Through the small gate, which led from the spring to the fortress, Ingo hastened to the door. He found it closed and guarded by his men, and from the tower Berthar called out to him: "Look downward, my King! there in the valley the woman is riding with her companion to the boundary. No one rushes so hastily along who has not an anxious mind."

"She departed in anger, father." Berthar discovered in the clouded brow of the Chieftain what he did not express. "When the shepherd scares away a male wolf from the fold, the animal does not return for three days, but the hungary she-wolf ventures on a new inroad the following night. Shepherd of the Marvingians, when dost thou expect an attack upon thy fold?"

"Tomorrow," replied Ingo.

The old man nodded. "We are not secure in the north. Radgais is stationed on the watchtower which we built on thy boundary; he is one of the most cautious, and I do not think that he sleeps, for he spoke with the minstrel Volkmar, and knows that the spoon of a Queen of Thuringia stirs up new brother; yet no smoke rises from his height. The day is bright and the air clear: I fear, my lord, that he does not willingly close his eyes."

"The Queen rode by the forest path, to avoid the watch-tower," replied Ingo. But at the moment that he looked out, there rose up, to the northward, against the golden evening sky, a white vapor; higher rose the smoke and blacker.

"We understand the warning," exclaimed Berthar; "the Queen's boys are racing over the boundary. I heartily wish that the watchman may escape them."

"Look also toward the south, Berthar; there the old enemy rises against us. For the third time Caesar plans against us; this time he calls upon the Burgundians to destroy us; and the Queen threatens us with the weapons of her brother Gundomar."

Again the old man looked into the face of the Chieftain, and observed by its stern expression that he was thinking of a hard struggle. Then he drew his waist-belt tighter, and said, with a fierce smile, "The time is short to adorn the court for two Kings. Yet thy boys are active; we have long been looking for such an honor; and he who will uninvited banquet within our circle, may himself become a banquet for the raven and eagle. Command, my King! Thy boys are ready to fight."

"Light the danger-fires," ordered Ingo; "send spies to the southern border, and warn the old peasant proprietors in the villages that they may conceal their defenseless people and herds in their forest enclosures, and send us as many armed men as they can."

Then Berthar called out, above the court, with a powerful voice, the war-cry of the Vandals: "Come on, ye sons of the swan, in armor! bear the iron cymbals, and light the pitch-flames; a more glorious dance will begin for you tonight than around burning logs."

Immediately afterward, a mighty fire blazed from the heights, and armed men sped down the mountain on horseback.

Irmgard was sitting in the high bridal chamber, which the Vandals had constructed for her amid the oak foliage. In her hand she held the warning token of her mother. Her eyes were fixed on vacancy. When she heard her husband's step below in the enclosure of the fortress, she turned her eyes toward him, to see whether he would come to her; but he was speaking with Berthar. At last he ascended up to her, and stepping before her he began: "The Queen's mantle flew down into the depths; the woman left our mountains in anger."

"I lay on the rock over the fountain; in terror and shame I threw myself down on the ground. Then I heard an interchange of talk; I saw how my husband bowed himself to the foreign woman and I heard how she demanded her right to his life."

"Then thou didst also hear that I opposed her," he replied, kindly.

"I ceased to hear the words, for my son whimpered, and I carried him to his father's bed. It is to be seen whether he will find a stepmother."

"Irmgard!" cried out her husband, frightened, "of what art thou thinking?"

"Dost thou imagine that I will lie in thy way like a stone, separating thy foot from hero-life and a king's throne? I heard my countryman say that I was not wedded to thee in lawful marriage; and degrading was the greeting offered me by the Queen. When thou sendest thy mistress home, the Queen will become gracious to thee again, as she was before."

"Thou art vexed, and thy words cut sharp," replied Ingo; "but thou must not dream of severing the bond of union between us, because another thinks of it with bad thoughts. She wishes to separate thee from thy husband, but not, as thou imaginest, in order to prepare him a king's bed; for she thinks of another resting-place for the stranger Ingo, and down below in the valley she is rolling stones to bury him in a dark chamber."

Irmgard rose wildly, as if stung by a serpent. But he drew the unwilling one to him, and spoke tenderly to her:

"Wearisome has been my journey upon man's earth: while yet a boy, I was obliged to roam, like a beast of prey, through the valleys to obtain food to support my life, while the hunters crept upon my path. Many a time was I sick of my life, when I humbly begged for small bones at the table of a stranger, and received the cold look of a guest-friend. Yet I think that I have not ingloriously penetrated the battle-ranks of the enemy, and have honorably won for myself, some day, a happy seat in the halls of the Heroes. Then the last leap into the host of enemies to me the greatest good fortune; and when the battle-song sounded, then I heard the immortals call up their grandchild into their retinue. Now first, since I have seen thee, and thou hast become dear to me as my own life, I have found much pleasure in this world, and it has often appeared to me agreeable to sit and laugh in the sunshine above the valleys, when the little lambs frisked about, and my fighting-comrades brought home the wild honeycomb in casks. But the gods who have granted me such happiness have also allotted to me that it should not be lasting, and should be sorrowful for thee who art dear to me. By a daring robbery I was obliged to win thee. Thou art poorer, as my wife, than at home. No one calls out 'Welcome!' to thee but my wild comrades and the settlers, who have sworn fealty to me because they had bad fortune at home. I have often been aware, when beside the exile, thou didst strive to conceal thy tears and sighs for home. Today I was warned by the gods, when the mantle fell. It is very possible, my wife, that they will call me to them; therefore I am anxious now that the passage there should be glorious, and hurtful to the enemy."

"Ride away from the forest enclosure," exclaimed Irmgard, "and form a newhome in a foreign land."

"The wild beast glides out of his den when the hounds run, but not the father of a people."

"Thou didst live concealed during a happy year; thou didst raise thy boy in thy shield, and thy wife hung about thy neck. Think thereon, Ingo, before thou choosest." She fixed her eyes, full of anguish, on his face.

Ingo stepped once more to the little light aperture, and spied on all sides into the dim landscape. The heavens shone like red gold, and below in the valley the mist was rising from the stream. He looked upon the undulating hills, the dark forests, and the fruitful plain; then he turned to his wife, and embraced her. "When the minstrel sang in the hall, and thou before all didst honor to the stranger, then I became dear to thee, because I, the Hero, trod foremost on the death-path. Has thy mind changed, Vandal wife?"

"The anguish that I feel to lose thee!" answered Irmgard, softly, and concealed her face on his breast.

Ingo held her in a fast embrace. "I held my head high as a homeless one; gaily did I enjoy the happiness of the day, because I considered life little in comparison to a glorious death. I was proud of being true to every one to whom I had vowed myself, and a terror to mine enemies. He who would humble this pride, him I could kill, or he would strike me. But more proudly than formerly do I prepare, this time, for the fight. More powerful is the enemy's approach than it has ever been before; and thou, beloved, shalt behold with thine eyes whether the minstrel has extolled the Hero with truth. Prepare thyself, Princess, for the day of honor to thy husband, for soon wilt thou hear round thy bridal chamber the wild song of thy swans, and above the clouds thou wilt behold the heavenly bridges on which the Heroes rise upward."

Darker did the shadows of the night become; the danger-fires flamed, and cast a red light, and smoky clouds hung over the court, where the men were equipping themselves for defense. They emptied the yard of wagons and implements, brought spears, and heaped up stones; the maidens also helped --- they brought many loads of water from the spring, and filled the vessels and barrels in the hall; messengers of the village people ran into the court, gigantic men sprang up and down, and the word of command of the leader sounded in the enclosed space.

Irmgard descended with Frida from her high chamber; her doubts had been overcome, and she stepped over the court as if supported by the strength of a goddess. Berthar smiled with satisfaction when she approached him. He rose quickly from the ground, where he was hammering at a great sling, and greeted her as a warrior does his chief:

"I am rejoiced to see the Queen adorned; the light of her countenance rejoices me, and also the gold ornament on her breast. I delight in the high festival where the bride appears in such rich attire. For we boys shall fight more cheerfully when we behold the Princess bending herself like a battle-maiden over the warriors. But do thou listen to the secret advice of the old man. Thou wast a good mistress to the wild boys in peaceful times; thou hast cared for all, and wast proud toward all, as becomes a prudent hostess, that no mead-drunken fellow might venture to cast on thee a bold look, or make an unseemly joke. But now, if it pleases thee, show a friendly feeling to the men, speak kindly to each, and distribute the provisions bountifully, which thou keepest in cellar and barn. For I have no fear that we shall be deficient in meat and drink as long as we fight; and many a one strikes more furiously and throws his weapon more strongly when he has been treated among his comrades with mead, and superior delicacies. Hitherto we have had only to lurk after the Burgundian robbers; this time we shall have work which will be related to future generations."

Irmgard held out her hand, which the old man clasped respectfully. "For me everything has come as I have always wished it," he continued --- "a short field, and a hot fight, and I by the side of my master. Only the troop is too small that rides with him over the field of battle; that makes me anxious; for the god of war prefers counting shocks of mown-down men rather than single blades."

"Come on, Wolf!" cried Berthar to the young Thuringian; "thou hast a good way in converse with the women, and they boast of thee as a dancer. Therefore thou shalt watch as guardian over the women. Thou shalt be their leader when they roll down stones from the rock, and when they swing their buckets against fire-arrows on the gable roof. Lift out of the ditch the skins of cattle and deer which we have collected, and spread the steeped leather over the wooden roof; for the wet hides serve us as the best protection, next to the foliage of the trees, against fire-throws."

"I had thought to stand near my master," replied Wolf, discontentedly.

"No one will prevent thee from making thy spring at the right time," said the old man, consolingly, "but thy work is more glorious than thou imaginest, for I observe that those out there also will fight in women's way, whether the pap shall be burned by one or the other."

"Thou thinkest, father, it will be a hot day for many of us."

"For many of them, it becomes us to say," replied Berthar. "Only take care and be smartly dressed, to please the Weird Sisters."

"I am not thinking of myself," answered Wolf, looking over his shoulder back toward the house.