puny cloth merchant," said Kurzbold.
"This appointment," continued Roland, unheeding, "is set for ten
o'clock, and I expect to return here before half-past, therefore--"
"Therefore we're not to drink all the wine."
"Exactly."
Their leader sat down as the landlord, followed by an assistant,
entered, carrying the paraphernalia for the substantial repast, and
proceeded to set the table.
When the hilarious meal was finished, the company sat for another
half-hour over its wine, then Roland rose, buckled on his sword, and
flung his cloak over his shoulders.
"Roland, I hope you have not sold your soul for this gold?"
"No; but I have pledged your bodies, and my own as well. Greusel, will
you act as secretary and treasurer? Scrutinize the landlord's bill with
a generous eye, and pay him the amount we owe. If anything is left, we
will divide it equally," and with that he waved his hand to them,
departing amidst a round of cheers, for the active youths were tired of
idleness.
Punctuality is the politeness of kings, and as the bells of Frankfort
were ringing ten o'clock, Roland knocked at the door of the merchant's
house in the Fahrgasse. It was promptly opened by the ancient porter,
who, after securing it again, conducted the young man up the solid
stairway to the office-room on the first floor.
Ushered in, the Prince found the merchant seated in his usual chair, as
if he had never moved from the spot where Roland had left him at noon
that day. Half a dozen candles shed their soft radiance over the table,
and on one corner of it, close by Herr Goebel's right elbow, the visitor
saw a well-filled doeskin bag which he fancied might contain the
thousand thalers.
"Good even to you, Herr Goebel," said the young man, doffing his bonnet.
"I hope I have not trodden too closely on the heels of my appointment,
thus withdrawing you prematurely from the festivities, which I trust you
enjoyed all the more that you breathed the air of liberty again."
"The occasion, sir, was solemn rather than festive, for although I was
glad to see my old friends again, and I believe they were glad to see
me, the condition of the city is such, and growing rapidly worse, that
merchants cannot rejoice when they are gathered together."
"Ah, well, Herr Goebel, we will soon mend all that. How long will it
require to load your boat and choose your crew?"
"Everything can be ready by the evening of the day after to-morrow."
"You will select one of your largest barges. Remember, it must house
twenty-one men besides the crew and the goods."
"Yes; I shall see that complete arrangements are made for your comfort."
"Thank you. But do not provide too much luxury. It might arouse
suspicion from the Barons who search the boat."
"But the Barons will see you and your men in the boat."
"I think not. At least, we don't intend to be seen. I will call upon you
again to-morrow at ten o'clock. Will you kindly order your captain to be
here to meet me? I wish you to give him instructions in my presence that
he is to do whatever I ask of him. We will join the boat on the Rhine
between Ehrenfels and Assmannshausen. Instruct him to wait for us midway
between the two places, on the right bank. And now the money, if you
please."
"The money is here," said the merchant, sitting up a little more stiffly
in his chair as he patted the well-stuffed bag. "The money is here if
you have brought the instrument that authorizes you to take it."
"I have brought it with me, mein herr."
"Then show it to me," demanded the merchant, adjusting his horn glasses
with the air of one who will not allow himself to be hoodwinked.
"With the greatest pleasure," returned the young man, standing before
him. He unfastened his cloak, and allowed it to fall at his feet, then
whisked out his sword, and presented the point of it to the merchant's
throat.
Goebel, who had been fumbling with his glasses, suddenly became aware of
his danger, and shrank back so far as his chair allowed, but the point
of the sword followed him.
"What do you mean by that?" he gasped.
"I mean to show you that in this game iron is superior to gold. Your
card is on the table, represented by that bag. Mine is still in my hand,
and unplayed, but it takes the trick, I think. I hope you see the
uselessness of resistance. You cannot even cry out, for at the first
attempt a thrust of this blade cuts the very roots of utterance. It will
be quite easy for me to escape, because I shall go quietly out with the
bag under my cloak, telling the porter that you do not wish to be
disturbed."
"It is the Prince of Thieves you are, then," said Herr Goebel.
"So it would appear. With your right hand pass that bag of gold across
the table, and beg of me to accept it."
The merchant promptly did what he was told to do.
The young man put his sword back in its place, laughing joyously, but
there was no answering smile on the face of Herr Goebel. As he had said,
the condition of things in Frankfort, especially in that room, failed to
make for merriment. Roland, without being invited, drew up a chair, and
sat down at the opposite side of the table.
"Please do not attempt to dash for the door," he warned, "because I can
quite easily intercept you, as I am nearer to it than you are, and more
active. Call philosophy to your aid, and take whatever happens calmly. I
assure you, 'tis the best way, and the only way."
He untied the cord, and poured the bulk of the gold out upon the table.
The merchant watched him with amazement. For all the robber knew, the
door might be opened at any moment, but he went on with numbering the
coins as nonchalantly as if seated in the treasury of the Corn Exchange.
When he had counted half the sum the bag contained, he poured the loose
money by handfuls into the wallet that had held his mother's
contribution, and pushed towards the merchant the bag, in which remained
five hundred thalers.
"You are to know," he said with a smile, abandoning his bent-forward
posture, "that when I visited my mother this afternoon, she quite
unexpectedly gave me five hundred thalers, so I shall accept from you
only half the sum I demanded this morning."
"Your mother!" cried the merchant. "Who is your mother?"
"The Empress, as I told you. Oh, at last I understand your uneasiness.
You wished to see that document! Why didn't you ask for it? I asked for
the money plainly enough. Well, here it is. Examine Seal and
sign-manual."
The merchant minutely scrutinized the Great Seal and the signature above
it.
"I don't know what to think," stammered Herr Goebel at last, gazing
across the table with bewildered face.
"Think of your good fortune. A moment ago you imagined a thousand
thalers were lost. Now it is but five hundred thalers invested, and you
are a partner with the Royal House of the Empire."
III
DISSENSION IN THE IRONWORKERS' GUILD
Up to the time of his midnight awakening, Prince Roland had led a
care-free, uneventful life. Although he received the general education
supposed to be suitable for a youth of his station, he interested
himself keenly in only two studies, but as one of these challenged the
other, as it were, the result was entirely to the good. He was a very
quiet boy, much under the influence of his mother, seeing little or
nothing of his easy-going, inebriated father. It was his mother who
turned her son's attention towards the literature of his country, and he
became an omnivorous reader of the old monkish manuscripts with which
the Palace was well supplied. Especially had his mind been attracted by
the stories and legends of the Rhine. The mixture of history, fiction,
and superstition which he found in these vellum pages, so daintily
limned, and so artistically embellished with initial letters in gold and
crimson and blue, fascinated him, and filled him with that desire to see
those grim strongholds on the mountain-sides by the river, which later
on resulted in his journey from Ehrenfels to Bonn, when his ingenuity,
and the cupidity of his custodian, freed him from the very slight
thraldom in which he was held by the Archbishop of Mayence.
If his attention had been entirely absorbed by the reading of these
tomes, he might have become a mere dreamy bookworm, his intellect
saturated with the sentimental and romantic mysticism permeating Germany
even unto this day, and, as he cared nothing for the sports of boyhood,
body might have suffered as brain developed.
But, luckily, he had been placed under the instruction of Rinaldo, the
greatest master of the sword that the world had up to that period
produced. Rinaldo was an Italian from Milan, whom gold tempted across
the Alps for the purpose of instructing the Emperor's son in Frankfort.
He was a man of grace and politeness, and young Roland took to him from
the first, exhibiting such aptitude in the art of fencing that the
Italian was not only proud of one who did such credit to his tuition,
but came to love the youth as if he were his own son.
For the sword-making of Germany the Italian expressed the utmost
contempt. The coarse weapons produced by the ironworkers of Frankfort
needed strength rather than skill in their manipulation. Between the
Italian method and the German was all the contrast that exists between
the catching of salmon with a delicate line and a gossamer fly, or
clubbing the fish to death as did the boatmen at that fishery called the
Waag down the Rhine by St. Goar.
Roland listened intently and without defense to the diatribe against his
country's weapons and the clumsy method of using them, but although he
said nothing, he formed opinions of his own, believing there was some
merit in strength which the Italian ignored; so, studying the subject,
he himself invented a sword which, while lacking the stoutness of the
German weapon, retained some of its stability, and was almost as easily
handled as the Italian rapier, without the disadvantage of its extreme
frailty.
Thus it came about that young Roland stole away from the Palace and made
the acquaintance of the sword makers. The practice of fencing exercises
every muscle in the body, and Roland's constant bouts with Rinaldo did
more than make him a master of the weapon, with equal facility in his
right arm or his left; it produced an athlete of the first quality;
agile and strong, developing his physical powers universally, and not in
any one direction.
Meanwhile Roland remained deplorably ignorant regarding affairs of
State, this being a subject of which his mother knew nothing. The
Emperor, who should have been his son's natural teacher, gave his whole
attention to the wine-flagon, letting affairs drift towards disaster,
allowing the power that deserted his trembling fingers to be grasped by
stronger but unauthorized hands. Roland's surreptitious excursions into
the city to confer with the sword makers taught him little of politics,
for his conversations with these mechanics were devoted entirely to
metal-working. He was hustled now and again by the turbulent mob, in
going to and fro, but he did not know why it clamored, and, indeed, took
little interest in the matter, conscious only that he came more and more
to hate the city and loathe its inhabitants. When he could have his own
way, he said to himself, he would retire to some country castle which
his father owned, and there devote himself to such employment as fell in
with his wishes.
But he was to receive a sharp lesson that no man, however highly placed,
is independent of his fellows. He was unaware of the commotion that
arose round his own name, and of the grim hanging of the leaders who
chose him as their supreme head. When, bewildered and sleepy, he was
aroused at midnight, and saw three armed men standing by his bedside, he
received a shock that did more to awaken him than the grip of alien
hands on his shoulders. During that night ride in the boat he said
nothing but thought much. He had heard his mother plead for him without
for a moment delaying his departure. She, evidently, was powerless.
There was then in the land a force superior to that of the Throne.
Something that had been said quieted his mother's fears, for at last she
allowed him to go without further protest, but weeping a little, and
embracing him much. There was no roughness or rudeness on the part of
those who conveyed him down the river Main, and finally along the Rhine
to Ehrenfels, but rather the utmost courtesy and deference, yet Roland
remained silent throughout the long journey, agitated by this new,
invisible, irresistible sovereignty animated with the will and power to
do what it liked with him.
At the Castle of Ehrenfels he found awaiting him no rigorous
imprisonment. He was treated as a welcome guest of an invisible host. It
was his conversations with the garrulous custodian, who was a shrewd
observer of the passing show, that gradually awakened the young Prince
to some familiarity with the affairs of the country. He learned now in
what a deplorable state the capital stood, through the ever-increasing
exactions of the robber Barons along the Rhine. He asked his instructor
why the merchants did not send their goods by some other route, which
was a very natural query, but was told there existed no other route. A
great forest extended for the most part between Frankfort and Cologne,
and through the wilderness were no roads, for even those constructed by
the Romans had been allowed to fall into decay; overgrown with trees,
Nature thus destroying the neglected handiwork of man; the forest
reclaiming its own.
"Indeed," continued the custodian, "for the last ten years things have
been going to the devil, for the lack of a strong hand in the capital. A
strong hand is needed by nobles and outlaws alike. We want a new
Frederick Barbarossa; the hangman's rope and the torch judiciously
applied might be the saving of the country."
Ehrenfels, belonging to the Archbishop, was not a nest of piracy, and so
its guardian could talk in this manner if he chose, but had he uttered
these sentiments farther down the Rhine, he would himself have
experienced the utility of the hangman's rope. Roland, knowing by this
time who had taken him into custody, said:
"Why do not the three Archbishops put a stop to it? They possess the
power."
The old jailer shrugged his shoulders.
"My chief, the great prelate of Mayence, would do it speedily enough if
he stood alone, but the Archbishops of Treves have ever been robbers
themselves, and Cologne is little better, therefore they neutralize one
another. No two of them will allow the other to act, fearing he may gain
in power, and thus upset the balance of responsibility, which I assure
your Highness is very nicely adjusted. Each of the three claim
allegiance from this Baron or the other, and although the Archbishops
themselves may not lay toll directly on the Rhine, their ardent
partisans do, which produces a deadlock."
Thus Roland received an education not to be had in palaces, and, saying
little beyond asking an occasional question, he thought much, and came
to certain conclusions. He arrived at an ambition to open the lordly
Rhine and spent his time gathering knowledge and forming plans.
Twelve hours after receiving the five hundred thalers from the merchant,
he again presented himself at the now familiar door in the Fahrgasse. In
the room on the first floor he found with Herr Goebel a thick-set,
heavily-bearded, weather-beaten man, who stood bonnet in hand while the
merchant gave him final instructions.
"Good-morning, Sir Roland," cried Herr Goebel cheerfully. He exhibited
no resentment for his treatment of the night before, and apparently
daylight brought with it renewed confidence that the young man might
succeed in his mission. There was now no hesitation in the merchant's
manner; alert and decided, all mistrust seemed to have vanished. "This
is Captain Blumenfels, whom I put in charge of the barge, and who has
gathered together a crew on which he can depend although, of course, you
must not expect them to fight."
"No," said Roland, "I shall attend to that portion of the enterprise."
"Now, Captain Blumenfels," continued Herr Goebel, "this young man is
commander. You are to obey him in every particular, just as you would
obey me."
The captain bowed without speaking.
"I shall not detain you any longer, captain, as you will be anxious to
see the bales disposed of to your liking on the barge."
The captain thereupon took himself off, and Roland came to the
conclusion that he liked this rough-and-ready mariner with so little to
say for himself; a silent man of action, evidently.
Herr Goebel turned his attention to Roland.
"I have ordered bales of cloth to the value of a trifle more than four
thousand thalers to be placed in the barge," he said. "The bales are
numbered, and I have given the captain an inventory showing the price of
each. I suppose you despise our vulgar traffic, and, indeed, I had no
thought of asking so highly placed a person as yourself to sell my
goods, therefore Blumenfels will superintend the marketing when you
reach Cologne--that is, if you ever get so far."
"Your pardon, Herr Goebel, but I have my own plans regarding the
disposal of your goods. I intend to be quit of them long before I see
Cologne. Indeed, should I prosper, I hope your boat will set its nose
southward for the return journey some distance this side of Coblentz."
The merchant gazed up at him in astonishment.
"Your design is impossible. There is no sale for cloth nearer than
Coblentz. Your remarks prove you unacquainted with the river."
"I have walked every foot of both sides of the river between Ehrenfels
and Bonn. There are many wealthy castles on this side of Coblentz."
"True, my good sir, true; but how became they wealthy? Simply by robbing
the merchants. Are you not aware that each of these castles is inhabited
by a titled brigand? You surely do not expect to sell my cloth to the
Barons?"
"Why not? Remember how long it is since a cloth-barge went down the
Rhine. Think for a moment of the arduous life which these Barons lead,
hunting the boar, the bear, and the deer, tearing recklessly through
thicket and over forest-covered ground. Why, our noble friends must be
in rags by this time, or clad in the skins of the beasts they kill! They
will be delighted to see and handle a piece of well-woven cloth once
more."
For a full minute the merchant gaped aghast at this senseless talk so
seriously put forward; then a smile came to his lips.
"Prince Roland, I begin to understand you. Your words are on a par with
the practical joke you played upon me so successfully last night. Of
course, you know as well as I that the Barons will buy nothing. They
will take such goods as they want if you but give them opportunity. What
you say is merely your way of intimating it is none of my affair how the
goods are disposed of, so long as you hand over to me four thousand
thalers."
"Four thousand five hundred, if you please."
"I shall be quite content with the four thousand, regarding the extra
five hundred as paid for services rendered. Now, can I do anything
further to aid you?"
"Yes. I wish you to send a man on horseback to Lorch, there to await the
barge. Choose a man as silent as your captain; one whom you trust
implicitly, for I hope to send back with him four thousand five hundred
thalers, and also some additional gold, which I beg of you to keep
safely for me until I return."
"Prince Roland, there can be no gold for me at Lorch."
"Dispatch a trustworthy man in case I receive the money. You will be
anxious to know how we prosper, and I can at least forward a budget of
news."
"But should there be gold, he cannot return safely with it to
Frankfort."
"Oh, yes, if he keeps to the eastern bank of the Rhine. There is no
castle between Lorch and Frankfort except Ehrenfels, and that, being the
property of the Archbishop, may be passed safely."
"Very well. The man shall await you at Lorch. Inquire for Herr Kruger at
Mergler's Inn."
That night, in the Kaiser cellar, another excellent supper was spread
before the members of the metal-workers' league. It was quite as
hilarious as the banquet of the night before; perhaps more so, because
now, for the first time in months, the athletic young men were well fed,
with money in their pouches. Each was clad in a new suit of clothes.
Nothing like uniformity in costume had been attempted, there being but
one day in which to replenish the wardrobes, which involved the
acquiring of garments already made. However no trouble was experienced
about this, for each branch of the metal-workers had its own recognized
outfit, which was kept on hand in all sizes by various dealers catering
to the wants of artisans, from apprentices to masters of their trade.
The costumes were admirably adapted to the use for which they were
intended. There was nothing superfluous in their make-up, and, being
loosely cut, they allowed ample play to stalwart limbs. For dealing with
metal the wearers required a cloth tightly woven, of a texture as nearly
as possible resembling leather, and better accouterment for a
rough-and-tumble, freebooter's excursion could not have been found,
short of coats of mail, or, failing that, of leather itself.
Roland appeared in the trousers and doublet of a sword maker, and his
comrades cheered loudly when he threw off his cloak and displayed for
the first time that he was actually one of themselves. Hitherto
something in the fashioning of his wearing apparel had in a manner
differentiated him from the rest of the company, but now nothing in his
dress indicated that he was leader of the coterie, and this pleased the
independent metal-workers.
The previous night, after the landlord's bill was generously liquidated,
each man had received upwards of thirty thalers. Roland then related to
them his adventure with the merchant, and the result of his sword-play
in the vicinity of Herr Goebel's throat. Two accomplishments he
possessed endeared Roland to his comrades: first, the ability to sing a
good song; and second, his talent for telling an interesting story,
whether it was a personal adventure, a legend of the Rhine, or some tale
of the gnomes which, as every one knows, haunt the gloomy forests in the
mountain regions. His account of the evening spent with Herr Goebel
aroused much laughter and applause, which greatly augmented when the
material advantages of the interview were distributed among the guild.
This evening he purposed making a still more important disclosure; thus
when the meal was finished, and the landlord, after replenishing the
flagons, had retired, the new sword maker rose in his place at the head
of the table.
"I crave your strict attention for a few minutes. Although I refused to
confide my plans to Herr Goebel, I consider it my duty to inform you
minutely of what is before us, and if I speak with some solemnity, it is
because I realize we may never again meet around this table. We depart
from Frankfort to-morrow upon a hazardous expedition, and some of us may
not return."
"Oh, I say, Roland," protested Conrad Kurzbold, "don't mar a jovial
evening with a note of tragedy. It's bad art, you know."
Kurzbold was one of the three actual sword makers, and had been
president of the guild until he gave place to Roland. He was the oldest
of the company; an ambitious man, a glib talker, with great influence
among his fellows, and a natural leader of them. What he said generally
represented the opinion of the gathering.
"For once, Kurzbold, I must ask you to excuse me," persisted Roland. "It
is necessary that on this, the last, opportunity I should place before
you exactly what I intend to do. I am very anxious not to minimize the
danger. I wish no man to follow me blindfold, thus I speak early in the
evening, that you may not be influenced by the enthusiasm of wine in
coming to a decision. I desire each man here to estimate the risk, and
choose, before we separate to-night, whether or not he will accompany
the expedition.
"Here is the compact made with Herr Goebel: I promised that, with the
help of my comrades, I would endeavor to open the Rhine to mercantile
traffic. On the strength of such promise he gave me the money."