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those who dwelt in or about his castle, and who were likely to be called into his service at an unexpected moment, ventured so far from the fortress, and in the direction of the hostile Abbey, without providing himself with the means of offence and defence. Berchthold wore, as wont, his hunting-knife, Or the short straight sword, which to this day is carried by that description of European dependant called a chasseur, and who is seen, degraded to the menial offices of a footman, standing behind the carriages of ambassadors and princes, reminding the observant spectator of the regular and certain decadency of the usages of feudal times. Neither had Gottlob been neglectful of his personal security, as respects human foes; for on the subject of resisting all such attacks, his manhood was above reproach, as had been proved in more than one of those bloody frays, which in that age were of frequent occurrence between the vassals of the minor German princes. The cow-herd had provided himself with a heavy weapon that his father had often wielded in battle, and which needed all the vigor of the muscular arm of the son, to flourish with a due observance of the required positions and attitudes. Fire-arms were of too much value and of too imperfect use to be resorted to on every light occasion, like that which had now drawn the foster-brothers, for such supported by long habit was the secret of the intimacy between the forester and the cow-herd, from their hamlet to the hill of Deurckheim.

Berchthold loosened his couteau-de-chasse, as he turned by an ancient gate-way, whose position was known merely by an interruption of the ditch that had protected this face of the wall, and an opening in the wall itself, to enter the inclosure, which the reader will at once recognize as the Pagan's Camp of the Introduction. At the same moment Gottlob cast his heavy weapon from his shoulder, and

grasped its handle in a more scientific manner. There was certainly no enemy visible to justify these movements, but the increasing solitude of the place, and that impression of danger which besets the faculties, when we find ourselves in situations favorable to deeds of violence, probably induced the double and common caution. The light of the moon, which was not yet full, had not sufficient power to penetrate the thick branches of the cedars; and when the youths were fairly beneath the gloomy foliage, although not left in the ordinary darkness of a clouded night, they were perhaps in that very species of dull and misty illumination, which, by leaving objects uncertain while visible, is the best adapted to undermine the confidence of a distrustful spirit. There was little wind, but the sighs of the night air were plaintively audible, while the adventurers picked their way among the fragments of the place.

It has been elsewhere said, that the Heidenmauer was originally a Roman camp. The warlike and extraordinary people who had erected these advanced works on the remotest frontier of their wide empire, had, of course, neglected none of the means that were necessary, under the circumstances, either for their security or for their comfort. The first had been sufficiently obtained, by the nearly isolated position of the hill, protected, as it was, by walls so massive and so high as those must have been, which had consumed the quantity of materials still visible in the large circuit that remained; while the interior furnished abundant proofs that the latter had not been neglected, in its intersecting remains, over which Gottlob more than once stumbled, as he advanced into the shadows of the place. Here and there, a ruined habitation, more or less dilapidated, was still standing, furnishing, like the memorable remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, inter

esting and infallible evidence of the usages of those who have so long since departed to their eternal rest. It would seem, by the rude repairs which rather injured than embellished these touching, though simple monuments of what the interior of the camp had been in its day of power and pride, that modern adventurers had endeavored to turn them to account, by converting the falling huts into habitations appropriated to their own temporary uses. All, however, appeared to have been long before finally abandoned; for as Berchthold and his companion stole cautiously among the crumbling stones, the gaping rents and roofless walls denoted hopeless decay. At length the youths paused, and fastened their looks in a common direction, as if apprized that they were near the goal of their expedition.

In a part of the grove, where the cedars grew more dense and luxuriant than on most of that stony and broken soil, stood a single low building, which, of all there, had the air of being still habitable. Like the others, it either had been originally constructed by the masters of the world, or restored on the foundations of some Roman construction by the followers of Attila, who, it will be remembered, had passed a winter in this camp; and it was now rendered weather-proof by the usual devices of the poor and laborious. There was a single window, a door, and a rude chimney, which the climate and the elevated situation of the place rendered nearly indispensable. The light of a dim torch shone through the former, the only sign that the hut was tenanted; for on the exterior, with the exception of the rough repairs just mentioned, all around it lay in the neglected and eloquent stillness of ruin. The reader will not imagine, in this description, any of that massive grandeur which so insensibly attaches itself to most that is connected with the Roman name; for while, in the nature of things, the most

ponderous and the most imposing of the public works of that people are precisely those which are the most likely to have descended to our own times, the traveller often meets with memorials of their power, that are so frail and perishable in their construction, as to owe their preservation, in a great measure, to an accidental combination of circumstances favorable to such a result. Still, the Roman was ordinarily as much greater in little things, if connected with a public object, as he excelled all who have succeeded him, in those which were of more importance. The Ringmauer, or Heidenmauer, is a strong proof of what we say. There is not an arch, nor a tomb, nor a gate, nor a paved road of any description in the vicinity of Deurckheim, to show that the post was more than a temporary military position; and yet the presence of its former occupants is established by more evidence than would probably be found, a century hence were half of the present cities of Christendom to be suddenly abandoned. But these evidences are rude and suited to the objects which had brought them. into existence.

The forester and the cow-herd stood long regard ing the solitary hut, which had arrested their looks like men hesitating to proceed.

"I had more humor for the company of the honest anchorite, Master Berchthold," said the latter "before thou madest me acquainted with his fond. ness for taking the night air on the Teufelstein."

"Thou hast not fear, Gottlob? Thou, who bear est so good a name for courage among our youths!' "I shall be the last to accuse myself of cowardice or of any other discreditable quality, friend forester, but prudence is a virtue in a youth, as the Abbot of Limburg himself would swear, were he here

"He is not present in his own reverend and respected person," said a voice so nigh the ear of

Gottlob, as to cause him to jump nimbly aside; "but one who may humbly represent some portion of his sanctity, is not wanting to affirm the truth of what thou sayest, son."

The startled young men saw that a monk of the opposite mountain had unexpectedly appeared be tween them. They were on the lands of the Abbey, or rather on ground in dispute between the burghers of Deurckheim and the convent, but actually in possession of the latter; and they felt the insecurity of their situation as the dependants of the count of Hartenburg. Neither spoke, therefore, for each was striving to invent some plausible pretext for his appearance in a place so unfrequented, and which, in general, was held in so little favor by the neighboring peasantry.

"You are youths of Deurckheim?" asked the monk, endeavoring to observe their features by the imperfect light that penetrated the foliage of the dark cedars. Gottlob, whose besetting infirmity was a too exuberant fluency of tongue, took on himself the task of answering.

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"We are youths, reverend father," he said, " thy quick and sagacious sight hath so well seen. will not deny my years, and if I would, the devil, who besets all between fifteen and five-and-twenty in the shape of some giddy infirmity, would soon betray the imposture."

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Of Deurckheim, son ?"

"As there is question between the Abbey and the town concerning these hills, we might not stand any better in thy favor, holy Benedictine, were we to say yes."

"In that suspicion, thou dost little justice to the Abbey, son: we may defend the rights of the Church, confided in their temporalities as they are to an unworthy and sinful brotherhood, without feeling any uncharitableness against those who believe

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