"We cannot manage them; there are too many of them. Shall I apply for military?"
"Hell and thunder--military!" cried Hans Shund, getting on his feet. "Are you in your senses?"
"Several men have already been carried off badly wounded," reported the policeman further. "You have no idea how serious the affray is, and it is getting more and more so; the friends of both sides are rushing in to aid their own party. The police force is not a match for them."
Women, screaming and in tears, were rushing in every direction. The bands had ceased playing, and noise and confusion resounded from the scene of action. Louise ran to take her brother's arm in consternation. The wives and daughters of the chieftains huddled round their natural protectors.
"Hurry away and report this at the military post," was Seicht's order to the policeman. "The feud is getting alarming. One moment!"
Tearing a leaf from a memorandum book, he wrote a short note, which he sent by the messenger.
"Off to the post--be expeditious!"
Louise hastened with her brother and Gerlach senior to their carriage, and her feeling of security returned only when the noise of the combat had died away in the distance.
The next day the town papers contained the following notice: "The beautiful celebration of yesterday, which, on account of its object, will be long remembered by the citizens of this community, was unfortunately interrupted by a serious conflict between the laborers and factorymen. A great many were wounded during the mêlée, of whom five have since died, and it required the interference of an armed force to separate the combatants."