nce more my steed; I would make Durendal,
my good sword, flash the lightnings of death indeed, and would rouse
with one blast of my horn every hero who sleeps within the bounds of
Europe!'

'Noble knight,' I answered--and again I blushed for the age in which I
lived--'times are changed. You would probably be imprisoned as a
Jacobin demagogue under the present circumstances, for neither the
banner of Hapsburg nor the Oriflamme, neither the Leopard of England
nor the Lion of Spain are to the fore in the present conflict.'

'Who then is fighting against the Crescent, if not these?'

'Simply the Greeks themselves.'

'The Greeks?' cried another, 'is it possible? and what are the other
powers about?' 'They have their ambassadors with the Porte.' 'Man,
man,' said Roland, stiffer than ever with amazement, 'what are you
saying? a Christian state fighting for its freedom and left to do it
alone? Holy Virgin, what a world is this!' and he crushed the silver
goblet as if it had been cardboard, so that the wine in it splashed up
to the ceiling; then rising from the table took his sword and targe,
and passed with clanking strides out of the chamber.

'Why, what a hot-headed fellow he is!' said the Rose, shaking her
kerchief, which was splashed with his wine. 'Does the stony fool want
to go a-campaigning again in his old age? If he were to show himself
they would certainly make him a right-hand man in a company of Prussian
Grenadiers, for he's tall enough.'

'Do not be hard on him, my Lady Rose,' said one of the company, 'for he
has the right stuff in him, and he showed it on many a stricken field.
If his Kaiser had wished it he would have fought a thousand Mussulmans
single-handed.'

'Let him go,' said Bacchus; 'I'm glad he's gone; he bored me with his
strong heroics: a fellow ten feet high is out of place here. He showed
me no respect. We should never have been able to dance while he was
here; his legs would have broken if he had tried.' 'To the dance! to
the dance!' they all cried. The wine god beckoned to me. 'Do you
understand music, Doctor?' 'A little.' 'Keep good time?' 'Oh yes, I
keep good time.' 'Then take this little barrel and this cooper's stave,
and sit down besides the Bottomless one there; he is our cellarmaster
and cornet player, and you shall accompany him on the drum.' I did
as I was bid, but if my drumming was rather unusual, Balthasar's
cornet-playing was even more so. He held the iron spout of a large
emp