"Steinmetz, let two of your men conduct this fellow to the courtyard, and there behead him."
The captain was about to move when a new voice from the corner of the apartment broke in upon the discussion.
"May I ask your Blackness," said the archer, "to turn your mind from the seeming peril of my Lord, to the much more certain jeopardy which confronts yourself, and charge the heathen who obeys you to make no motion, otherwise shall you instantly die. Without boasting, Henry Schwart, I beg to acquaint you with the fact that not all your men nor the surrounding of your strong castle can save your life if this string but slip my finger. I have killed two better men than you to-day when they were charging upon me at full speed, and well protected with armour; judge then what chance you have, standing there a rank temptation to an honest archer. My sure arrow cares not a jot whether it pierces the heart of a Count Palatine, or the honest if stupid brain of a serf. And now, my Lord Rodolph, the life of his Blackness rests upon your lips. If you say 'Let fly' I kill him and whoever stands behind him, for I will break bow if this shaft go not through at least three unarmoured men."
"It is as the archer says, my Lord," said Rodolph, "and his expertness with his weapon is something almost beyond belief, as your own men, watching from your walls a while since, will doubtless testify. I beg that you make equitable terms with us, for I assure your Lordship the archer is more to be feared at this moment than a round dozen of Archbishops. I ask you to pass your knightly word, and to swear by the three Kings of Cologne and the Holy Coat of Treves, that you will do us no hurt, but allow us to pass freely on to Frankfort."
The Black Count glared in speechless rage at the unwavering archer, and made no reply, but one of the men seated behind him shifted position gingerly, speaking as he did so.
"It is no shame to yield, my Lord," he said. "I was witness to the bowman's skill and saw the two men unaccountably fall with less difference in time between them than the drawing of a breath."
The Count spoke after a moment's silence.
"If I respect not my own word, the swearing on Kings of Cologne or Coat of Treves will not make me keep it."