The wearied Arwed pushed the little gothlander, which he had purchased
at the Rakalse inn instead of his overridden Norman, into a smart trot
upon the high road to Stroemstadt. The rider was almost exhausted, but
his determined spirit, animated by love and generosity, impelled the
obedient body to renewed exertions of its diminishing powers. At length
lie caught a glance of a fast rolling carriage, relieved against the
border of a snow-clad forest. 'Now is the crisis!' cried he, burying
his spurs so unmercifully in his horse's flanks that he flew with him
in furious career over the frozen ground. After a hard ride of a
quarter of an hour he overtook the carriage. In it sat baron Goertz,
wrapped in a fur cloak, and so attentively reading some papers that he
did not perceive the approaching horseman. 'I bless my fate,' called
out the latter, as he reached the carriage, 'that I have found your
excellency in good time. I bring you important intelligence.'
'Who are you, sir?' asked Goertz, disturbed in his occupation, with a
tone of displeasure.
'Captain Gyllenstierna,' answered Arwed. 'I have ridden after you from
Stockholm to give you warning and save you from a great misfortune.'
'Gyllenstierna!' cried Goertz with a friendly smile, leaning back that
he might hear his voice above the rattling of the carriage. 'Then you
bring me news from my daughter, or a message from her. You cannot well
deliver it from your saddle; therefore be pleased to hitch your horse
to mine and take a seat by me in the carriage.'
'I accept your invitation with thanks,' answered Arwed, and attaching
his reins to the collar of a saddle-horse, he sprang into the carriage.
'Have the goodness,' said he, 'to change the direction of your journey
immediately, and on the way I will tell you the cause.'
'What are you dreaming of?' asked Goertz with an angry brow.
'There comes a whole troop of dragoons to meet us,' cried the coachman,
'and they are pressing forward under whip and spur.' Arwed examined
them attentively for a moment. 'My God, I have come too late!'
stammered he, recognizing the gray coat of colonel Baumgardt advancing
at their head.
'Are you in your right mind, young man, or rather are you not some
other than the person you pretend to be?' asked Goertz yet more
angrily, drawing a pistol from the pocket of the carriage.
'For God's sake!' untreated Arwed, grasping his hand, 'reserve your
weapons for your enemies, who are coming to meet us. By you sits your
friend, who is ready to die in your defence. Turn back instantly,
perhaps we may yet avoid them.'
As Goertz sharply examined his countenance his features relaxed into a
milder expression at the perusal of his honest face. 'I have no longer
an ill opinion of you,' said he smilingly. 'It is my impression,
however, that you desire to increase your importance with me a little
by pressing upon me your protection against a pretended danger; and I
can pardon something on account of your youth and the motive by which
you are impelled. Another time, however, you must find some more
probable pretence. That the horsemen who are approaching us are no
robbers, but honest Swedish dragoons, a child may see; and, if I
mistake not, that is colonel Baumgardt, whom I well know, riding at
their head.'
In a moment the troops had reached the carriage.
'Good evening, your excellency!' cried Baumgardt, wheeling about his
horse and raising his hat. Three other officers, who followed him,
likewise wheeled about and remained, courteously greeting the baron,
before and on both sides of the carriage, while the dragoons trotted
past and closed up behind it.
'Good evening, colonel!' answered Goertz serenely. 'Whither so late?'
'To meet your excellency,' said the colonel politely. 'We lost our way
in the driving snow, and have been riding about in a state of
perplexity for two days. We bring with us important news from the
camp.'
'Whatever it may be,' answered Goertz, 'I bring you from Aland yet
better and more important. But it can all be more conveniently told in
a warm room with a bottle of old wine. I shall stop for the night at
the parsonage of Tanum, and bear with me a good bottle case. Will the
gentlemen be my guests? We will pass a pleasant evening together, and
in the morning I will proceed to Frederickshall under your safeguard.'
'It will be an honor to myself and officers,' said the colonel. The
other officers bowed silently, and the carriage rolled rapidly onward,
surrounded by its armed escort, towards the solitary parsonage which,
an old dark-gray mass of stone, with tall dark fir trees rustling about
it, offered no very tempting shelter even in that desert region.
The travellers alighted, and the minister entered one of the lower
rooms of the house. Arwed followed him, prepared for the tragic scene
which was approaching. With impetuous haste, that their victim might
not escape them, the officers pressed in after him, and the last one
closed the door.
'What means this?' asked Goertz, rising, as he remarked it.
The colonel then replaced his hat upon his head and drew his sword,
exclaiming in the roughest military tone, 'in the name of the king,
Goertz, I demand of you the surrender of your sword!'
With surprise and astonishment Goertz started back. At first, unable to
speak, he looked around upon the officers who surrounded him with drawn
swords and insultingly triumphant glances.
This unknightly conduct excited Arwed; his blood boiled, and forgetful
of the mischief that a powerless opposition must cause, he fixed upon
Goertz his eager, enquiring eyes, in which the question was plainly
asked if he should draw the sword, whose hilt he firmly grasped, for
the deliverance of his friend. But, as with dignified earnestness the
minister motioned him to desist from his intention, he withdrew his
hand, and leaned against a window in silent despair at witnessing the
perpetration of a wrong which he had not power to prevent.
'In the name of the king?' asked Goertz, after a long pause, unbuckling
his sword; 'that word is a falsehood! From Charles I might expect any
thing rather than the offering up of his truest friend. This destiny is
not decreed by him! Nevertheless I see that I must yield to necessity.
Take my sword! I have long expected something of the kind. It is the
reward for all the service I have rendered to the crown of Sweden!'
'The right reward yet awaits you at Stockholm!' said colonel Baumgardt
with bitterness. Then turned he to Arwed and roughly asked him, 'how
came you here, captain Gyllenstierna!'
'From Stockholm,' answered the latter: 'whither I accompanied colonel
Brenner as a courier, and am upon my return to the camp.'
'And you have deserted your superior officer?' asked Baumgardt in
reply: 'and we find you in the carriage with Goertz. That is
suspicious!'
'It was but a moment before you met us,' hastily interposed Goertz,
'that the captain first overtook me, bringing me a message from my
daughter. His horse now stands without, tied to mine.'
Baumgardt walked to the window, as if to ascertain the truth of the
assertion.
'If you, however, yet think the affair suspicious, colonel,' cried
Arwed, vehemently, 'I propose to you to take me as a prisoner, together
with the minister, to Stockholm. Then will you at least be secured
against the imputation of having acted with too great mildness.'
'That would be perhaps very agreeable to you,' answered Baumgardt,
scornfully. 'But I am not accustomed to receive directions from
subalterns, and prudence requires that I should pursue a course
directly opposite to that proposed by a suspected person. It is
desirable rather, to ensure your safe return to the camp. Myself, with
lieutenant colonel Bioernskioeld will accompany you there. Adjutant
general Rosenhahn and lieutenant Loewen with their followers will
proceed to Stockholm with the prisoner, and thus each one of us will be
in his right place.'
Arwed gnashed his teeth at this injurious treatment, but the iron chain
of subordination held the young lion fast bound, and he remained
silent.
'Forward, Herr von Goertz,' cried the adjutant general, pointing
towards the door.
'Farewell, my son!' cried Goertz, embracing Arwed affectionately. And,
while embracing, whispered to him, 'I now understand your true
intentions and your real friendship for me. Be certain that you shall
be satisfied with my gratitude if my enemies leave me the power of
proving it.'
He went forth and stepped into his carriage, upon the box of which one
of the dragoons was seated, and which was now employed to convey its
former owner to a dungeon, Rosenhahn seated himself by the minister's
side. The other officers, together with Arwed, threw themselves upon
their horses,--Lieutenant Loewen made a sign to his dragoons, who
surrounded the carriage with their swords drawn, and the prisoner, with
his escort, galloped quickly towards the south, whilst Arwed, with his
unwelcome companions, rode sadly towards the north.