The Sword Maker

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The Sword Maker

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Title: The Sword Maker
Author: Robert Barr
Release Date: January 10, 2005 [EBook #14656] [Date last updated:
December 14, 2005]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE

SWORD MAKER
BY
ROBERT BARR
AUTHOR OF
"TEKLA" "CARDILLAC" "THE VICTORS" "IN THE MIDST OF
ALARMS" ETC.
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
June, 1910

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. AN OFFER TO OPEN THE RIVER II. THE BARGAIN IS
STRUCK III. DISSENSION IN THE IRONWORKERS' GUILD IV.
THE DISTURBING JOURNEY OF FATHER AMBROSE V. THE
COUNTESS VON SAYN AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE
VI. TO BE KEPT SECRET FROM THE COUNTESS VII. MUTINY
IN THE WILDERNESS VIII. THE MISSING LEADER AND THE
MISSING GOLD IX. A SOLEMN PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE X. A
CALAMITOUS CONFERENCE XI. GOLD GALORE THAT TAKES
TO ITSELF WINGS XII. THE LAUGHING RED MARGRAVE OF
FURSTENBERG XIII. "A SENTENCE; COME, PREPARE!" XIV.
THE PRISONER OF EHRENFELS XV. JOURNEYS END IN
LOVERS' MEETING XVI. MY LADY SCATTERS THE
FREEBOOTERS AND CAPTURES THEIR CHIEF XVII. "FOR THE

EMPRESS, AND NOT FOR THE EMPIRE" XVIII. THE SWORD
MAKER AT BAY XIX. THE BETROTHAL IN THE GARDEN XX.
THE MYSTERY OF THE FOREST XXI. A SECRET MARRIAGE
XXII. LONG LIVE THEIR MAJESTIES

THE SWORD MAKER

I
AN OFFER TO OPEN THE RIVER
Considering the state of the imperial city of Frankfort, one would not
expect to find such a gathering as was assembled in the Kaiser cellar of
the Rheingold drinking tavern. Outside in the streets all was turbulence
and disorder; a frenzy on the part of the populace taxing to the utmost
the efforts of the city authorities to keep it within bounds, and prevent
the development of a riot that might result in the partial destruction at
least of this once prosperous city. And indeed, the inhabitants of
Frankfort could plead some excuse for their boisterousness.
Temporarily, at any rate, all business was at a standstill. The skillful
mechanics of the town had long been out of work, and now to the ranks
of the unemployed were added, from time to time, clerks and such-like
clerical people, expert accountants, persuasive salesmen, and small
shopkeepers, for no one now possessed the money to buy more than the
bare necessities of life. Yet the warehouses of Frankfort were full to
overflowing, with every kind of store that might have supplied the
needs of the people, and to the unlearned man it seemed unjust that he
and his family should starve while granaries were packed with the
agricultural produce of the South, and huge warehouses were glutted
with enough cloth from Frankfort and the surrounding districts to
clothe ten times the number of tatterdemalions who clamored through
the streets.
The wrath of the people was concentrated against one man, and he the
highest in the land; to blame, of course, in a secondary degree, but not

the one primarily at fault for this deplorable state of things. The
Emperor, always indolent from the time he came to the throne, had
grown old and crabbed and fat, caring for nothing but his flagon of
wine that stood continually at his elbow. Laxity of rule in the beginning
allowed his nobles to get the upper hand, and now it would require a
civil war to bring them into subjection again. They, sitting snug in their
strongholds, with plenty of wine in their cellars and corn in their bins,
cared nothing for the troubles of the city. Indeed, those who inhabited
either bank of the Rhine, watching from their elevated castles the main
avenue of traffic between Frankfort and Cologne, her chief market, had
throughout that long reign severely taxed the merchants conveying
goods downstream. During the last five years, their exactions became
so piratical that finally they killed the goose that laid the golden eggs,
so now the Rhine was without a boat, and Frankfort without a buyer.
For too long Frankfort had looked to the Emperor, whose business it
was to keep order in his domain, and when at last the merchants,
combining to help themselves, made an effort towards freedom, it was
too late. The result of their combination was a flotilla of nearly a
hundred boats, which, gathering at Frankfort