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At this moment his reins were seized, his horse was forced back, and the stout arm of the monk had wrested the sabre from the enraged German, who fell, pierced by a bullet from the holster of an officer close by. "Was it you, pious brother, that so opportunely backed my steed?" inquired Melac. The monk bowed, and the general saw that his forehead was bloody. "Are you wounded?"
When next you write, let me hear that Speier with its magnificent cathedral is a thing of the past; and be expeditious, that Worms and Trier may share the same fate." "You see, then," observed Melac, "that I do but obey orders." "That may be," sighed De Feuquiere, "but all Europe will rise in one indignant protest against our inhumanity."
"My daughter!" shrieked Wengelin, defiantly, "before she should be delivered to you, monster! I would take her life as Virginius took that of his well-beloved child!" The general said not a word. For a time the two men eyed each other like two enraged tigers; but General Melac wasted no time in vain indignation.
Every man there felt the influence of the blessed words except one. General Melac was neither awed nor touched; his pale eye was as cold, his sardonic mouth as cruel as ever. "He is perfectly hardened," murmured a monk, who was leaning against one of the columns of the cathedral. This monk was a young man, of tall, muscular build.
"Are we almost there?" asked he. "Almost there." echoed the monk, while with a swift movement of his hand he drew from under his cassock two long, stout thongs of hide. "What are you doing there?" asked Melac.
His wide shoulders and fine, erect figure, seemed much more suitable to a soldier than to a brother of the order of mercy. Even his sun-burnt face had a proud, martial look; and as his dark, glowing eyes rested on Melac, they kindled with a glance that was not very expressive of brotherly love.
How soon do you expect to come in possession of it?" "Now at this very hour." Melac drew back, and eyed the monk suspiciously. "How! These lying wretches had two millions of treasure, and not one of them would yield it up?" "General, the people of Speier have nothing nothing. Nobody knew of it save the bishop, who died day before yesterday, and the sacristan, who died to-day.
Under the General of the Galleys, the Commandeur Gozon de Melac, and that celebrated chevalier, the Commandeur de Romegas, the sea forces of the Knights were everywhere in evidence.
His stooping shoulders were flung back, his head was erect, and in his eyes there sat a threatening devil, which, if Melac could have seen it, would have made his heart grow chill with apprehension. But Melac, too, was no longer the same. Up to this moment he had assumed an appearance of friendliness toward his companion.
Without a word the monk rose, and, pointing to the grand altar, the general entered the chancel, and followed his conductor to a small door cut in the wall. This the monk opened, and, stepping back, signed to Melac to advance. "Does this winding-stair lead to the tower?" asked the latter.
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