In the gray of the following morning Ingo rode toward the meadow, with his two sword companions, Berthar and Wolf, for the single combat on which the sun might not look. The snow crackled under their feet; the night wind roared above their heads, and drove the snow-clouds from the mountains into the valley; the black covering of clouds concealed all the light of heaven; only the spirits of the dead ruled upon the earth; they cried from the wind, they rattled among the dry branches of the trees, and gurgled in the icy water the news that of two sworn companions of one hearth, one must depart from the light of the sun, and descend into the cold realm of the msit. Berthar pointed silently to where, in the dim morning twilight, three men stood on the other side of the stream; they were Theodulf, with Sintram and Agino, his comrades. "Their feet have been quicker than ours," said Ingo, discontentedly; "glory to those who first turned their backs on the foggy meadows." Before them lay the spot appointed for the fight --- a sandy island, surrounded on both sides by the eddying water, and covered with a thin coating of snow. The seconds greeted one another silently across the stream; they went to the willows on the bank, cut strong branches, and peeled the rind with their knives. Then Berthar and Sintram waded through the water; both stepped upon the ground at the same time, and marked out the spot for the fight with white wands. Then each stepped from thence to the ends of the island --- the one up the stream, the other down --- and made a sign with his hand to his combatant. The combatants bowed before the preserving gods, and murmured a prayer; then they waded through the water to their companions. The seconds drew back over the stream, and the mortal enemies sprang at one another without shields, in casques and coats of mail, with brandished swords. Steel struck upon steel; round them the wind groaned and the icy water gurgled. It was a desperate conflict between man and man. Theodulf showed himself not unworthy of the reputation that he had among his comrades.

For a time the struggle endured which leads so quickly to death, and Berthar looked discontentedly on the red in the morning sky, the messenger of day. Then Theodulf staggered under heavy blows, and again Ingo sprang at him, and fractured his skull through the iron helmet by a strong sword-stroke, so that a stream of blood burst forth, and the Prince's man sank backward on the snow. Ingo flung himself upon him, and raised his sword with intent to plunge the point of it into his throat. At the same moment the first rays of the sun broke over the hills; the red glow fell on the countenance of the wounded man. Sintram forgot in this danger of death the prescribed silence, and cried out over the stream: "Forbear; the sun sees it!" With the ray of light, and the cry, softer thoughts came across the wrathful soul of the conqueror; he drew his sword back, and said: "The King of Heaven shall not behold me piercing my sword through the retainer of my hospitable friend. Live, if thou canst!" and he turned away. Theodulf murmured, as he lay on the ground, raising his fist against him: "I do not thank thee." But Ingo sprang through the icy water on to the bank, and turned his back on the island and the fallen man, while Berthar said, reproachfully: "For the first time the King has been niggardly in paying the money for the journey of a deadly enemy into the land of mist." "I do not care about the revenge of a man that is lying under my sword," replied Ingo. His sword-comrades followed him silently, while the friends of the other rushed over the water, and tore away the armor of the wounded man.

In front of the guests' dwellings stood the troop of Vandals, already equipped; they stopped Berthar with their greetings when they saw the King return in safety from the meadow. In the court the Prince's men were collected, and the country guests, in gloomy expectation, till the loud wailing cry of Sintram resounded, and behind him two men carried the fallen Hero on a litter into the courtyard. When the litter was laid down in front of the house of the women, the Princess rushed out, threw herself with loud cries down by her relative, and raised her arms imploringly to her husband. Wild emotion, cries of revenge, and screams, followed the mute silence in the courtyard. The chiefs of the people hastened with conciliating words from one troop to another; they felt anxiously that a fire was kindled which could hardly be extinguished by sage counsel.

First Wolf was in great affliction. When he went to his old bench comrades, who stood in a close crowd before the house of the wounded man, they gave him hostile looks, turning their backs on him.

Agino said: "He who has stood in a passage of arms against our comrade is separated from our bench; and if I may give thee good advice for the last time, it is to avoid our neighborhood, that cold iron may not pay thee for thy treason."

"You acted shamefully to our guest," retorted Wolf, vehemently. "I have behaved myself honorably, according to my oath, which you all then extolled: how could I forsake my master in his danger amidst water and heather?"

"If thou wast his companion in the danger," replied the others, "hide thyself in his chamber, and drink among his strangers the mead that he gives thee; for hated is thy name among us, and thy memory shall be blotted out from our circle."

Hildebrand also approached him, and began solemnly, "Since thou wast a boy I have known thee, and would gladly give thee good advice if I could; but it is an old saying, 'Where the master leads, the man falls to the ground.' Even if our Prince Answald is kindly disposed toward thee, he can not defend thee against the anger of the household. Perhaps I may persuade him to give thee freedom from thy household oath; then thou mayest wander with thy sword, and seek thy safety in foreign countries."

Wolf stepped aside against the wall of the court, and concealed his glowing face from the looks of his comrades.

"Is thy traveling-baggage so heavy that thou weepest like a child, fearing to travel?" said a woman's voice near him.

Wolf answered bitterly: "That thou also mockest me, Frida, is worse than all else; for on thy account I was happy in the service of the House."

"There are other houses than this, which lie far away on the traveling-path of the hero, where a warrior wins more easily the favor of the master, and perhaps also house and land to enable him to marry. I care not for a bench of heroes where a woman commands."

"Thou advisest me to go," answered Wolf, in great astonishment, "and thou thyself remainest here!"

"I am born for the distaff, and I must tarry till a man lifts me on his horse, and carries me to his house. But a household appears to me contemptible which first receives a guest with open arms, and is then frightened at his presence. Mount, and trot courageously over the heather, and seek a truer lord."

"Thou hast seldom been friendly to me, Frida; yet I feel it hard to leave thee behind among the boys of the Manor," replied the honest Wolf.

"Perhaps I also may some time escape from the house," answered Frida, boldly. "If I have sometimes been hard with thee, my little wolf, yet know that I hate the churls here, since they have denied thee comradeship."

She looked at him kindly, and disappeared, and Wolf walked back comforted to the residence of the guests.

"What do the proud boys there whisper among one another?" asked Berthar, examining him.

"They have separated from me," answered Wolf, gloomily, "because I went to the meadow with King Ingo."

"And what doest thou mean to do, young Thuringian?"

"I have vowed fealty to thy lord," answered Wolf.

Berthar clasped him by the hand. "Thou speakest like a gallant man; thou hast always pleased me, for thou wast faithful in service, and kind-hearted to my comrades. Now I will take care, so far as I can, that thou dost not repent thee of thy choice. Go at present away from us to the Hero Isanbart that he may protect thee, and help thee by his intercession to be released from the oath which binds thee to the Chief, then return to us. The gods have denied me a son; I will consider thee as of mine own blood, will share my last drink with thee, and my last sword-stroke shall be by thy side. Welcome among us, to wander over the earth, to gain booty, and to make a happy end in battle!"

Irmgard also felt the disturbance of this morning. "Where is my daughter, that she may help her mother with her medical skill?" exclaimed the Prince, by the bedside of the wounded man.

In a low tone, that no one might hear her words, the angry Princess answered: "She has disobediently refused to approach his bed."

Answald went impetuously to Irmgard's room. The cheeks of the noble maiden were pallid, but her eyes did not shun the angry look of her father. "By the bedside of thy betrothed is thy place, thou cold-hearted one," he exclaimed to her.

"I should have hated myself if I had vowed my life to yonder man," answered Irmgard.

"Thy father has done it for thee; and had I not done it, yet he is of thy family, and my companion in arms. Dost thou respect so little what our customs require of thee?"

"I think also, my father, of what becomes thy child. He who lies there, struck by a well-deserved blow, set the hounds upon our friend and guest. Therefore, as a child of this house, he is henceforth to me a stranger and an enemy."

"Thou speakest like a mad woman. I know well the bad wish which befools thy heart: too long have I indulgently borne with what is intolerable." He raised his hand against his daughter.

"Kill me, my father," cried out Irmgard; "thou hast power; but I will never go upon my feet to the bedside of the bad man."

"If thou hast so decided," exclaimed the Prince, beside himself, "yet shalt thou bend to compulsion. I go to turn off the source which brings this trouble into my house; and thou shalt live apart as a prisoner, till thy insolent spirit becomes more pliant." He left the room, threatening, and walked across the court to his hearth-seat. There his district companions collected, and there also Ingo was conducted by two chiefs of the people.

The countenance of the Prince was red with anger, and his voice trembled when he began speaking to the assembly by his hearth-fire:

"Thou, Ingo, Ingbert's son, hast given a deathblow to my sword-bearer, Theodulf, one of the nobles of the people, the relative of my wife, the son to whom I had promised my daughter as a wife; thou hast injured him in body and life in secret fight, which the sun hates. Thou hast wounded mine honor, violated thy duty as guest, and broken thine oath; therefore I refuse thee, henceforth, the peace of my house and manor; I dissolve the covenant which once bound our fathers; I extinguish the flame on the hearth which now still warms thee, and I pour water over that by which we had sworn to one another hospitable peace." He raised up the hearth-kettle and poured the water into the flames, so that the steam spread itself hissing throughout the house.

But Ingo cried out, in reply:

"Wounded to death in my honor, I have done a necessary deed, such as every one must do who would not live dishonored among the people. I thought of thy hospitable hearth when the bad man lay under my sword, and I drew back its point. For the kindness that I have enjoyed under thy roof I thank thee now, on parting; from the evil that thou and thy kindred may henceforth intend toward me I will guard myself. As thou hast extinguished the flames that lighted me hospitably, so do I throw the guest-token that thy father gave to my father, into the cold ashes of thy hearth. I renounce also the duties of guest which have bound me here; as a stranger I came, and as a stranger I go. To the gods, the eye-witnesses of my oath, I complain of the injustice that thou doest to me and my race; and I beg their blessing for every one who wishes me well in this house and country."

He turned round to depart.