for the
purpose of learning the cause of so cordial an outpouring, gave his
keeper an equally cordial morning salutation, and maintained that he had
mistaken the road and led them all astray. But Niels, who was confident
on the point, assured him, and even called a dozen black angels to
witness, that the hut stood there, but that Mads had most probably
rendered it invisible, no doubt with the assistance of his good friend
with the horse's foot;[13] for it was beyond all doubt that he
understood what the common people call "at hverre syn." His master was
just on the point of coinciding in this opinion as the most rational,
when the Junker, who had ridden further forwards, cried, "Here is fire!"
All now hurried to the spot; and it was soon discovered that the entire
hut lay in ashes, the glowing embers of which here and there still
glimmered. This discovery led Niels to the conclusion, that the
aforesaid long-tailed personage had carried the poacher off, together
with his whole brood; while the Junker, on the other hand, was of
opinion, that Black Mads himself had set fire to the hut, and then fled.
During these debates it had become broad day-light, when a closer
examination of the spot was undertaken, though nothing was found but
ashes, embers, charcoal, and burnt bones, which the huntsmen pronounced
to be those of deer. In accordance with the Junker's hypothesis, it was
resolved to search the neighbouring heath, as the fugitive, with his
family and baggage, could not possibly have reached any considerable
distance. They, therefore, divided themselves into four bodies. The
Junker, with his own and another servant, took an eastern direction,
probably that he might be the nearer to Ansbjerg and his beloved; but
all his endeavours proved fruitless. It was to no purpose that he
hurried to and fro, and exhausted himself, his attendants, and his
horses. Sometimes he fancied that he saw something moving in the
distance, but which, on a nearer view, appeared to be sheep grazing, or
a stack of turf. Once, indeed, he was certain that he perceived people
about the spot on which the German church now stands; but, by degrees,
the nearer they approached, the forms became more and more indistinct,
until they at length wholly disappeared. Amid the preparations for this
unlucky expedition, a supply of provisions--that necessary basis of
heroism--had, as it sometimes happens in greater wars, been entirely
forgotten. A third part of the J