The King's Ring. Zacharias Topelius
in the minds of the maidens.
"Do you see," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, "the two cavaliers in their yellow waistcoats, who ride at the head of the heretics?"
"How handsome they are! Now they turn round the street corner—there they are again. Just see how everyone makes way for them!"
"Send for Count Fritz. He was in the Swedish camp for more than a fortnight, and knows their leaders."
The count, who was prevented by his wounds from taking part in the defence of the castle, immediately obeyed the Lady Regina's summons.
In the meantime the Swedes had taken full possession of the town, and began to show themselves in scattered groups on the river banks. At that moment the castle guns opened fire, and here and there a ball fell among the Swedes, who immediately sought shelter behind the houses by the river.
"Holy Mary, a man was struck over there and does not move again!" cried Ketchen, who could not conceal her sympathy.
"St. Francis be praised, there is one heretic less in the world!" rejoined old Dorthe, Lady Regina's duenna, who had been appointed by Father Hieronymus to guard all her steps.
"But it is terrible to shoot a man."
Count Fritz smiled.
"Fräulein Ketchen, you should have been on the field of Breitenfeld. Nine thousand corpses!"
"It is horrible!"
"Count, can you inform me who those horsemen are, who, in spite of the storm of cannon-shot, keep on the river bank and seem to be closely examining the defences of our castle?"
"Pardon me, charming cousin, the smoke blocks my sight. Those cavaliers—upon my honour, it is the king himself, and Count Pehr Brahe. I would not be in their shoes if Father Hieronymus sees them. He would undoubtedly bring all the guns of the fortress to bear upon them."
At these words old Dorthe crept silently from the room.
"My cousin, why do you thus regard the heretic leader?"
"Beautiful Regina, why do your eyes flash fire at the thought. You are, yourself, so generous and noble, can you not understand my sympathy for a brave and chivalrous foe? The king of Sweden is a hero, well worthy of our supreme admiration, as well as of our great enmity."
"I fail to comprehend you. A heretic!"
"God preserve you from some day seeing him within these walls; you will then understand me much better. Ha! they are now preparing to assault the bridge; they are throwing planks over the destroyed arches. By Heaven, that is courageous!"
"Now, four fell at once!" exclaimed the excited Ketchen.
"I know them well," said Count Fritz, growing more and more agitated by the sounds of the battle and the loud thunder of the cannonade, which made the fortress walls shake. "They are the Scots. There are no finer soldiers in the whole Swedish army; the Scots and Finns are always in the front of the battle."
"Ah! see there, my cousin, the Scots recoil; they dare not try to leap the abyss. That truly requires superhuman courage. Twenty-four feet underneath the planks rushes the flood."
"Two young officers dash out on the planks."
"They are the youthful brothers Ramsay. I recognise them by their blue scarves. They love the same lady, and both sport her colours, without loving each other any the less."
"Oh God, guard them! Ah, Holy Virgin, this is fearful!" and Ketchen hid her face in her apron.
Before the brave and intrepid Scots could reach the centre of the planks, they lost their balance, reeled, and then fell headlong into the river. For a short time they struggled with the flood, but wounded by bullets from the castle, their strength soon failed them, and their heavy armour made them sink in the waters; another moment, and these gallant youths sank to rise no more.
"You rejoiced at war not long ago," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, assuming a calmness which she did not feel in her agitated heart.
"Oh, yes, at the handsome young knights; the feasts and music, but not at this!" exclaimed the crying Ketchen.
"The Scots retreat!" exclaimed another of the girls.
"Yes," replied the reflecting count, "but the Swedes have begun to cross the river in boats."
"The Scots are returning to the attack."
"Just as I imagined," said the count calmly.
"God preserve us! they have succeeded; they are now on this side. Our troops attack them."
"Lady Regina, do not expose yourself so much at the window. The Swedes may aim their cannon at the turret."
"Count, do you fear?" Regina smiled as she said this.
Lichtenstein coloured up.
"I have satisfied myself that I have courage enough," he answered. "Hearken, and you will every now and then distinguish a peculiar whizzing, and a rattling like the fall of stones; you do not know what this is. I will tell you. These are cannon-shot, Lady Regina; you would know this better if the noise outside was not so deafening. For some time the balls have been shattering the walls of the turret, and almost always at the same place. Fair cousin, these are no sugar-plums. The Swedes must have been taught to shoot by the Wild Huntsman."
"Do you really think——"
"That the enemy intend to destroy this turret, and will fill the castle moat with the debris? Yes, cousin, and I believe they will do it very soon. You are in danger here, every moment, and must go somewhere else."
"Immediately, good count, at once! Come, lady!" cried Ketchen, trying with friendly violence to take her young mistress away with her. But Regina was in an exalted mood. In the habit of ruling, and perhaps from the defiant nature of her character, full of strange contrasts, joined to the burning fanaticism which the Jesuit had implanted in her mind from childhood … she stepped backwards, grasped the gilded image of the Virgin, which Father Hieronymus had sent to guard her, and placed it in front of herself on the window-sill.
"Go," she exclaimed; "you are weak in the faith; you doubt the protection of the holy saints. I shall remain, and the efforts of the heretics will avail nothing against——"
Lady Regina's speech was not finished, when a ball struck the turret at an oblique angle, knocking away a piece of the facing. A shower of stone fragments hurtled through the window, demolishing the image of the Holy Virgin, and enveloping Lady Regina in dust and dirt.
"You must away! Now you see for yourself!" cried the count.
"Let us go!" exclaimed all the girls nearly paralyzed with fear.
But Regina, nearly overwhelmed for a moment, recovered her self-confidence, and stooped down to pick up the image, saying with faith,
"They cannot triumph over the Holy Mother."
She was deceived. The wooden virgin had broken into several fragments. A sceptical smile played around the count's lips, and he now led without any opposition his terror-stricken relative from the turret.
While this was happening, Keller, with the quickness and perception of a thorough soldier, had made every arrangement for a vigorous defence. He was unable to stop the Swedes from crossing the river, but the nearer they came, the more destructive was the fire of his artillery. The enemy's ranks were decimated by his shot; and the whole day they could do nothing.
Father Hieronymus and his monks ran around the walls, deluging the guns with holy water, and making the sign of the cross over every touch-hole.
Old Dorthe had whispered in his ear, and the Jesuit's gaze was directed towards the place where someone had just seen the Swedish king and his companion. The worthy priest now wished to aim, himself, one of the heavy guns towards the spot; but before firing he fell on his knees and repeated four pater nosters and ave Marias. Then followed the shot; but in vain did the anxious Jesuit