daylight was beginning to tinge with bluish grey the only window in my dungeon tower when i was roused out of my niche in the granite by the prolonged distant notes of a hunting horn.

there is nothing more sad and melancholy than the wail of this instrument when the day begins to struggle with the night—when not a sigh nor a sound besides comes to molest the solitary reign of silence; it is especially the last long note which spreads in widening waves over the immensity of the plain beneath, awaking the distant, far-off echoes amongst the mountains, that has in it a poetic element that stirs up the depths of the soul.

leaning upon my elbow in my bear-skin i lay listening to the plaintive sound, which suggested something of the feudal ages. the contemplation of my chamber, the ancient den of the wolf of nideck, with its low, dark arch, threatening almost to come down to crush the occupant; and further on that small leaden window, just touching the ceiling, more wide than high, and deeply recessed in the wall, added to the reality of the impression.

i arose quickly and ran to open the window wide.

then presented itself to my astonished eyes such a wondrous spectacle as no mortal tongue, no pen of man, can describe—the wide prospect that the eagle, the denizen of the high alps, sweeps with his far reaching ken every morning at the rising of the deep purple veil that overhung the horizon by night mountains farther off! mountains far away! and yet again in the blue distance—mountains still, blending with the grey mists of the morning in the shadowy horizon!—motionless billows that sink into peace and stillness in the blue distance of the plains of lorraine. such is a faint idea of the mighty scenery of the vosges, boundless forests, silver lakes, dazzling crests, ridges, and peaks projecting their clear outlines upon the steel-blue of the valleys clothed in snow. beyond this, infinite space!

could any enthusiasm of poet or skill of painter attain the sublime elevation of such a scene as that?

i stood mute with admiration. at every moment the details stood out more clearly in the advancing light of morning; hamlets, farm-houses, villages, seemed to rise and peep out of every undulation of the land. a little more attention brought more and more numerous objects into view.

i had leaned out of my window rapt in contemplation for more than a quarter of an hour when a hand was laid lightly upon my shoulder; i turned round startled, when the calm figure and quiet smile of gideon saluted me with—

"guten tag, fritz! good morning!"

then he also rested his arms on the window, smoking his short pipe. he extended his hand and said—

"look, fritz, and admire! you are a son of the black forest, and you must admire all that. look there below; there is roche creuse. do you see it? don't you remember gertrude? how far off those times seem now!"

sperver brushed away a tear. what could i say?

we sat long contemplating and meditating over this grand spectacle. from time to time the old poacher, noticing me with my eyes fixed upon some distant object, would explain—

"that is the wald horn; this is the tiefenthal; there's the fall of the steinbach; it has stopped running now; it is hanging down in great fringed sheets, like the curtains over the shoulder of the harberg—a cold winter's cloak! down there is a path that leads to fribourg; in a fortnight's time it will be difficult to trace it."

thus our time passed away.

i could not tear myself away from so beautiful a prospect. a few birds of prey, with wings hollowed into a graceful curve sharp-pointed at each end, the fan-shaped tail spread out, were silently sweeping round the rock-hewn tower; herons flew unscathed above them, owing their safety from the grasp of the sharp claws and the tearing beak to the elevation of their flight.

not a cloud marred the beauty of the blue sky; all the snow had fallen to earth; once more the huntsman's horn awoke the echoes.

"that is my friend sébalt lamenting down there," said sperver. "he knows everything about horses and dogs, and he sounds the hunter's horn better than any man in germany. listen, fritz, how soft and mellow the notes are! poor sébalt! he is pining away over monseigneur's illness; he cannot hunt as he used to do. his only comfort is to get up every morning at sunrise on to the altenberg and play the count's favourite airs. he thinks he shall be able to cure him that way!"

sperver, with the good taste of a man who appreciates beautiful scenery, had offered no interruption to my contemplations; but when, my eyes dazzled and swimming with so much light, i turned round to the darkness of the tower, he said to me—

"fritz, it's all right; the count has had no fresh attack."

these words brought me back to a sense of the realities of life.

"ah, i am very glad!"

"it is all owing to you, fritz."

"what do you mean? i have not prescribed yet."

"what signifies? you were there; that was enough."

"you are only joking, gideon! what is the use of my being present if i don't prescribe?"

"why, you bring him good luck!"

i looked straight at him, but he was not even smiling!

"yes, fritz, you are just a messenger of good; the last two years the lord had another attack the next day after the first, then a third and a fourth. you have put an end to that. what can be clearer?"

"well, to me it is not so very clear; on the contrary, it is very obscure."

"we are never too old to learn," the good man went on. "fritz, there are messengers of evil and there are messengers of good. now that rascal knapwurst, he is a sure messenger of ill. if ever i meet him as i am going out hunting i am sure of some misadventure; my gun misses fire, or i sprain my ankle, or a dog gets ripped up!—all sorts of mischief come. so, being quite aware of this, i always try and set off at early daybreak, before that author of mischief, who sleeps like a dormouse, has opened his eyes; or else i slip out by a back way by the postern gate. don't you see?"

"i understand you very well, but your ideas seem to me very strange, gideon."

"you, fritz," he went on, without noticing my interruption, "you are a most excellent lad; heaven has covered your head with innumerable blessings; just one glance at your jolly countenance, your frank, clear eyes, your good-natured smile, is enough to make any one happy. you positively bring good luck with you. i have always said so, and now would you like to have a proof?"

"yes, indeed i should. it would be worth while to know how much there is in me without my having any knowledge of it."

"well," said he, grasping my wrist, "look down there!"

he pointed to a hillock at a couple of gunshots from the castle.

"do you see there a rock half-buried in the snow, with a ragged bush by its side?"

"quite well."

"do you see anything near?"

"no."

"well, there is a reason for that. you have driven away the black plague! every year at the second attack there she was holding her feet between her hands. by night she lighted a fire; she warmed herself and boiled roots. she bore a curse with her. this morning the very first thing which i did was to get up here. i climbed up the beacon tower; i looked well all round; the old hag was nowhere to be seen. i shaded my eyes with my hand. i looked up and down, right and left, and everywhere; not a sign of the creature anywhere. she had scented you evidently."

and the good fellow, in a fit of enthusiasm, shook me warmly by the hand, crying with unchecked emotion—

"ah, fritz, how glad i am that i brought you here! the witch will be sold, eh?"

well, i confess i felt a little ashamed that i had been all my life such a very well-deserving young man without knowing anything of the circumstance myself.

"so, sperver," i said, "the count has spent a good night?"

"a very good one."

"then i am very well pleased. let us go down."

we again traversed the high parapet, and i was now better able to examine this way of access, the ramparts of which arose from a prodigious depth; and they were extended along the sharp narrow ridge of the rock down to the very bottom of the valley. it was a long flight of jagged precipitous steps descending from the wolf's den, or rather eagle's nest, down to the deep valley below.

gazing down i felt giddy, and recoiling in alarm to the middle of the platform, i hastily descended down the path which led to the main building.

we had already traversed several great corridors when a great open door stood before us. i looked in, and descried, at the top of a double ladder, the little gnome knapwurst, whose strange appearance had struck me the night before.

the hall itself attracted my attention by its imposing aspect. it was the receptacle of the archives of the house of nideck, a high, dark, dusty apartment, with long gothic windows, reaching from the angle of the ceiling to within a couple of yards from the floor.

there were collected along spacious shelves, by the care of the old abbots, not only all the documents, title-deeds, and family genealogies of the house of nideck, establishing their rights and their alliances, and connections with all the great historic families of germany, but besides these there were all the chronicles of the black forest, the collected works of the old minnesinger, and great folio volumes from the presses of gutenberg and faust, entitled to equal veneration on account of their remarkable history and of the enduring solidity of their binding. the deep shadows of the groined vaults, their arches divided by massive ribs, and descending partly down the cold grey walls, reminded one of the gloomy cloisters of the middle ages. and amidst these characteristic surroundings sat an ugly dwarf on the top of his ladder, with a red-edged volume upon his bony knees, his head half-buried in a rough fur cap, small grey eyes, wide misshapen mouth, humps on back and shoulders, a most uninviting object, the familiar spirit—the rat, as sperver would have it—of this last refuge of all the learning belonging to the princely race of nideck.

but a truly historical importance belonged to this chamber in the long series of family portraits, filling almost entirely one side of the ancient library. all were there, men and women; from hugh the wolf to yeri-hans, the present owner; from the first rough daub of barbarous times to the perfect work of the best modern painters.

my attention was naturally drawn in that direction.

hugh i., a bald-headed figure, seemed to glare upon you like a wolf stealing upon you round the corner of a wood. his grey bloodshot eyes, his red beard, and his large hairy ears gave him a fearful and ferocious aspect.

next to him, like the lamb next to the wolf, was the portrait of a lady of youthful years, with gentle blue eyes, hands crossed on the breast over a book of devotions, and tresses of fair long silky hair encircling her sweet countenance with a glorious golden aureola. this picture struck me by its wonderful resemblance to odile of nideck.

i have never seen anything more lovely and more charming than this old painting on wood, which was stiff enough indeed in its outline, but delightfully refreshing and ingenuous.

i had examined this picture attentively for some minutes when another female portrait, hanging at its side, drew my attention reluctantly away. here was a woman of the true visigoth type, with a wide low forehead, yellowish eyes, prominent cheek-bones, red hair, and a nose hooked like an eagle's beak.

that woman must have been an excellent match for hugh, thought i, and i began to consider the costume, which answered perfectly to the energy displayed in the head, for the right hand rested upon a sword, and an iron breastplate inclosed the figure.

i should have some difficulty in expressing the thoughts which passed through my mind in the examination of these three portraits. my eye passed from the one to the other with singular curiosity.

sperver, standing at the library door, had aroused the attention of knapwurst with a sharp whistle, which made that worthy send a glance in his direction, though it did not succeed in fetching him down from his elevation.

"is it me that you are whistling to like a dog?" said the dwarf.

"i am, you vermin! it is an honour you don't deserve."

"just listen to me, sperver," replied the little man with sublime scorn; "you cannot spit so high as my shoe!" which he contemptuously held out.

"suppose i were to come up?"

"if you come up a single step i'll squash you flat with this volume!"

gideon laughed, and replied—

"don't get angry, friend; i don't mean to do you any harm; on the contrary, i greatly respect you for your learning; but what i want to know is what you are doing here so early in the morning, by lamplight? you look as if you had spent the night here."

"so i have; i have been reading all night."

"are not the days long enough for you to read in?"

"no; i am following out an important inquiry, and i don't mean to sleep until i am satisfied."

"indeed; and what may this very important question be?"

"i have to ascertain under what circumstances ludwig of nideck discovered my ancestor, otto the dwarf, in the forests of thuringia. you know, sperver, that my ancestor otto was only a cubit high—that is, a foot and a-half. he delighted the world with his wisdom, and made an honourable figure at the coronation of duke rudolphe. count ludwig had him inclosed in a cold roast peacock, served up in all his plumage. it was at that time one of the greatest delicacies, served up garnished all round with sucking pigs, gilded and silvered. during the banquet otto kept spreading the peacock's tail, and all the lords, courtiers, and ladies of high birth were astonished and delighted at this wonderful piece of mechanism. at last he came out, sword in hand, and shouted with a loud voice—"long live duke rudolphe!" and the cry was repeated with acclamations by the whole table. bernard herzog makes mention of this event, but he has neglected to inform us where this dwarf came from, whether he was of lofty lineage or of base extraction, which latter, however, is very improbable, for the lower sort of people have not so much sense as that."

i was astounded at so much pride in so diminutive a being, yet my curiosity prevented me from showing too much of my feelings, for he alone could supply me with information upon the portraits that accompanied that of hugh lupus.

"monsieur knapwurst," i began very respectfully, "would you oblige me by enlightening me upon certain historic doubts?"

"speak, sir, without any constraint; on the subject of family history and chronicles i am entirely at your service. other matters don't interest me."

"i desire to learn some particulars respecting the two portraits on each side of the founder of this race."

"aha!" cried knapwurst with a glow of satisfaction lighting up his hideous features; "you mean hedwige and huldine, the two wives of hugh lupus."

and laying down his volume he descended from his ladder to speak more at his ease. his eyes glistened, and the delight of gratified vanity beamed from them as he displayed his vast erudition.

when he had arrived at my side he bowed to me with ceremonious gravity. sperver stood behind us, very well satisfied that i was admiring the dwarf of nideck. in spite of the ill luck which, in his opinion, accompanied the little monster's appearance, he respected and boasted of his superior knowledge.

"sir," said knapwurst, pointing with his yellow hand to the portraits, "hugh of nideck, the first of his illustrious race, married, in 832, hedwige of lutzelbourg, who brought to him in dowry the counties of giromani and haut barr, the castles of geroldseck, teufelshorn, and others. hugh lupus had no issue by his first wife, who died young, in the year of our lord 837. then hugh, having become lord and owner of the dowry, refused to give it up, and there were terrible battles between himself and his brothers-in-law. but his second wife, huldine, whom you see there in a steel breastplate, aided him by her sage counsel. it is unknown whence or of what family she came, but for all that she saved hugh's life, who had been made prisoner by frantz of lutzelbourg. he was to have been hanged that very day, and a gibbet had already been set up on the ramparts, when huldine, at the head of her husband's vassals, whom she had armed and inspired with her own courage, bravely broke in, released hugh, and hung frantz in his place. hugh had married his wife in 842, and had three children by her."

"so," i resumed pensively, "the first of these wives was called hedwige, and the descendants of nideck are not related to her?"

"not at all."

"are you quite sure?"

"i can show you our genealogical tree; hedwige had no children; huldine, the second wife, had three."

"that is surprising to me."

"why so?"

"i thought i traced a resemblance."

"oho! resemblance! rubbish!" cried knapwurst with a discordant laugh. "see—look at this wooden snuff-box; in it you see a portrait of my great-grandfather, hanswurst. his nose is as long and as pointed as an extinguisher, and his jaws like nutcrackers. how does that affect his being the grandfather of me—of a man with finely-formed features and an agreeable mouth?"

"oh no!—of course not."

"well, so it is with the nidecks. they may some of them be like hedwige, but for all that huldine is the head of their ancestry. see the genealogical tree. now, sir, are you satisfied?"

then we separated—knapwurst and i—excellent friends.