CHAPTER XXXV. THE NIGHT ESCAPE OF THE EMPEROR.
When the Black Count had shouted his defiance to the tent of the Archbishop, he stood there in the calm moonlight with his clenched fist raised high above his head, while a deep silence held in thrall all who were on the roof of the northern tower. Suddenly his upstretched hand dropped to his side, and the wild exultation faded from his fiery eyes. He turned, and curtly bidding the others to follow, clanked down the circular stone stair, and presently entered the courtyard he had so recently quitted. All his men there assembled stood motionless as he had left them. The yellow bits of gold lay where they had fallen, no man having had the courage to stoop and pick up a single coin.
Heinrich flashed a contemptuous glance at the scattered metal, and said:
"Lieutenant, see that this trash is gathered up. Give half of it to the honest fellow who discovered the plot, and divide the rest among yourselves. You will take temporary command until I have further investigated this treachery."
"My Lord," interrupted Rodolph, "Conrad is my man, and I will myself undertake to compensate him for what he has undergone. I beg of you to divide the Archbishop's gold entirely among those who have stood so faithfully by the castle. If you give orders to that effect, I would be glad to have a word with you in private."
"What is done, is done," replied the Black Count, frowning. "There is little good in further talk about it. I mean with regard to the sending away of the traitor; that's past praying for; the dividing of the gold shall be according to your wish."
"What is done, is done, as you most truly say, and I have no comment to make upon it. If a man is to be killed, and Steinmetz richly merited death, I suppose it matters little how his taking off is accomplished so that it be speedy, and none can complain that he was kept long in suspense. I shall have the honour of following you to the council chamber, my Lord."
The Black Count strode up the stone steps and entered the now deserted room, turning round upon his guest with some apprehension on his brow.