"Enough, Blick! I warrant you left nothing of meat and drink but what you could not carry off! So you came to Ratisbon, and found me out?"
"Yes, colonel! Ingolstadt will come tumbling down in a day or two at most, and then the Swedes will come here after the Elector, as some say, or be off to ransack Munich, where he keeps his treasures, as others say. And in faith I don't see what's to stay him, now poor old Tilly's dead!"
"Dead?"
"Aye! Died as Gustavus fired the first round of his cannon. He was a tough fighter, and his soldiers ever got leave to sack a town in their own way. No fine manners and milk and water about the old General with the Red Feather. Rest his soul!"
"Amen!" said Nigel devoutly, making the sign of the cross. "Now what are you going to do?"
"I've reported myself and men to the general in command of Ratisbon. He says, 'Wait till the army retreats from Ingolstadt and then join it.' Meantime I'm just looking after the horses and taking a ride to keep them in condition and get fodder for them, and there's mighty little in Ratisbon!"
Nigel smiled. He knew that Blick considered it a lamentable thing when he and his troop, not to mention the horses, did not get full rations, and that, if the regulations did not bring him and his to eat, he helped himself to the best with a very fair ability.
"If the Swedes are not upon us to-morrow, Blick, I want you to do me a service."
"How many troopers?"
"Two besides yourself, men you can trust, men who are good swordsmen, and see that your three horses are good for a long journey if need be. And above all a quiet tongue, Blick, for you are meddling in a strange business. If any trouble come of it to you, you may blame me, as you obeyed orders. Meet me at the Eastern Gate with my horse at eleven. You will find him at the stables of the 'Cloister Bell.'"