Now, indeed, might he call on the mountains to fall on him, and the hills to cover him (Hosea x.); and now he might feel, too, what a terrible thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews x.); for the Jesu wounds, I'm thinking, burned then like hell-fire in his heart.
Summa, as the wretched man was brought before the burgomaster, who sat down upon a bank and wiped his sword in the grass, the latter cried out—
"Well, sir knight, you would not heed me; you have worked your will. Now, do you understand what retaliation means—'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?"
And as the other stood quite silent, he continued—
"Where is your charter for the Jena dues? Perchance it is contained in this letter, which I have received to-day from her Grace of Wolgast, addressed to you. Hand a lantern here, that the knight may read it! If the charter is not therein, then he shall be flung into prison this night with his followers, until my lord, Duke Barnim, pronounces judgment upon him."
The ferryman advanced and held a light; but Otto had scarcely looked over the letter when he began to tremble as if he would fall to the ground, and then sighed forth, like the rich man in hell—
"Have mercy on me, and give me a drink of water!"
They brought him the water, and then he added—
"Jacob, hast thou, too, had any tidings of our children?"
"Alas!" the other answered; "Ulrich has written all to me."