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But we were snug under cover, and our appetite was fading away into history. Sperver had filled the "wieder komm," the "come again," with old wine of Brumberg; the sparkling froth fringed its ample borders; he presented it to me, saying "Drink the health of Yeri-Hans, lord of Nideck. Drink to the last drop, and show them that you mean it!" Which was done.
That voice of the Northern desert is the howl of the wolf! The instant after this awful sound had broken upon the silence followed another formidable body of discordant sounds the baying and yelling of sixty hounds answering from the ramparts of Nideck.
About Christmas time in the year 18 , as I was lying fast asleep at the Cygne at Fribourg, my old friend Gideon Sperver broke abruptly into my room, crying "Fritz, I have good news for you; I am going to take you to Nideck, two leagues from this place. You know Nideck, the finest baronial castle in the country, a grand monument of the glory of our forefathers?"
At about three we came in sight of the ancient castle of Nideck on the verge of the horizon. In spite of the great distance we could distinguish the projecting turrets, apparently suspended from the angles of the edifice. It was but a dim outline barely distinguishable from the blue sky, but soon the red points of the Vosges became visible. At that moment Sperver drew in his bridle and said
Cruel indeed is he who would rob man of the chief brightness and glory of life! Towards midnight the Count of Nideck seemed almost gone; the agony of death was at hand; the broken, weakened pulse indicated the sinking of the vital powers; then, it might return to a more active state; but there seemed no hope. My only duty left was to stay and see this unhappy man die.
"The gorge of Nideck!" cried my uncle Bernard, springing from his seat in great surprise. "To be sure! You may see the ruins from here, about two gunshots distant."
I climbed up the bank by the roadside, only two gunshots from Nideck. I go along the hill, keeping the track on my right; it led along the side of the wood in the Rhéthal. All at once it jumps over the ditch into the wood. I stuck to it, but, happening to look a little to my left, I saw another track which had, been following the Black Plague.
I looked along the other side of the torrent, but there was no appearance of a track there none at all! The old hag had paddled up and down the stream to throw any one off the scent who should try to follow her. Where was I to go to? right, or left, or straight on? Not knowing, I came back to Nideck." "You haven't told us about her breakfast," said Sperver. "No, I was forgetting.
At this moment, Sperver, unable or unwilling to restrain himself any longer, cried in a voice broken with emotion "Count of Nideck what are you doing?" The count fell back thunderstruck. We rushed into the room to his help. It was time. The third attack had commenced, and it was terrible to witness! The lord of Nideck was in a dying state.
Then he quietly closed the door, whilst we alighted, and came to take our horses by the bridle. Following Sperver, who ascended the staircase with rapid steps, I was still able to convince myself that the Castle of Nideck had not an undeserved reputation. It was a true stronghold, partly cut out of the rock, such as used formerly to be called a château d'ambuscade.
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