WAR OFTEN OPPOSES THE TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY.
Conrad was detained for three days in the Swedish camp. It was on an
overcast, rainy evening that he at length received permission to
return. He hastened to reach the Münzbach, which flows into the town
in two streams between the Erbis and Donat Gates. In the year 1297, an
enemy had made treacherous use of this river to enter and plunder the
town; and the points of its entrance and exit had from that time been
guarded against surprise by strong towers, beneath the arched
foundations of which the river now flowed. It was towards the tower of
exit that Conrad made the best of his way.
The sentries either did not see the boy approaching through the gloom,
or did not consider him dangerous, for he succeeded in creeping
unhindered beneath the vaulted archway that spanned the river. All
soon grew quite dark around him as he waded on, and he found himself
obliged to make his hands do the work of eyes. He had not proceeded
far in this fashion, when he suddenly found further progress barred by
a strong iron grating reaching down into the bed of the river and up to
the stonework above his head. How was he to pass this unexpected
obstacle? He cautiously rapped and felt the bars one by one, until, to
his great delight, he found that the last bar could be quite easily
pushed aside, thus leaving an opening through which the slender lad
found but little difficulty in forcing his body. As he came to each of
the two similar gratings that barred his way farther up the tunnel, he
found the same course practicable. He continued to follow the
subterranean bed of the stream for some distance farther, until it
emerged into the open air again in a tanner's yard, and Conrad could
leave the wet path he had followed so long. He did not let the grass
grow under his feet, and very soon was listening cautiously at his
mother's door. Hearing no sound, he stepped on tiptoe into the room.
No one was to be seen, though a lamp was burning on the table. He
crept across to the door of the bedroom, and thought he heard sounds of
breathing. As he opened the door, a feeble ray of light streamed
through the crevice, and he saw his mother lying in bed, with the
faithful cat sitting beside her as her only companion. Puss,
recognising the boy, began to purr and wave her tail, but the blind
woman seemed to be stupefied by the burning heat of fever.
'Mother! mother!' cried Conrad, at first softly, then louder; at last
he ventured to pull the sleeve of her night-dress.
The blind woman sat up suddenly. 'What is it?' she cried. 'Who is
calling me?'
'It is I, mother,' said Conrad, with chattering teeth; for by this time
the cold seemed to have spread from his wet feet all over his body.
'And have you come for me at last, my darling child?' said his mother,
in tones of rapture. 'How often have I prayed that God would send you
to take me home to the mansions of the blest! I come, my son; I come!'
'Why, how funny you talk, mother!' said Conrad. 'I only wanted to ask
you for a pair of clean stockings, because mine have got so wet wading
along the Münzbach. I have only just come in from the Swedish camp,
and I've brought you the box you buried in our old cellar.'
'Swedish camp!--box!--cellar!' repeated the bewildered woman, as though
she were still in a dream. 'Have you not been dead these three days?
And is not this your spirit, that a poor blind woman cannot even see?'
'Why, mother, whatever are you thinking about?' cried Conrad, laughing
in spite of his cold feet. 'Here, catch hold of me, feel me; I'm flesh
and blood. Did not father tell you he had sent me off to the Swedes to
get this box? They didn't do me one bit of harm; they didn't even
starve me. But they would not let me go and dig in our cellar; they
said that was not work for stupid boys. So they did all the digging,
and brought me the box all right; and, considering what a lot of
thieves they are, I think that was almost a miracle. I say, mother,
whatever did you put in the box? It's all nailed up so tight I
couldn't open it.'
He placed a case about fifteen inches long, by six inches broad and
high, in his mother's hands. The blind woman felt it all over in
wonder.
'I don't know anything about any box,' she said. 'And I'm sure I never
had anything to bury.'
'Perhaps Master Prieme was right after all, then,' said Conrad.
'Who is this talking in here?' cried Jüchziger, coming suddenly into
the room. 'Ha! is it you, you young good-for-nothing? Where have you
sprung from? Quick now, confess, or I'll warm you soundly.'
'Well, I'm sure I'm cold enough, father,' said Conrad, with a feeble
attempt at a joke; 'and it was on your business, too, that I got so
cold. Is that all the thanks I am to have for bringing you the box all
safe and sound?'
'What! is that true? You're a very fine fellow. Give it me here,
quick!' cried Jüchziger in a tone full of joy.
'But,' said his wife, 'I never buried a box with treasure in it. What
can we have to do with this?'
'Oh, I had a dream the other night,' answered Jüchziger, 'as life-like
a dream as if I had really been standing in the cellar of our old
house. And see here, my dream has come true, and no mistake about it.
A little mountain-troll dressed, in grey stood before me in my dream,
and said, "Let your son, Conrad Schmidt, dig here in this corner of the
cellar. He is a Sunday's bairn and will have good luck."'
'But I didn't dig for it,' said Conrad. 'The Swedes did it for me.'
'It all comes to the same thing,' said Jüchziger, 'so long as we have
the box. Do you know, my son, what there is inside it?'
'How should I? See how it's all nailed and screwed up!'
'Have you brought back the safe-conduct?'
'Oh yes; I forgot that. One of the Swedish officers tied the paper
over my heart and under my left arm. I was not to let a soul see it,
he said, except the one from whom I first had it, and that was you, you
know, father. But I'm sure it's a different letter, and it's
uncommonly heavy.'
'Give it me here this instant,' said Jüchziger, scarcely trying to
conceal his joy. 'It will be nothing but right if the Swedes have sent
their poor prisoners a ducat or two that they may get me to buy them a
few things. But mind you, don't say a word about it to a living soul;
for if you do, the money will all be taken from them, and I shall be
punished for my kindness into the bargain.'
Conrad handed the paper over to his step-father, who put it straight
into his pocket without stopping to examine it. 'You need not go back
to your mistress now,' he said, when the packet was safely stowed away.
'Much better stay here and attend to your sick mother. The good woman
is in sore need of all the care and help you can give her.'
Conrad was not too bewildered by all his adventures to suspect some
hidden meaning in his step-father's very sudden kindness. As he
thought about the story of the box and the safe-conduct, it seemed to
him to grow more and more suspicious, and he longed for some friend
with whom he could talk the whole thing over.
He could not relieve his mind to his sick mother, that was clear, for
she was far more helpless than himself. Master Prieme was a prisoner
of war; Roller was gone. Who was there left that he could trust, but
his comrade the Defensioner? Yet how could he get at Hillner, with his
step-father watching him as a cat watches a mouse, scarcely permitting
him even to cross the threshold of the house.
Meantime, the enemy had hauled a cannon up into the tower over the
Peter Gate, which was soon scattering death among the defenders. The
besieged also suffered severe loss from the fire of two heavy guns
planted close beside the town moat, near the Peter Gate, and covering
the next tower, that which guarded the Kreuz Gate. The Freibergers, on
their part, were by no means backward in doing their utmost to harass
the Swedes. Behind each defensive work as it was shot down, a new one
arose. Trenches, palisadoes, covered ways, counter-mines, and
batteries were all used as means of defence; the houses adjoining
threatened spots were turned into strongholds, and pierced for
sharp-shooters, who shot every Swede that showed himself within range.
The commandant was at all points where fighting was going on, ordering
and encouraging his men both by word and example.
On the second morning after the night of Conrad's return, Schweinitz
approached the Defensioner Hillner where he stood at a loop-hole in the
tower at the Kreuz Gate. Hillner respectfully made way for his
superior officer, who wished to look out.
'Just see that impudent rascal!' cried the commandant, after a few
moments' survey. 'He is riding his horse right up to the city moat in
sheer bravado. Quick, Defensioner, and show the fellow that there are
men in here. Put a bullet through his head.'
Alert and willing, Hillner at once placed the muzzle of his piece in
the loop-hole. Just as he had covered the Swede, however, he lowered
his weapon and turned pale.
'What's the matter?' cried Schweinitz. 'Why do you tremble? Are you
hurt? Here, then, give me your weapon. I will chastise the insolent
scoundrel myself.' As he spoke, Schweinitz grasped at the arquebuse,
on which Hillner's hand closed like a vice.
'So please your excellency and my gracious commandant,' said the
Defensioner in a tone of entreaty, 'do whatever you please with my
life, but I cannot shoot the man out yonder; neither can I give you my
weapon for you to do it.'
'What!' shouted Schweinitz. 'I, your general, command it. That
weapon, instantly, or--you know the penalty that attaches to
insubordination. Loose it, I tell you!'
'I know well,' replied the young man, 'what penalty belongs to
insubordination; but ought I not to obey God rather than man?'
'No, a thousand times!' cried Schweinitz, his face aflame with rage.
'In war, God's command counts for nothing, and the general's for
everything. What will happen next, if a soldier is to stand and argue
instead of obeying the orders of his superior officer? The soldier is
a mere machine at the absolute will and disposal of his officer, and
must do whatever that officer commands--must kill father, son, or
brother whenever he receives orders to do so. This is what war
demands, and the morality of your catechisms has no place in it. War
puts its trust in the strong arm, the sword, and the fire-lock alone.
Speak, fellow! why would you not shoot that Swede?'
'Many of the enemy have already met their death by my hand during the
past few weeks,' replied Hillner quietly; 'and only against one have I
refused to raise my weapon, for that one was--my father;--an unnatural
father, it is true, who deceived my poor mother, and shamefully
deserted her, and made me fight against my fatherland,--but yet, in
spite of all, my father. His blood flows in my veins; but for him I
should never have existed. So I say again, let me die rather than kill
him.'
'We can easily manage that,' said Schweinitz angrily. 'All such talk
as this in war-time is so much rubbish. Bah! While I stand here
debating with a traitor, the villain yonder has prudently taken himself
out of range.' Defensioner, you will give me your weapons, both
firelock and sabre. You are my prisoner. Ha! Schönleben doubtless
had sound reasons for warning me against you.'
His step-father's absence and his mother's quiet slumber having given
Conrad the opportunity he wanted, he was on the way to his mistress'
house to find his friend Hillner, when he saw the Defensioner coming
along the street, closely surrounded by the guard, and followed by a
crowd of curious people. The boy stared in astonishment at hearing the
ugly word 'traitor' applied to his old comrade, and did not fully
recover himself until he caught sight of his step-father marching with
a joyful face close beside the prisoner, on the way to lock him up in
one of the strongest cells at the town hall.
When the news of Hillner's arrest reached Mistress Blüthgen's house,
where it produced great excitement, the miller, who had not yet fully
recovered, remarked dryly to the women:
'Seems to me as though our Defensioner must have acted rather like one
of my donkeys. He could have obeyed the commandant's order, aimed his
weapon, and fired over the Swede's head. He had it all in his own
hands.'
'No,' said his wife, showing, what was very unlike her, the deepest
emotion, 'Hillner was right not to lift his hand against his father,
even in pretence. What marksman in the whole wide world can say where
his bullet shall go, when it is once out of his gun and flying towards
a mark that some mischievous sprite may shift at any moment. And to
kill his father! Fie! I would rather see Hillner hanged, an innocent
man, than do such a deed.'
These words of the miller's brave wife made deep and lasting impression
on Conrad, who stood by and heard them. Though Jüchziger was a cruel
stepfather, a hard struggle had been going on in the boy's mind as to
whether it was his duty to bring a terrible suspicion on that father by
telling all he knew. He now determined to let his secret remain locked
up in his own heart.