"I am sure that at least Merodé is there."
"Enough then," said Ian; "madam, if this Austrian robber does not surrender your sister to us in four-and-twenty hours—spotless and unharmed as when he seized her—by the soul of my father! by the bones that lie under Cairn na Cuihmne! and by the Holy Iron, I will give his head to the wolves, and his heart to the eagles!"
Honest Ian commenced in German, and gradually slid into his Gaëlic, consequently, Ernestine understood only the half of what he said; but enough, however, to be assured, that he meant to rescue her sister at all hazards.
"May God bless you, kind cousin!" said she placing her hands on his shoulders, while her dove-like eyes, that beamed with affectionate admiration, were fixed on his dark and handsome face. "If a brave heart and a strong hand can save her, Gabrielle is already saved: and she could not owe her freedom to one she loves better than her cousin, Ian Dhu!"
"Let Merodé look to himself," continued Ian; "for it is not every day that he and his ruffianly caterans, have seven hundred Highlandmen to reckon their accounts with."
Big Phadrig, who was standing near, with his enormous tuagh, or Lochaber axe, gave it a flourish, and ran to acquaint the regiment (which had now piled arms) of the pretty piece of work that was likely to be cut out for it; while Ian assembled M'Alpine, M'Coll, Kildon, Major Fritz, and several other officers, under the Green Tree, where—assisted by several cans of Odenzee beer—a solemn council of war was held upon the occasion.
Our suppositions were correct; for, as the sequel proved, poor Gabrielle was actually that moment Merodé's prisoner in the old castle of Helnœsland.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CASTLE OF HELNŒSLAND.
After carelessly setting on fire the fortress of Fredricksort, Merodé had been ordered by Tilly to establish himself in the next suitable castle; and in search of this, after a desultory and—to the people—disastrous march along the shore of the Lesser Belt, he daringly crossed over to Fuhnen, an island so named in consequence of its beauty and fertility, and established himself in an old tower, on the sandy promontory of Helnœsland.