"They will find me bound. I have been overpowered, and my mouth stopped."
"Noble girl! The crown of all Franconia's sisters of charity; had I not sworn never to marry.... Very well, hasten, Bertel! hurry, Pekka, you lazy dog! Farewell, little rogue! another kiss ... Good-bye!"
The three prisoners hastened out. But scarcely were they outside the door when they were seized by iron fists, thrown down, and bound.
"Take the dogs down into the treasury," said a well-known voice. It was Father Hieronymus.
CHAPTER III.
THE TREASURY.
Bound hand and foot, the prisoners soon found themselves in the deep, dark, damp vault, blasted out of the rock, where the Bishop of Würzburg had kept his treasures before the Swedes delivered him from the trouble. No ray of light penetrated the gloom, and the moisture from the rocks trickled through the crevices and dropped steadily on the ground.
"Lightning and Croats! may all the devils take you, cursed earless monk!" bawled the captain, as soon as he felt firm ground beneath him. "To shut up officers of his Royal Highness and the Crown in this rat-trap. Diabolus infernalis multum plus plurimum! ... Are you alive, Bertel?"
"Yes. In order to be burned living to-morrow."
"Do you believe that, Bertel?" asked the captain in a lugubrious tone.