"'Stand back,' cried the knight, 'what of our old enemy the wolf?'
"We have him here, so please your worship,' said one of the crowd, 'and this good lad has taken him alive.'
"'What! Another David?' cried the knight. 'Well-done, my brave boy, you may yet wear golden spurs. You have done a noble deed.'
"Young Conrad, who rode at his father's side, smiled upon the young peasant, who stood still with the goat beside him. The knight rode up to the window of the chapel.
"'True, beyond a doubt,' said he, 'the wolf is surely there; the stoutest brute I have ever seen. How shall we serve him?'
"One of the party suggested that in order to avoid endangering human life, the best plan would be to starve the wolf to death; but the knight spurned the proposal:
"'No, no; let us have fair and honorable sport. We are no cowards, and while we have strong hands and sharp lances, the brute shall fall by forest law!'
"In those days there was nothing the knights loved so well, next to a battle, as a good bear or wolf hunt. And hunting a wolf, was really rendering good service to the state, and thankful enough the farmers were that the brave knights would do it. It was better, far better, than hunting the dappled roe, or the timid hare, better than going forth with hawks and hounds to the sport of falconry—better, a thousand times better, than doing fierce cruel work on battle-fields.
"How the horses pawed the ground, while the noble creatures tossed their heads and champed upon the bit, and seemed to cry 'hurra!' as the men, the servitors and pages, gathered round with brightening looks, and whispered cheerful words, and poised their lances in the air ready to take deadly aim.
"'Now,' cried the knight, 'if any man is unwilling for the fray, let him fall back; I would not force a man to risk life or limb for me.'