"
"My good lad! What saidst thou?" cried Ebbo, but the boy seemed dumb
before him, and Friedel repeated the question ere he answered: "All
the lanzknechts and reiters are at the castle, and the Herr Graf has
taken all my father's young sheep for them, a plague upon him. And
our folk are warned to be at the muster rock to-morrow morn, each
with a bundle of straw and a pine brand; and Black Berend heard the
body squire say the Herr Graf had sworn not to go to the wars till
every stick at the ford be burnt, every stone drowned, every workman
hung."
Ebbo, in a transport of indignation and gratitude, thrust his hand
into his pouch, and threw the boy a handful of groschen, while
Friedel gave warm thanks, in the utmost haste, ere both brothers
sprang with headlong speed down the wild path, to take advantage of
the timely intelligence.
The little council of war was speedily assembled, consisting of the
barons, their mother, Master Moritz Schleiermacher, Heinz, and Hatto.
To bring up to the castle the workmen, their families, and the more
valuable implements, was at once decided; and Christina asked whether
there would be anything left worth defending, and whether the
Schlangenwalden might not expend their fury on the scaffold, which
could be newly supplied from the forest, the huts, which could be
quickly restored, and the stones, which could hardly be damaged.
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