'Tell the Elector, Madam,' laughed Kunz, looking up, 'that I can burn the fish in the ponds!'
Then he mounted his horse, which his servant was holding, and away they rode as fast as the horses would carry them. They had not ridden many miles before the clang of bells broke on their ears. The alarm peal of the castle had awakened that of the town, and in a few hours every bell in every belfry in Saxony was ringing an alarm. The sun rose, and Kunz and his followers plunged deeper into the forest, riding through morasses and swamps, over rough and stony ground—anywhere to escape from the din of those alarm bells. At last the ride for dear life was nearly over; the band was within an hour's journey of the castle of Isenburg, when Prince Albrecht declared that he was dying of thirst.
'For the love of Heaven, give me something to drink, Sir Knight,' he implored.
Kunz bade the others ride on, and giving his squire his horse to hold he dismounted, lifted Albrecht down, and began looking for bilberries for him.
Whilst he was doing so, a charcoal-burner with his dog came up. He was much surprised to see such grand people in the forest, and asked,
'What are you doing with the young lord?'
'He has run away from his parents,' answered Kunz, impatiently. 'Can you tell me where bilberries are to be found here?'
'I do not know,' replied the charcoal-burner, still staring at the strangers.
Anxious to make him leave them, Kunz turned angrily round on him, and in doing so caught his spurs in the bushes, and fell flat on his face.
Albrecht caught hold of the charcoal-burner's arm.