The Finding of Brunhilde
From twilight until almost midnight Dick Ashton, the other two young
men, Polly and Esther and a number of people from the village of
Waldheim searched the surrounding country for Betty Ashton. It seemed
utterly incredible that she could not be found! She was not a child; she
was almost a woman and could not have been lured away by strangers. But
why if she were lost did she not make some sign? There were several
signals learned in her Camp Fire days, which Polly and Esther would
assuredly have understood.
Earlier in the evening by the aid of a lantern Polly O'Neill had
insisted that she had discovered tracks that were surely Betty's,
turning from the main road which would have brought her to the cottage,
into a small stretch of woods. But at night it was quite impossible to
follow these tracks over the brush and bracken, and after the woods had
been thoroughly searched and no other suggestion of a wanderer
discovered, Polly's idea did not carry much weight. Moreover, the two
girls were too utterly exhausted and frightened to continue the
investigation, though neither of them would consent to return home.
By chance the two girls, Richard Ashton and Carl von Reuter had
separated from the others and were resting for a moment by the side of a
low stone fence enclosing a forest.
Dick was leaning over Esther urging her to let him take her into the
village, where a carriage was in waiting to drive any one of them who
might have news, back to Mrs. Ashton and Miss Adams, who were still
together at the cottage. Carl von Reuter happened to be standing close
to Polly, but he was not speaking to her nor observing her. All through
the evening he had seemed as anxious and interested about Betty as her
brother and even more nonplussed at their inability to find any trace of
her; because, of course, he knew so thoroughly well every inch of
ground in the surrounding country and had also called in his servants
from the castle to assist in the search.
Suddenly Polly clutched at the young lieutenant's arm. She had risen
unexpectedly to her feet and was pointing ahead apparently at nothing so
far as her companions could see.
The night had been dark and cloudy, the atmosphere sultry with
suggestions of a September storm. Therefore the task of finding Betty,
should she be out of doors, had been the more difficult and the more
imperative.
"Look, Esther," Polly called sharply, "there over in the woods toward
the west. Do you see anything?"
Esther had gotten up on her feet more slowly and was leaning on Dick
Ashton's arm. She had become weary of false clues and false hopes. And
Polly with her sanguine temperament had been more often deceived than
any one else.
"That is only a mist you see rising between the trees, Miss O'Neill,"
Carl von Reuter answered before the others spoke. "It very often occurs
in these damp old forests on sultry nights."
Polly made no reply for the moment, only walking over to where Esther
was standing she whispered something to her that no one else could hear.
And Esther took tight hold of Polly's hand and without regarding their
escorts they both stared unceasingly in the direction that Polly had
first indicated. Were the light clouds they saw at so great a distance
away, rising and floating lightly in the night air like pale ghosts,
really nothing but mist? Then it was curious that the mist should rise
always in double clouds, the one within a few feet of the other.
A second time the two girls together watched this phenomenon and then
after an interval of ten minutes, during which neither one of them would
change her position, for the third time they saw the two light clouds
unfurl and this time, though they may not have been perfectly certain of
this detail, there appeared tiny sparks and cinders amid the clouds.
Polly turned deliberately toward Carl von Renter. "Lieutenant von
Reuter," she said, "Betty is somewhere within your woods. I am
perfectly sure of it and so is Esther by this time. You may not
understand, but we have lived together in the woods for over a year and
have studied woodcraft until we know almost as much about it as Indian
women. The two columns of smoke which we have discovered rising at
regular intervals are a woodsman's signal for help. We must go to Betty
at once. It is dark and we are not familiar with your forests, so that
it would take us a longer time to reach her alone. Will you be good
enough to lead the way?"
There was no disputing the girl's quiet conviction, and as Esther was
now equally convinced, neither young man advanced any denial. Only Carl
von Reuter plunged ahead so rapidly that following him was almost out of
the question.
By some magic he seemed to know the open spaces between the trees and
where the underbrush could be safely trodden down. Neither did he make
any effort to assist either of the two girls, leaving that task entirely
to Richard Ashton. And though under ordinary circumstances neither girl
would have needed help, tonight Esther was strangely tired. All day,
since the early hour of leaving their little German cottage, she had
been under unusual strain. So that now, though she was ashamed of it,
remembering her long training in outdoor life, now and then she did
manage to stumble and to have to clutch either at Polly or at Dr. Ashton
for support.
In one of these moments of delay, Carl von Renter did hesitate for an
instant, calling back over his shoulder: "We will reach the path in a
short time. It is the same path which you took through the woods to my
hunting lodge several weeks ago."
But when they finally reached this path their leader had disappeared
into the distance ahead of them, leaving the three strangers to stumble
on through the darkness alone.
And if ever in her life Polly O'Neill was to recognize the need which
any woman may some day require of a knowledge of the woods and fields,
she needed it tonight. For here the three of them were in an unknown
forest in a strange land with no light except that made by the dark
lantern which some one in the village had loaned Dick. Esther was too
tired to be of much assistance, and Richard Ashton did not understand
half so much of outdoor life as the two Camp Fire girls. Always he had
been too devoted a student of books for the right kind of acquaintance
with nature. Moreover, Dick was extremely angry at Lieutenant von
Reuter's desertion of them. Of course Betty must be found as promptly as
possible, if it were true that she was signaling for their aid from some
place in the woods. But if Dick had realized it, in his prejudice
against their new acquaintance, he would honestly have preferred that
Betty should have to wait for her deliverance a few moments longer than
that this young foreigner should manage to be her deliverer. And this in
spite of the fact than an occasional drop of rain was beginning to fall
and that now and then a line of lightning streaked the sky.
Under other circumstances nothing would have persuaded Carl von Reuter
to have so failed in courtesy as his present action showed. For whatever
the difference in points of view between an American and a foreigner,
there is little difference in the code of good breeding between one
civilized nation and another. And Lieutenant von Reuter was a member of
the old German nobility. Indeed, one of the objections to him which both
Esther and Polly had expressed was that he was almost too formal, too
conventional in his manner and behavior for their simpler American
taste. So of course there was some unusual impulse, some strong emotion
and design now urging him ahead almost to the complete forgetting of his
other companions.
But not since the hour of their original meeting had the young German
failed to acknowledge to himself that Betty Ashton had a charm for him
which no other girl had ever before possessed. He had known no other
American girls until now, and his acquaintance with German girls of his
own position in life had been at solemn parties, where they were usually
too frightened and self-conscious to have much to say for themselves. Of
course he had always been told that American girls were unlike any
others and yet had failed to imagine that they could have the beauty and
fascination that Betty Ashton had for him. Why, he had not even tried to
find out anything about her family, about her position in the world! For
it is a curious fact that foreigners who care so much for class
distinctions in their own countries have no such attitude toward
Americans. Because we have no titles, because a family that is poor and
obscure in one generation may be rich and distinguished in the next,
they consider that all Americans are of equal position except in the
matter of wealth. And this fact Carl von Reuter had learned in
connection with Betty Ashton. She was poor, there was no possibility of
doubting it. One could see it plainly enough in the simple fashion in
which they were living and through their ordinary conversation.
Moreover, Betty had made no effort to hide the fact. Indeed, it had
seemed at times as if she were anxious to speak of it for some secret
reason of her own. Yet she need not have felt this necessary, since
there could be no uncertainty in the young count's mind. Frederick von
Reuter, who seemed to have almost forgotten his own emotion in his deep
interest in his cousin's, having made careful inquiries through his
bank, had sadly reported that Miss Ashton could not possibly be regarded
as an American heiress.
This information, tragic as it may have sounded at the time, had no
place in Carl's thoughts tonight. He was only possessed of the one
thought that the girl whom he admired and liked so much was alone in the
woods, probably hurt and needing his aid. And that at any moment she
might be caught in a fierce thunderstorm.
As the young fellow strode swiftly along--he had hunted too frequently
in his own forests not to be entirely familiar with them--he began to
realize that the signal which his two girl companions had recognized
first was coming from the same neighborhood where he had had a previous
meeting with them. For as he drew nearer, once again the signals
flashed, though dimmer now because of the increasing strength of the
storm.
Curiously enough, as he strode along he was recalling the story of
Siegfried and Brunhilde which he had repeated to the three girls at
Polly's request. And the words of Siegfried's song came back to his
mind. This was not just an idle coincidence. The Germans are a far more
sentimental and music-loving race of people than we can fully
understand. And from the hour when Carl von Reuter had first seen Betty,
the beauty of her gold-red hair had suddenly made him think of his small
boy dream of this best-loved heroine in all the old German legends.
There was hardly a time in his childhood when he had not been devoted to
this story, which is usually unfamiliar to American boys and girls until
such time as they are grown and begin seeing Wagner's wonderful operas,
written about these tales of the Nibelung.
And in truth the young man found Betty Ashton as much encircled by fire
as ever the famous Brunhilde could have been and with the thunder and
lightning playing over her head like the final scene in "Siegfried."
The girl lay on the ground between two smouldering fires from which only
feeble columns of smoke were now arising, although there were flames
enough still left among the embers to reveal the outline of her form.
Nevertheless, though Carl von Reuter called her name aloud long before
he could reach her side, Betty made no response. A short time after the
reason was sufficiently plain, for she had fainted.
For half a moment the young lieutenant stood silent, staring down upon
her, too full of feeling to trust himself to speak. She looked so
utterly worn out and exhausted. Her thin summer dress of some light
color and material was torn and soiled and her hair had come unfastened
and was hanging loose about her shoulders, making a kind of vivid pillow
against the darker background of the earth. For when another sudden
flash of lightning followed the girl's hair was the color of the flame.
"Miss Ashton," Carl von Reuter called.
It was evident enough even in these first few minutes what had taken
place. For one of Betty's shoes was off and her ankle had been put into
splints and bandaged with the sleeve torn from her gown. She must have
dragged herself about collecting wood and underbrush for her camp fires
and there was at present no way of guessing how many she may have had to
build before her signals were discovered.
"Miss Ashton--Betty!" Lieutenant von Reuter called again. But the girl
made no answer and the heavens suddenly seemed to part wide open,
letting forth a heavy downpour of rain.
In the same instant the young man gathered up the girl in his arms and
ran toward the shelter of his hunting lodge. He had always the key with
him, so that the door was quickly opened. Placing her on a couch, he
then lighted candles; but the next moment, now that Betty was safe, he
had a sudden appreciation of the struggle and anxiety of his three
companions, whom he had so unceremoniously deserted. With a silver
hunting whistle to his lips he blew loudly and then waited for an
answer. None succeeded and he tried again and again. The third time an
answering "hello" came from the lips of Richard Ashton.
When the young count finally turned and re-entered the room he
discovered that Betty's eyes were now open and that she was looking
gratefully and with entire consciousness at him.
But without attempting to do anything more than smile at her
reassuringly the young lieutenant knelt and started a fire in his big
open fireplace. And before it had done more than flicker into a light
blaze, Polly, Esther and Dick were also crowding into the room, the
girls kneeling beside Betty, while Carl von Reuter apologized to Dr.
Ashton for his desertion.
It was now past midnight and out of the question for any one of the
three girls to attempt the journey home. So after seeing that his four
guests were made as comfortable as possible in his lodge for the night,
it was the young German officer who tramped the long distance back
through the rain to assure Mrs. Ashton and Miss Adams of Betty's
discovery.