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Well, then, I shall stay here among the peasants until old Jochem sends me news of Schrimbs or Peppel. To be sure, in the course of my eighty-mile journey I have cooled down a little, for it makes considerable difference when two weeks intervene between a project and its execution. Furthermore the question now is: What sort of revenge shall I take on him?
The rural stillness, the green of the meadows, the prosperity which beamed upon him from the whole estate, all made a most pleasant impression, and aroused in him a desire to spend the one or two weeks that might elapse before he received news from old Jochem there in the open country rather than in the narrow alleys of a small city.
But all that will take care of itself later on. Mentor, you shall soon hear more, I hope, from your Not-Telemachus. Several days passed at the Oberhof in the usual quiet, monotonous way. Still no word came from old Jochem, regarding either himself or the escaped adventurer; and a mild anxiety gradually began, after a while, to steal over his young master.
The younger man gave some money and papers to the older, pointed out to him the direction in which he was to continue his way, and said: "Go now, Jochem, and be discreet, so that we can get hold of this confounded Schrimbs or Peppel who has been inventing such monstrous lies, and as soon as you discover him, let me know." "I'll be discreet all right," replied old Jochem.
Jochem, Oswald's servant, is the incarnation of fidelity; the old Captain, who finds himself today in a French and tomorrow in a Prussian mood, is instructive at least, for such dualistic patriotism was not unknown at the time; the Collector follows his vocation with inspiring avidity, the Sexton is droll without knowing it, and each of the Hofschulze's servants has something about him that separates him from his confederates even though he be nameless.
"And keep always to the right, my Jochem, for the last tracks of this Schrimbs or Peppel are headed that way," said the young man, standing up and giving the old man a cordial parting handshake. "Always to the right, of course," replied the latter.
"Very well," said the young man, "and now, Jochem, be very cautious and thoughtful all the time in the way you handle the matter, for we are no longer in dear Suabia, but out among the Saxons and Franks." "The miserable fellows!" exclaimed old Jochem. "Faith, they have long talked about Suabian stupidities! They shall see that a Suabian can be a sly bird too when it is necessary."
Instead of finding him, however, he meets Lisbeth, and here the love story begins. While waiting at the Farm for Jochem to find Münchhausen, Oswald agrees to recompense the Hofschulze for his hospitality by keeping the wild deer away from the grain fields.
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