CHAPTER XXVII.
The next morning Arwed was walking silently up and down the banks of the Peckholm with lieutenant general Rank, awaiting the arrival of the boat which was to bring his adversary. Arwed's pistols with their apparatus were lying upon his cloak, which was spread out under a tall pine tree.
'You are so tranquil, my friend!' said Rank, breaking the long silence; 'indeed, the moments passed in awaiting a duel are most intolerable. I know it by my own experience. Perhaps you begin to regret your proceeding? It is not to be doubted that the pistol shot which you are about to exchange will be the burial salute of your happiness in this kingdom--for the queen will never pardon you. Therefore, if your resolution has become somewhat weaker, it is yet time. Major general Baumgardt is too happy with his new promotion and his new orders, not to wish to wear his honors some years yet, and will very willingly agree to any other reparation.'
'No, general,' answered Arwed; 'God forbid that I should meanly convert an honorable combat into a piece of buffoonery. A reconciliation between a challenge and a duel, I have always deemed a contemptible proceeding. It was the firmness, even, of my resolution, that made me still, as it places me near the gates of death, which to me is a consideration of great solemnity, and as I shall contend for the innocence of our friend before the eyes of all Europe.'
'Brave youth!' cried Rank, embracing him with much emotion. 'In heaven's name fight. If you fall, I will revenge your death as a good second should.'
At this moment the clock of St. Katharine's tower struck ten, and directly afterwards Baumgardt's boat landed through the splashing waves of the lake. In company with another officer he jumped ashore, and gave a coldly polite greeting to those who had been waiting his arrival. With silent activity the two assistants placed the barriers, and, thrusting their swords into the ground some distance apart, stretched a cord from one to the other.
'How many paces, general?' asked Rank, stepping midway of the cord.
'Twenty!' answered Baumgardt morosely.
'That is a great distance!' calmly remarked Arwed, and each measured twenty paces from the cord and marked the points.
'Here, Gyllenstierna!' cried Rank, and Arwed took his place, whilst Baumgardt stepped to the opposite point, which his second had marked. Both stood eyeing each other with folded arms. The weapons were not yet placed in their hands, but the glances of hatred exchanged were more deadly than the bullets.
The seconds had loaded the pistols, and the combatants now received them from their hands. 'Let him prevail who has the right!' whispered Rank to Arwed, stepping aside.
'It is yet proper to ask,' said Baumgardt's second, 'whether this affair may not be arranged in some other way?'
'In no other possible way!' cried Arwed. 'In this the major general will certainly agree with me.'
'In no other way!' muttered the general. His second then left his side, and the two combatants began slowly advancing, and with each step mentally measuring the distance which divided them from each other. They had advanced scarcely five steps, when with Baumgardt the fear of death prevailing, and with Arwed his eagerness for the fight conquering all prudence and discretion, they both fired almost at the same moment. Arwed's ball struck Baumgardt's hat from his head, and his opponent's grazed Arwed's left arm. But the latter, throwing away the discharged pistol, and taking the loaded one in his right hand, cautiously advanced.
Baumgardt followed his example, and advanced with a pale face, blue lips and bristling hair. While Arwed was observing the alteration which extreme anxiety caused in the countenance of his adversary, the latter elevated his weapon and continued slowly to approach, with his eye intently fixed upon Arwed's breast. Then swelled Arwed's heart, and the thirst for blood which now sparkled in Baumgardt's eyes, reminded him of the fiendlike expression of his face on the morning of the execution of Goertz.
'Your time has come! Forward!' cried the youth, in the same words Baumgardt had used on that occasion, raising his arm at the same moment. With sudden terror Baumgardt fired and missed--whilst his arm, struck and shattered by Arwed's ball, fell helplessly by his side.
'My God!' cried his second, springing to his side, and supporting the fainting man.
'My arm is gone!' said Baumgardt, grating his teeth and sinking upon the grass over which his blood was streaming. 'I am an invalid for life. Why could not the booby's bullet have struck my heart or head, and so have ended the matter at once!'
Arwed now approached his adversary with Rank, who had bound a handkerchief upon his bleeding arm.
'I am sorry, general,' said he, kindly, 'and my anger vanishes with your running blood. May this misfortune awaken in you a true and heartfelt repentance for what you have done. I am appeased,--make your peace with God!'
'What are you chattering there?' cried Rank indignantly, whilst Baumgardt scornfully rejected Arwed's proffered hand.
'Take my hand,' said Arwed; 'it is the hand of reconciliation. Imagine that it is offered to you by the innocent Goertz, whom your conduct led to the scaffold.'
'Did not I tell you,' cried Baumgardt to his second, 'that this senseless quarrel had a political origin? You will be a witness for me with her majesty.'
Overcome by pain, he fell back powerless.
'Your thoughtless words will cost you your head,' said Rank, hastily dragging the youth with him down to the shore.