
raised and visibly rising, swept over it.

"It is Kuhleborn, that evil water-spirit, who wishes to drown us!"
exclaimed the knight. "Have you no charm of protection against him,
friend?"

"I have one," answered the waggoner; "but I cannot and must not make use
of it before you know who I am."

"Is this a time for riddles?" cried the knight. "The flood is every
moment rising higher; and what does it concern ME to know who YOU are?"

"But mayhap it does concern you, though," said the guide; "for I am
Kuhleborn."

Thus