In the ample stone-paved courtyard of the Schloss Grunewald,with its mysterious bubbling spring in the centre, stood the BlackBaron beside his restive horse, both equally eager to be away.Round the Baron were grouped his sixteen knights and their saddledchargers, all waiting the word to mount. The warder was slowlyopening the huge gates that hung between the two round entrancetowers of the castle, for it was the Baron's custom never to rideout at the head of his men until the great leaves of the stronggate fell full apart, and showed the green landscape beyond. TheBaron did not propose to ride unthinkingly out, and straightwayfall into an ambush. He and his sixteen knights were the terror of the country-side,and many there were who would have been glad to venture a bow shotat him had they dared. There seemed to be some delay about theopening of the gates, and a great chattering of underlings at theentrance, as if something unusual had occurred, whereupon the roughvoice of the Baron roared out to know the cause that kept himwaiting, and every one scattered, each to his own affair, leavingonly the warder, who approached his master with fear in hisface. "My Lord," he began, when the Baron had shouted what the devilailed him, "there has been nailed against the outer gate; sometimein the night, a parchment with characters written thereon." "Then tear it down and bring it to me," cried the Baron. "What'sall this to-do about a bit of parchment?" The warder had been loath to meddle with it, in terror of thatwitchcraft which he knew pertained to all written characters; buthe feared the Black Baron's frown even more than the fiends who hadundoubtedly nailed the documents on the gate, for he knew no man inall that well-cowed district would have the daring to approach thecastle even in the night, much less meddle with the gate or anyother belonging of the Baron von Grunewald; so, breathing a requestto his patron saint (his neglect of whom he now remembered withremorse) for protection, he tore the document from its fasteningand brought it, trembling, to the Baron. The knights crowded roundas von Grunewald held the parchment in his hand, bending his darkbrows upon it, for it conveyed no meaning to him. Neither the Baronnor his knights could read. "What foolery, think you, is this?" he said, turning to theknight nearest him. "A Defiance?" The knight shook his head. "I am no clerk," he answered. For a moment the Baron was puzzled; then he quickly bethoughthimself of the one person in the castle who could read. "Bring hither old Father Gottlieb," he commanded, and two ofthose waiting ran in haste towards the scullery of the place, fromwhich they presently emerged dragging after them an old man partlyin the habit of a monk and partly in that of a scullion, who wipedhis hands on the coarse apron, that was tied around his waist, ashe was hurried forward. "Here, good father, excellent cook and humble servitor, I trustyour residence with us has not led you to forget the learning youput to such poor advantage in the Monastery of Monnonstein. Canstthou construe this for us? Is it in good honest German or bastardLatin?"
"It is in Latin," said the captive monk, on glancing at thedocument in the other's hand. "Then translate it for us, and quickly." Father Gottlieb took the parchment handed him by the Baron, andas his eyes scanned it more closely, he bowed his head and made thesign of the cross upon his breast. "Cease that mummery," roared the Baron, "and read without morewaiting or the rod's upon thy back again. Who sends us this?" "It is from our Holy Father the Pope," said the monk, forgettinghis menial position for the moment, and becoming once more thescholar of the monastery. The sense of his captivity faded from himas he realised that the long arm of the Church had extended withinthe impregnable walls of that tyrannical castle. "Good. And what has our Holy Father the Pope to say to us?Demands he the release of our excellent scullion, FatherGottlieb?" The bent shoulders of the old monk straightened, his dim eyebrightened, and his voice rang clear within the echoing walls ofthe castle courtyard. "It is a ban of excommunication against thee, Lord Baron vonGrunewald, and against all within these walls, excepting only thoseunlawfully withheld from freedom," "Which means thyself, worthyFather. Read on, good clerk, and let us hear it to the end." As the monk read out the awful words of the message, pilingcurse on curse with sonorous voice, the Baron saw his tremblingservitors turn pale, and even his sixteen knights, companions inrobbery and rapine, fall away from him. Dark red anger mounted tohis temples; he raised his mailed hand and smote the reading monkflat across the mouth, felling the old man prone upon the stones ofthe court. "That is my answer to our Holy Father the Pope, and when thouswearest to deliver it to him as I have given it to thee, the gatesare open and the way clear for thy pilgrimage to Rome." But the monk lay where he fell and made no reply. "Take him away," commanded the Baron impatiently, whereuponseveral of the menials laid hands on the fallen monk and draggedhim into the scullery he had left. Turning to his men-at-arms, the Baron roared: "Well, my gentlewolves, have a few words in Latin on a bit of sheep-skin turned youall to sheep?" "I have always said," spoke up the knight Segfried, "that nogood came of captured monks, or meddling with the Church. Besides,we are noble all, and do not hold with the raising of a mailed handagainst an unarmed man."
There was a low murmur of approval among the knights atSegfried's boldness. "Close the gates," shouted the maddened Baron. Every one flew atthe word of command, and the great oaken hinges studded with iron,slowly came together, shutting out the bit of landscape theiropening had discovered. The Baron flung the reins on his charger'sneck, and smote the animal on the flank, causing it to trot at onceto its stable. "There will be no riding to-day," he said, his voice ominouslylowering. The stablemen of the castle came forward and led away thehorses. The sixteen knights stood in a group together with Segfriedat their head, waiting with some anxiety on their brows for thenext move in the game. The Baron, his sword drawn in his hand,strode up and down before them, his brow bent on the ground,evidently struggling to get the master hand over his own anger. Ifit came to blows the odds were against him and he was too shrewd aman to engage himself single-handed in such a contest. At length the Baron stopped in his walk and looked at the group.He said, after a pause, in a quiet tone of voice: "Segfried, if youdoubt my courage because I strike to the ground a rascally monk,step forth, draw thine own good sword, our comrades will see thatall is fair betwixt us, and in this manner you may learn that Ifear neither mailed nor unmailed hand." But the knight made no motion to lay his hand upon his sword,nor did he move from his place. "No one doubts your courage, myLord," he said, "neither is it any reflection on mine that inanswer to your challenge my sword remains in its scabbard. You areour overlord and it is not meet that our weapons should be raisedagainst you." "I am glad that point is firmly fixed in your minds. I thought amoment since that I would be compelled to uphold the feudal law atthe peril of my own body. But if that comes not in question, nomore need be said. Touching the unarmed, Segfried, if I rememberaright you showed no such squeamishness at our sacking of theConvent of St. Agnes." "A woman is a different matter, my Lord," said Segfrieduneasily. The Baron laughed and so did some of the knights, openlyrelieved to find the tension of the situation relaxing. "Comrades!" cried the Baron, his face aglow with enthusiasm, alltraces of his former temper vanishing from his brow. "You areexcellent in a melee, but useless at the council board. You see nofurther ahead of you than your good right arms can strike. Lookround you at these stout walls; no engine that man has yet devisedcan batter a breach in them. In our vaults are ten years' supply ofstolen grain. Our cellars are full of rich red wine, not of ourvintage, but for our drinking. Here in our court bubbles foreverthis good spring, excellent to drink when wine gives out, andmedicinal in the morning when too much wine has been taken in." Hewaved his hand towards the overflowing well, charged with carbonicacid gas, one of the many that have since made this region of theRhine famous. "Now I ask you, can this Castle of Grunewald ever betaken--excommunication or no excommunication?"
A simultaneous shout of "No! Never!" arose from the knights. The Baron stood looking grimly at them for several moments. Thenhe said in a quiet voice, "Yes, the Castle of Grunewald canbe taken. Not from without but from within. If any crafty enemysows dissension among us; turns the sword of comrade againstcomrade; then falls the Castle of Grunewald! To-day we have seenhow nearly that has been done. We have against us in the monasteryof Monnonstein no fat- headed Abbot, but one who was a warriorbefore he turned a monk. 'Tis but a few years since, that the AbbotAmbrose stood at the right hand of the Emperor as Baron von Stern,and it is known that the Abbot's robes are but a thin veneer overthe iron knight within. His hand, grasping the cross, still itchesfor the sword. The fighting Archbishop of Treves has sent him toMonnonstein for no other purpose than to leave behind him the ruinsof Grunewald, and his first bolt was shot straight into ourcourtyard, and for a moment I stood alone, without a singleman-at-arms to second me." The knights looked at one another in silence, then cast theireyes to the stone-paved court, all too shamed-faced to attemptreply to what all knew was the truth. The Baron, a deep frown onhis brow, gazed sternly at the chap-fallen group.... "Such was theeffect of the first shaft shot by good Abbot Ambrose, what will bethe result of the second?" "There will be no second," said Segfried stepping forward. "Wemust sack the Monastery, and hang the Abbot and his craven monks intheir own cords." "Good," cried the Baron, nodding his head in approval, "theworthy Abbot, however, trusts not only in God, but in walls threecloth yards thick. The monastery stands by the river and partlyover it. The besieged monks will therefore not suffer from thirst.Their larder is as amply provided as are the vaults of this castle.The militant Abbot understands both defence and sortie. He is amaster of siege-craft inside or outside stone walls. How then doyou propose to sack and hang, good Segfried?" The knights were silent. They knew the Monastery was asimpregnable as the castle, in fact it was the only spot for milesround that had never owned the sway of Baron von Grunewald, andnone of them were well enough provided with brains to venture aplan for its successful reduction. A cynical smile played round thelips of their over-lord, as he saw the problem had overmatchedthem. At last he spoke. "We must meet craft with craft. If the Pope's Ban cast suchterror among my good knights, steeped to the gauntlets in blood,what effect, think you, will it have over the minds of devoutbelievers in the Church and its power? The trustful monks know thatit has been launched against us, therefore are they doubtlesswaiting for us to come to the monastery, and lay our necks underthe feet of their Abbot, begging his clemency. They are ready tobelieve any story we care to tell touching the influence of suchscribbling over us. You Segfried, owe me some reparation for thismorning's temporary defection, and to you, therefore, do I trustthe carrying out of my plans. There was always something of themonk about you, Segfried, and you will yet end your dayssanctimoniously in a monastery, unless you are first hanged atTreves or knocked on the head during an assault.
"Draw, then, your longest face, and think of the time when youwill be a monk, as Ambrose is, who, in his day, shed as much bloodas ever you have done. Go to the Monastery of Monnonstein in mostdejected fashion, and unarmed. Ask in faltering tones, speech ofthe Abbot, and say to him, as if he knew nought of it, that thePope's Ban is on us. Say that at first I defied it, and smote downthe good father who was reading it, but add that as the pious manfell, a sickness like unto a pestilence came over me and over mymen, from which you only are free, caused, you suspect, by yourloudly protesting against the felling of the monk. Say that we lieat death's door, grieving for our sins, and groaning forabsolution. Say that we are ready to deliver up the castle and allits contents to the care of the holy Church, so that the Abbot butsees our tortured souls safely directed towards the gates ofParadise. Insist that all the monks come, explaining that you fearwe have but few moments to live, and that the Abbot alone would beas helpless as one surgeon on a battle-field. Taunt them with fearof the pestilence if they hesitate, and that will bring them." Segfried accepted the commission, and the knights warmlyexpressed their admiration of their master's genius. As the greatred sun began to sink behind the westward hills that border theRhine, Segfried departed on horseback through the castle gates, andjourneyed toward the monastery with bowed head and dejected mien.The gates remained open, and as darkness fell, a lighted torch wasthrust in a wrought iron receptacle near the entrance at theoutside, throwing a fitful, flickering glare under the archway andinto the deserted court. Within, all was silent as the ruinedcastle is to-day, save only the tinkling sound of the clear watersof the effervescing spring as it flowed over the stones andtrickled down to disappear under the walls at one corner of thecourtyard. The Baron and his sturdy knights sat in the darkness, withgrowing impatience, in the great Rittersaal listening for anyaudible token of the return of Segfried and his ghostly company. Atlast in the still night air there came faintly across the plain amonkish chant growing louder and louder, until finally thesteel-shod hoofs of Segfried's charger rang on the stones of thecauseway leading to the castle gates. Pressed behind the two heavyopen leaves of the gates stood the warder and his assistants,scarcely breathing, ready to close the gates sharply the moment thelast monk had entered. Still chanting, led by the Abbot in his robes of office, themonks slowly marched into the deserted courtyard, while Segfriedreined his horse close inside the entrance. "Peace be upon thishouse and all within," said the deep voice of the Abbot, and inunison the monks murmured "Amen," the word echoing back to them inthe stillness from the four grey walls. Then the silence was rudely broken by the ponderous clang of theclosing gates and the ominous rattle of bolts being thrust intotheir places with the jingle of heavy chains. Down the wide stairsfrom the Rittersaal came the clank of armour and rude shouts oflaughter. Newly lighted torches flared up here and there,illuminating the courtyard, and showing, dangling against thenorthern wall a score of ropes with nooses at the end of each. Intothe courtyard clattered the Baron and his followers. The Abbotstood with arms folded, pressing a gilded cross across his breast.He was a head taller than any of his frightened, cowering brethren,and his noble emaciated face was thin with fasting caused by hisnever-ending conflict with the world that was within himself. Hispale countenance betokened his office and the Church; but the angryeagle flash of his piercing eye spoke of the world alone and thefield of conflict.
The Baron bowed low to the Abbot, and said: Welcome, my LordAbbot, to my humble domicile! It has long been the wish of myenemies to stand within its walls, and this pleasure is now grantedyou. There is little to be made of it from without." "Baron Grunewald," said the Abbot, "I and my brethren are comehither on an errand of mercy, and under the protection of yourknightly word." The Baron raised his eyebrows in surprise at this, and, turningto Segfried, he said in angry tones: "Is it so? Pledged you my wordfor the safety of these men?" "The reverend Abbot is mistaken," replied the knight, who hadnot yet descended from his horse. "There was no word of safeconduct between us." "Safe conduct is implied when an officer of the Church issummoned to administer its consolations to the dying," said theAbbot. "All trades," remarked the Baron suavely, "have theirdangers--yours among the rest, as well as ours. If my follower hadpledged my word regarding your safety, I would now open the gatesand let you free. As he has not done so, I shall choose a mannerfor your exit more in keeping with your lofty aspirations." Saying this, he gave some rapid orders; his servitors fell uponthe unresisting monks and bound them hand and foot. They were thenconducted to the northern wall, and the nooses there adjusted roundthe neck of each. When this was done, the Baron stood back from thepinioned victims and addressed them: "It is not my intention that you should die without having timeto repent of the many wicked deeds you have doubtless done duringyour lives. Your sentence is that ye be hanged at cockcrowto-morrow, which was the hour when, if your teachings cling to mymemory, the first of your craft turned traitor to his master. If,however, you tire of your all-night vigil, you can at once obtainrelease by crying at the top of your voices 'So die allChristians.' Thus you will hang yourselves, and so remove someresponsibility from my perhaps overladen conscience. The hanging isa device of my own, of which I am perhaps pardonably proud, and itpleases me that it is to be first tried on so worthy an assemblage.With much labour we have elevated to the battlements an oaken tree,lopped of its branches, which will not burn the less brightly nextwinter in that it has helped to commit some of you to hotterflames, if all ye say be true. The ropes are tied to this log, andat the cry 'So die all Christians,' I have some stout knaves inwaiting up above with levers, who will straightway fling the logover the battlements on which it is now poised, and the instantafter your broken necks will impinge against the inner coping ofthe northern wall. And now good-night, my Lord Abbot, and a happyrelease for you all in the morning." "Baron von Grunewald, I ask of you that you will release one ofus who may thus administer the rites of the Church to his brethrenand receive in turn the same from me." "Now, out upon me for a careless knave!" cried the Baron. "I hadforgotten that; it is so long since I have been to mass and suchlike ceremonies myself. Your request is surely most reasonable,
andI like you the better that you keep up the farce of your calling tothe very end. But think not that I am so inhospitable, as to forceone guest to wait upon another, even in matters spiritual. Not so.We keep with us a ghostly father for such occasions, and use himbetween times to wait on us with wine and other necessaries. Assoon as he has filled our flagons, I will ask good Father Gottliebto wait upon you, and I doubt not he will shrive with any in theland, although he has been this while back somewhat out ofpractice. His habit is rather tattered and stained with thedrippings of his new vocation, but I warrant you, you will know thesheep, even though his fleece be torn. And now, again, good-night,my Lord." The Baron and his knights returned up the broad stairway thatled to the Rittersaal. Most of the torches were carried with them.The defences of the castle were so strong that no particular painswere taken to make all secure, further than the stationing of anarmed man at the gate. A solitary torch burnt under the archway,and here a guard paced back and forth. The courtyard was indarkness, but the top of the highest turrets were silvered by therising moon. The doomed men stood with the halters about theirnecks, as silent as a row of spectres. The tall windows of the Rittersaal, being of coloured glass,threw little light into the square, although they glowed with arainbow splendour from the torches within. Into the silence of thesquare broke the sound of song and the clash of flagons upon theoaken table. At last there came down the broad stair and out into the court afigure in the habit of a monk, who hurried shufflingly across thestones to the grim row of brown-robed men. He threw himself sobbingat the feet of the tall Abbot. "Rise, my son, and embrace me," said his superior. When FatherGottlieb did so, the other whispered in his ear: "There is a timeto weep and a time for action. Now is the time for action. Unloosenquickly the bonds around me, and slip this noose from my neck." Father Gottlieb acquitted himself of his task as well as hisagitation and trembling hands would let him. "Perform a like service for each of the others," whispered theAbbot curtly. "Tell each in a low voice to remain standing just asif he were still bound. Then return to me." When the monk had done what he was told, he returned to hissuperior. "Have you access to the wine cellar?" asked the Abbot. "Yes, Father." "What are the strongest wines?" "Those of the district are strong. Then there is a barrel or twoof the red wine of Assmannshausen." "Decant a half of each in your flagons. Is there brandy?"
"Yes, Father." "Then mix with the two wines as much brandy as you think theiralready drunken palates will not detect. Make the potation strongerwith brandy as the night wears on. When they drop off into theirsodden sleep, bring a flagon to the guard at the gate, and tell himthe Baron sends it to him." "Will you absolve me, Father, for the--" "It is no falsehood, Gottlieb. I, the Baron, send it. I camehither the Abbot Ambrose: I am now Baron von Stern, and if I haveany influence with our mother Church the Abbot's robe shall fall onthy shoulders, if you but do well what I ask of you to-night. Itwill be some compensation for what, I fear, thou hast alreadysuffered." Gottlieb hurried away, as the knights were already clamouringfor more wine. As the night wore on and the moon rose higher thesounds of revelry increased, and once there was a clash of arms andmuch uproar, which subsided under the over-mastering voice of theBlack Baron. At last the Abbot, standing there with the ropedangling behind him, saw Gottlieb bring a huge beaker of liquor tothe sentinel, who at once sat down on the stone bench under thearch to enjoy it. Finally, all riot died away in the hall except one thin voicesinging, waveringly, a drinking song, and when that ceased silencereigned supreme, and the moon shone full upon the bubblingspring. Gottlieb stole stealthily out and told the Abbot that all theknights were stretched upon the floor, and the Baron had his headon the table, beside his overturned flagon. The sentinel snoredupon the stone bench. "I can now unbar the gate," said Father Gottlieb, "and we mayall escape." "Not so," replied the Abbot. "We came to convert these men toChristianity, and our task is still to do." The monks all seemed frightened at this, and wished themselvesonce more within the monastery, able to say all's well that endsso, but none ventured to offer counsel to the gaunt man who ledthem. He bade each bring with him the cords that had bound him, andwithout a word they followed him into the Rittersaal, and theretied up the knights and their master as they themselves had beentied. "Carry them out," commanded the Abbot, "and lay them in a row,their feet towards the spring and their heads under the ropes. Andgo you, Gottlieb, who know the ways of the castle, and fasten thedoors of all the apartments where the servitors are sleeping." When this was done, and they gathered once more in the moonlitcourtyard, the Abbot took off his robes of office and handed themto Father Gottlieb, saying significantly: "The lowest among youthat suffers and is true shall be exalted." Turning to his ownflock, he commanded them to go in and obtain some rest after such adisquieting night; then to Gottlieb, when the monks had
obedientlydeparted: "Bring me, an' ye know where to find such, the apparel ofa fighting man and a sword." Thus arrayed, he dismissed the old man, and alone in thesilence, with the row of figures like effigies on a tomb besidehim, paced up and down through the night, as the moon dropped lowerand lower, in the heavens. There was a period of dark before thedawn, and at last the upper walls began to whiten with the comingday, and the Black Baron moaned uneasily in his drunken sleep. TheAbbot paused in his walk and looked down upon them, and Gottliebstole out from the shadow of the door and asked if he could be ofservice. He had evidently not slept, but had watched his chief,until he paused in his march. "Tell our brothers to come out and see the justice of theLord." When the monks trooped out, haggard and wan, in the pure lightof the dawn, the Abbot asked Gottlieb to get a flagon and dashwater from the spring in the faces of the sleepers. The Black Baron was the first to come to his senses and realisedimly, at first, but afterwards more acutely, the changed conditionof affairs. His eye wandered apprehensively to the empty nooseswaying slightly in the morning breeze above him. He then saw thatthe tall, ascetic man before him had doffed the Abbot's robes andwore a sword by his side, and from this he augured ill. At thecommand of the Abbot the monks raised each prostrate man and placedhim against the north wall. "Gottlieb," said, the Abbot slowly, "the last office that willbe required of you. You took from our necks the nooses last night.Place them, I pray you, on the necks of the Baron and hisfollowers." The old man, trembling, adjusted the ropes. "My Lord Abbot----" began the Baron. "Baron von Grunewald," interrupted the person addressed, "theAbbot Ambrose is dead. He was foully assassinated last night. Inhis place stands Conrad von Stern, who answers for his deeds to theEmperor, and after him, to God." "Is it your purpose to hang me, Baron?" "Was it your purpose to have hanged us, my Lord?" "I swear to heaven, it was not. 'Twas but an ill-timedpleasantry. Had I wished to hang you I would have done so lastnight." "That seems plausible." The knights all swore, with many rounded oaths, that theirover-lord spoke the truth, and nothing was further from theirintention than an execution.
"Well, then, whether you hang or no shall depend uponyourselves." "By God, then," cried the Baron, "an' I have aught to say onthat point, I shall hang some other day." "Will you then, Baron, beg admittance to Mother Church, whosekindly tenets you have so long outraged?" "We will, we do," cried the Baron fervently, whispering throughhis clenched teeth to Segfried, who stood next him: "Wait till Ihave the upper hand again." Fortunately the Abbot did not hear thewhisper. The knights all echoed aloud the Baron's pious firstremark, and, perhaps, in their hearts said "Amen" to hissecond. The Abbot spoke a word or two to the monks, and they advanced tothe pinioned men and there performed the rites sacred to theiroffice and to the serious situation of the penitents. As the goodbrothers stood back, they begged the Abbot for mercy to be extendedtowards the new converts, but the sphinx-like face of their leadergave no indication as to their fate, and the good men began to fearthat it was the Abbot's intention to hang the Baron and hisknights. "Now--brothers," said the Abbot, with a long pause before hespoke the second word, whereupon each of the prisoners heaved asigh of relief, "I said your fate would depend on yourselves and onyour good intent." They all vociferously proclaimed that their intentions were andhad been of the most honourable kind. "I trust that is true, and that you shall live long enough toshow your faith by your works. It is written that a man digged apit for his enemy and fell himself therein. It is also written thatas a man sows, so shall he reap. If you meant us no harm then yoursignal shouted to the battlements will do you no harm." "For God's sake, my Lord...." screamed the Baron. The Abbot,unheeding, raised his face towards the northern wall and shouted atthe top of his voice: "So die SUCH Christians!" varying the phrase by one word. Asimultaneous scream rose from the doomed men, cut short as by aknife, as the huge log was hurled over the outer parapet, and theseventeen victims were jerked into the air and throttled at thecoping around the inner wall. Thus did the Abbot Ambrose save the souls of Baron von Grunewaldand his men, at some expense to their necks.