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Updated: June 14, 2025
Not a cloud marred the beauty of the blue sky; all the snow had fallen to earth; once more the huntsman's horn awoke the echoes. "That is my friend Sébalt lamenting down there," said Sperver. "He knows everything about horses and dogs, and he sounds the hunter's horn better than any man in Germany. Listen, Fritz, how soft and mellow the notes are!
"Yes," cried Sperver, "I have got strange things to tell you." He threw himself in a chair, seizing his head between his clenched hands, while dismal Sébalt calmly drew his horn over his head and laid it on the table. "Now, Sébalt," cried Gideon, "speak out." "The witch is hanging about the castle."
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
"That is a nice young man. He would have made a good-looking soldier." Sperver looked uneasy, but said nothing. I was full of my own thoughts. A few steps under the darkling vaults of Nideck completely effaced from my memory the queer figures of Tobias and Marie Lagoutte, poor harmless creatures, existing like bats under the mighty wing of the vulture.
"That's what we shall soon see!" said Sperver, drawing nearer to the cave. The young man drew his hunting-knife. Perceiving this menacing action, I was about to dart between them, but happily the hound which I was holding by his collar slipped from me with a violent shock and threw me on the ground.
"There," whispered Sperver, "if I am not very much mistaken, those are our Fribourg friends; they have followed very close upon our heels." "You are quite right: they are the men; I recognise the younger by his tall, slender figure, his aquiline nose, and his long, drooping moustache." They disappeared through a side passage.
Sperver and I fixed on each other anxious eyes; yet there was not a sound, not a breath outside, for the wind had gone down; nothing could be heard but the deep protracted growl which came from deep down the chest of the noble hound. Suddenly he sprang up and bounded impetuously against the wall with a hoarse, rough bark of fearful loudness.
I was quite moved with the affection of the man for that dog, and of the dog for his master; they seemed to look into the very depths of each other's souls. The dog wagged his tail, and the man had tears in his eyes. Sperver went on "What amazing strength! Do you see, Fritz, he has burst his cord to get to me a rope of six strands; he found out my track and here he is! Here, Lieverlé, catch!"
I had stopped while Sperver closed the door, and contemplating this ancient abode, I cried "Thank God! we shall rest now!" "With a well-furnished table before us," added Gideon. "Don't stand there with your nose in the air, but rather consider what is before you a leg of a kid, a couple of roast fowls, a pike fresh caught, with parsley sauce; cold meats and hot wines, that's what I like.
Sperver making indiscriminate attacks upon the kid, the fowls, and the fish, murmured with his mouth full "The woods, the lakes and rivers, and the heathery hills are full of good things!" Then he leaned over the back of his chair, and laying his hand on the first bottle that came to hand, he added "And we have hills green in spring, purple in autumn when the grapes ripen. Your health, Fritz!"
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