The Student-Life of Germany

by William Howitt

"Does the fellow think I'm afraid of him?" cried Heiner.

"Ay, to be sure I do," said the student, quietly smoking on. The robber was raging, and demanded on the instant to fight the audacious student; but his comrades disapproved of it. It was too dangerous an undertaking to decide this affair on the highway. They proposed to adjourn to their encampment; and offered in a manner friendly enough to the student, if he were not killed in the combat, to give him quarters for the night. He was obliged to content himself with the matter, and so they put themselves in motion. They went on long, still deeper and deeper into the thick of the wood, and on the way made inquiries from the student, whom they watched pretty well, as to the circumstances of his life; which he related to them truly.

At length they came to an open place in the forest. Here the surrounding hills formed a sort of basin, which on the one side was shielded from the wind by a pile of rocks, and on the other by a screen of stupendous trees. A little spring gushing out from the foot of the rocks, wound itself through the carpet of grass, upon which the robber-troop, consisting of about twenty men with their wives and children, had built some huts. The sentinels on the outposts had first announced their approach, and they were speedily surrounded by the troop. When they learned the intention of Heiner and the student, they gave it their hearty applause; and as soon as all had refreshed themselves with food and drink, a battle-ground was selected; Schwartzkopf received a hanger, and the robbers formed a circle round the combatants. The women kindled great pine-torches, in order properly to light up the scene.

The robber fiercely attacked his opponent; and the whole scene had a singular aspect. The powerfully built figures of the men, whose bold features yet more strongly stood forth in the light of the torches, as they, smoking their short pipes, looked on the strife, full of expectation of its issue; and the women dispersed amongst them in singular and various attire, which they had selected for themselves out of the plundered stores. All watched the fight in deep silence; which was only broken by the clattering of the swords, the dashing of the water, and the rush of the winds as they raged through the woods. The student, by far superior to his antagonist in skill of fence, parried with the utmost coolness, quietly meeting with his sword every blow of his opponent; but as the robber began to press upon him closer and closer in a furious attack, he suddenly struck in before the stroke of his adversary, and in the same instant the robber let his sword drop, and the blood spouted hotly from the arm-wound through his sleeve.

The men had seen the contest with astonishment; the arm of the wounded robber was bound up, and the rest of them gathered together in a group in earnest consultation. The student continued standing alone, doubtful whether he should make an attempt at escape, or should wait the upshot of the consultation, which might be fatal to him. He concluded to wait.

A robber now stepped up to him, and said, "Our captain fell in a skirmish a few days ago. We have all seen, with admiration, your perfect coolness, your courage, and your swordsmanship; when you arrive at home little good awaits you; remain with us, and be our captain, and so will you find a better life than amongst those miserable soldiers." Schwartzkopf hesitated only a short time. He weighed the attraction of the proposal against the life which he had otherwise before him. He reflected how dangerous it would be to refuse; and if scruples arose in his mind, he silenced them again by the thought that he could again give up this life when he pleased. After a short rumination, he gave his pledge of adhesion and fidelity to the robbers. The intelligence spread itself with rapidity through the whole robber troop; the wives brought wine-cups, and all drank to the health and prosperity of the new captain. They caroused till deep in the night, and drank brotherhood to Schwartzkopf, who, under the name of Black Peter, was speedily known and feared through the whole country round.

About half a year from this event had flown away. The complaints of the country people in the neighbourhood of Fulda, of the oppressions of the robber band, had ceased. But from time to time it undertook greater exploits, with such calculation and astonishing boldness, as testified the new spirit that was come amongst them since they were led by the Black Peter. The real name of Peter Schwartzkopf, from which this was derived, was not recognised. The former student, of whom people had so often read in the newspapers, was believed to be dead, or to have fallen into the hands of the recruiting officer, and to serve in foreign lands. The captain, however, was known as the Black Peter, from two other causes. He always wore a black mask; and he had never been seen otherwise than riding on a black horse. The inquietudes of the war had hitherto made impossible any earnest attempt to put down those disturbers of the public security; and this was rendered the more difficult as the band never lingered long in one and the same place, but, immediately after the perpetration of some bold deed, vanished from their haunt, and exchanged it for the Bergstrasse, or the country of the Main.

Already the storm of war had retired many weeks from the neighbourhood of Fulda, and the robber band appeared also to have left the country, perhaps out of fear of a more vehement pursuit. The inhabitants of the little city of Schlüchten rejoiced themselves in the prospect of the enjoyment of a more refreshing rest than they had for a long time been favoured with.

One afternoon a heavily loaded travelling-carriage rolled slowly into the city, and aroused universal attention as it drew up before the Gasthaus Zum-Stern. A swarm of lounging Bauers collected about it, and out of every window peered curious countenances. But how much greater was the astonishment as the people learned from the coachman and valet, who, both of them clad in military costume, looked, in their mustaches, most formidable fellows, that their master, a Graf of high standing, had been attacked on the way by robbers, and now lay severely wounded in the carriage; and that they only owed their escape and life to the fortunate interposition of a patrol party belonging to the Graf's own regiment.

At this intelligence the whole city was thrown into an uproar, and not the least the landlord of the Star, who with his loud and eager orders for the proper care of the noble gentleman, made the heads of all his people dizzy. The stranger Graf was finally lifted out of the carriage by his servants, aided by some of the others. He was a tall, stately man, pale with the loss of blood; his eyes were closed, and many deep wounds in the head were only rudely and hastily bound up. While he was carried to his bed and given into the care of the surgeon, who was called in, the Amtmann was hastily sent for; and, from the statements of the coachman, who caused at the same time his own arm-wounds to be bound up, dictated to his clerk a long protocol. The whole police corps, with an addition of some armed Bauers, immediately set out in pursuit of the robbers, without, however, being able to discover the least trace of them.