The Young Carpenters of Freiberg | Page 4

you quite sure the dragoons I met
will not come here and find that the two murderers were comrades of
theirs? If they did, your brave deed might cost you dear.'
A smile was the woman's only reply, but a peasant answered for her:
'Dragoons, did you say, youngster? What countrymen were they?'

'Well,' replied Conrad, 'you can't always tell a bird by its feathers,
especially if you don't happen to be a bird fancier. Whether they were
Saxons, Imperialists, or Swedes, I do not know. The soldier that tried to
kill me spoke good German, and he wore a blue doublet with bright
yellow facings.'
'God help us!' cried the peasant. 'They are the Swedes, sure enough; I
have known the blue doublets ever since 1639, the year they did so
much harm to Erbisdorf, when General Bannier made his attack on
Freiberg.'
'But come,' said Conrad, trying to rally his own courage, 'there's plenty
of blue cloth and yellow facings in the world besides what is on
Swedish uniforms; and as I told you before, that dragoon could swear
in downright good German.'
'The Swedes! the Swedes!' was now heard from outside the house. 'The
schoolmaster saw them from the top of the church tower.'
'The Swedes are coming!' was the general exclamation as every face
turned pale. 'May heaven have mercy on us!' With this cry the
frightened people rushed out of the room, leaving the terrified young
apprentice and the miller's wife alone together. The latter did not
appear to be much disturbed. She quietly counted out to the lad the
price of the little coffin, and then turned away to lay her son's body in it.
Conrad Schmidt hardly knew what he had better do. First of all he hid
the money he had just received in one of his shoes, and then began to
consider whether he should leave his hand-truck at the mill or take it
back with him to Freiberg. His uncertainty did not last long. What the
horse is to a horseman, that his truck is to a carpenter's apprentice.
Neither the one nor the other will willingly part from his faithful
companion except in great emergencies. Full of inward fears, but
without showing any outward signs of panic, the youth set forth on his
homeward way, a distance of six or eight miles.
CHAPTER II.
THE FAMILY AT HOME.

Conrad reached the town without any further adventure, and found it in
a state of high excitement. The drawbridges before the gates were up,
and the city walls and towers swarmed with armed men. 'The Swedes
have been seen,' was the general outcry, and the mere sound of the
words had been enough to throw the whole place into a ferment. To the
number of about six hundred, the Swedes had appeared and opened a
parley with the town, demanding supplies, and when--as was only to be
expected--their demands were refused, they had drawn off and retired
to the neighbourhood of Wilsdruf. As soon as ever Conrad reached
home, which he did at last, pushing his truck before him and hobbling
along in a very lame fashion over the rough pavement, he took off the
shoe he had turned into a money-box.
'I thought so,' he cried. 'I was sure those hard gulden would raise
blisters. But I say, mistress, that's a great deal better than coming home
without any money at all. I can tell you I have had a narrow escape.
Just look here; this scratch on my left hand was done by a Swedish
bullet aimed at my heart. I have lots of news to tell you about my
journey.'
And then all the people of the house gathered eagerly round to listen
while he told his adventures. Many an accomplished story-teller has
had less attentive listeners than those who hung on the lips of this
humble carpenter's apprentice, transformed into a sort of hero by a
sudden and unexpected accident. Out of doors it was already growing
dark, as the cold November wind swept past the house, driving a few
flakes of snow before it. But in the comfortable livingroom that
adjoined the workshop, the little company sat cozily enough round the
warm stove, listening eagerly to the lad who had seen the dreadful
Swedes, and, wonder of wonders! lived to tell the tale.
'As I lay hidden there in the truck,' said Conrad in conclusion, 'and
heard the soldiers coming like the noise of a great hail-storm, I almost
gave myself up for lost; and when the cover was dashed back, like a
starling falling out of a spout, I thought my last hour was come.'
'That would not have been so very bad,' said the younger journeyman,
'if one only had to suffer death and nothing worse.