"And how did you escape?"
"By feigning mysel stane deid, sir, sae they just dookit me in the Elbe; but I could swim like a cork, and hid myself among the green rashes till this gentleman saved me. Oh, sir, it was an awesome butchery! mair than forty gallant fellows, who were sairly wounded, shot deid, or hacked to pieces by knives and whingers, and flung into the river. If ever I spare an Imperialist after this night o' bluid, my name is no Dandy Dreghorn!"
"And where are we going—why in this direction?"
"To a house that I wot of, not far from this," replied the gentleman, who had a large red plume in his helmet; "there, orders have been given to convey you."
The country became more woody as we proceeded, and the moonlit road wound past various lonely tarns, overgrown by broad-leaved plants and water lilies; the deep water on which they floated, being rendered yet darker by the shade of many an aged oak. After a pause, I said—
"From whom have you orders concerning me?"
"The Count of Carlstein," replied the stranger.
"That ferocious butcher! Then I am hopelessly a prisoner."
"That depends upon the count," he replied, laughing; "but I am sorry you should have such a bad opinion of him."
"Pardon me, sir"—said I, checking the bridle of the horse; "what have I permitted myself to say? I now perceive that you are the count himself!"