Dick recalled now his collision with the fallen body of Mesmer, and the general tumble that had ensued in the tower, and he remembered having noticed previously the bright color of the Count's cloak. "Doubtless the Count got mine or some one's else, in the scramble, and so no one is robbed," thought Dick.
He foresaw that he would be speedily pursued towards Melsungen. He had not lived in the wilderness of Pennsylvania to be at a disadvantage in the neighborhood of a German forest, nor had he learned the ways of the American Indians for nothing. So he very soon rode into the woods at the left, and, having penetrated to some distance from the road, deliberately turned northward towards the ruined tower, deeming that to be the safest place for him to hide while considering the situation. The captured conspirators once removed from it, the tower would have been left unguarded, and yet no one would suppose that he would return at once to a place where he had recently stood in such great danger.
Riding on through the forest, he reached an eminence, from which the descent on the northeastern side was abrupt and steep. Here, over the tops of trees that were rooted where the precipice began to be less steep, he got a view of the country lying east and north, small parts of which country were clear of woods. Through one of these open spaces, directly east, a procession of troops, some mounted, some on foot, was moving towards the southeast. Dick's heart fell at the sight, although he could have expected nothing better. It was the march of his captured comrades, under an escort of remounted horse-guards and of a company of foot, to the prison-fortress of Spangenberg. He counted the prisoners, whom he could easily distinguish from their guards. All who had met in the tower that afternoon were there but himself. So Gerard must be among them. How, Dick asked himself, could their plot have been discovered?
And now he looked northward, towards the tower, which the prisoners must have left about two hours before. He could make out its dark, round, stone top in the midst of the thick copse. While he was gazing at it, he saw two figures on horseback emerge from the copse and proceed across a clear space towards that part of the forest where the hunt had been in progress. One figure, stout and erect, Dick instantly knew to be the Landgrave's; the other, so completely cloaked as to be unrecognizable by any lines of shape, was that of a woman. The two soon entered the farther woods by a narrow bridle-path, and were lost to view.
"An assignation," thought Dick. "No sooner does the Landgrave clear the tower of conspirators than he uses it for a purpose of his own. To-day's hunt is remarkable for the number of people who have slipped away from it."
He now pressed on to the tower. At some rods from it, he dismounted and tied his horse. He then advanced cautiously, to make sure that the place was deserted. Suddenly he stopped, at sound of a furious gallop on the road from Cassel to Melsungen. While he listened, the horse's footfalls came to an abrupt stop. After a few minutes of silence, there arose the sound of some one treading crisp leaves, and forcing a way through underbrush. Dick grasped his sword and waited, knowing he would have to face but one person,—for the galloping had been of a solitary horse. The newcomer soon appeared on foot, among the trees. It was Captain von Romberg, in great excitement and alarm.
"You are still here!" he gasped, seizing Dick's hand. "Thank God, I am in time!"
"In time for what?" asked Dick.
"In time to save you and our comrades. Come, the others are in the tower, are they not?"
"The others are on their way, under a guard, to Spangenberg."