"They are all welcome," exclaimed Answald, with warmth of heart; "the manor is large, and the barns are all full: a greeting to you, noble guests."

"But I advise," interposed Bero, cautiously, "that thou, Chieftain of the district, shouldst divide the strangers among the villages. All the neighbors will receive them willingly as guests; then every one will have his share, and none will be burdened. For they lead also with cord horses gained as booty --- among them capital animals; see this gray, my lord! Many a neighbor would be pleased to purchase a horse, and to listen in the winter at the hearth-fire to the warlike adventures of the strangers."

Answald laughed, but he replied eagerly: "Thou thinkest rightly, Bero; but the house must have the first right, and this time, neighbor, it must not be taken from it. You guests will lodge in the sleeping-room with my boys; there you may remain sheltered from the winter storms."

"My intention was good," said Bero. "Lead my brown horse here, Frida." He approached an old warrior among the Vandals, gave him his hand, and said, "Remember our conversation. You stand now on the Prince's land; if any of you should at a future time desire to be under the roof of the peasant, you will be welcome on the free moor." He spoke a few more words to his daughter, then sprang upon his horse, and, giving a last greeting, trotted along the valley.

Ingo now led his comrades one by one up to the master of the house, giving their names. Foremost stood an aged warrior, whose limbs seemed cast in bronze; his features were marked, his looks bold, and his long gray beard hung down --- a hero who one could see was accustomed to battles, and hardened against every danger.

"This is Berthar, a noble man. He led me, when I was a boy, under the protection of his shield, from his burning house, my last place of refuge within the boundary of my country. The Burgundians, who were then in alliance with my uncle, had set fire to it; since then he has been my teacher in all warlike work; as a father he has guarded my youth; I have to thank him if I have not been unworthy of my ancestors."

As Answald offered his hand to the Hero, he answered:

"I remember the day when my father entertained thine at his house; it was an autumn day like today, and there had been good sport on the mountains which we call the 'Giant Mountains.' I killed the first boar, and Hero Irmfried invited me jokingly to hunt in the forest hills of Thuringia. I have journeyed long, and white hairs appeared on my head before I entered thy precincts; but now I am here, oh, my lord, and ready, if thou permit me, to follow thee on the hunting-path."

This speech delighted the Prince; he also named his companions to the stranger, according to their rank, and desired both parties to be good comrades to each other. Then he rode forward with Irmgard, in order that Ingo might have confidential talk with his restored friends. And when the Vandals were again alone, they once more raised their acclamations, and rode together in joyful tumult. Again questions and answers passed to and fro, till Berthar led the troop to the house. It was difficult to keep the rank, for the faithful friends were ever pressing round their lord, and their cries echoed from the mountains. Ingo on the way said to Berthar:

"It is like a miracle to me that I hold thy hand, my father. But thou must tell me everything over again---how you were all saved from the battle, and found me."

"The master went along the path of the fishes," began Berthar, laughing; "his retinue followed him. In our retreat we aimed many sword-strokes against the pursuing bands, till I spied out a place on the bank for a leap; like frogs thy boys hopped into the Rhine --- not all, my lord; thou thinkest also of those who are missing today. On our linden shields we struggled down in dire distress, the arrows of the enemy buzzing about us. Then a friendly god sent us help. A willow stem --- a strong trunk, with roots and branches --- drove slowly along the stream; sheltering the weary ones, and drawing it with us, we directed it downward from the Roman bank. Thus we went on in a thick crowd, mixed with flying warriors of the Allemanns, like a shoal of eels swarming about a dead animal.

"When we who were saved had climbed up the bank on the opposite side of the river, we concealed ourselves in a thick forest, and inquired every night in the valleys for news of thee. We thought to show the last service to our master, and to stand round his last resting-place. But vain was all our search and inquiry; none of the fugitives had beheld thy face. Then, pressed by the Roman army, we sorrowfully struck across the Black Forest, into the country of the Burgundians.

"When we were led by the Burgundian sentinels into the presence of their king, Gundomar, the fame of thy leap had already reached him, and he imagined thee to have been taken up to the hall of the gods. He had been an enemy to thee, but now he signed when I mentioned thy name; he thought of thy virtue, and was averse to deliver us bound to the Romans. He begged us to follow his army on an expedition which he was preparing to make to the East, against the March people on the Danube. We were in great want of horses and dresses, and we were like jackdaws among mice, longing for booty. Therefore we accompanied him, and it suceeded well with us; thy boys obtained good horses, and went stately along with filled bags. Last month we were lying one evening on the banks of the Danube. The Burgundians collected booty, drank jovially, and chatted, as they like to do, with Roman traders and jugglers who had hastened thither for gain and gifts. But thy boys were sad at heart, and looked at the dry leaves driving along in the autumn wind. Then a traveler came to me, and began with a greeting:

"If it please thee, Hero, I will ask thee a riddle; see if thou canst find an answer: Who swung the minstrel into the boat? Who ducked under spears like a miraculous swan?"

"I was startled, and answered, "King Ingo swung Volkmar into the boat, and the King vanished into the stream like a miraculous swan!"

Then answered the stranger, "Tis thou whom I seek, and I have wandered far for that, as the messenger of my comrade. Now, as I have found thee, hear the second message that Volkmar sends thee: The guardian of the swans sits in Irmfried's hall; the fugitive tarries by the hearth of the Thuringian."

"Then we became more joyful than I can say, for we understood what the name of Irmfried signified. King Gundomar wished to keep us, but I begged him to allow our return home. But I did not tell him that the home of thy boys is where the person of their master throws its shadow."

"Poor boys!" said Ingo, gloomily. "The shadow has become small; it covers no more than the track of your feet."

"But a new sun rises for thee," said the old man, consolingly, "which will cast thy shadow over the breadth of the land. Now it is necessary that the weary boys shall find a refuge against the winter storm. As soon as the buds begin to swell on the trees we will accompany thee on some new heroic expedition. Tell me, oh King, whether the roofs which I see before me will shield us well during the winter."

"May the gods graciously so dispose it!" replied Ingo, earnestly. "I have found more happiness here than I expected, and less security than I hoped."

The door of the Prince's house was opened wide; the host received the strangers, and accompanied them into the hall. There the meal of welcome was prepared, and the Vandals were distributed among the Prince's men on the bench. The following morning there began an active hammering and lifting; from the provisions of planks and rafters, which lay in high piles in the courtyard, a sleeping-room was prepared by Ingo's house, and beside it a provisional enclosure for the horses. After a few days the building was erected, for great was the number of helping hands. The neighbors also came, greeted the strangers, and examined the great string of unemployed horses; they bought and exchanged, and took their own to winter fodder instead of the strangers' horses, which they retained. Around the quiet Princes's court there was now the merry crowding of the people of the district, and the tumult of men and horses; the lofty figures of the Vandals walked in their foreign warrior dress among the houses, and lay near the Prince's men on the steps of the hall carelessly laughing and willingly relating what the customs of their race were. They went with the Prince's retainers into the forest, and rode as welcome guests among the villages of the district.