CHAPTER XVI.

ASLEEP AND AWAKE AGAIN IN THE FOREST MILL.

Haespele had been sent by the anxious parents to the eminence where they had observed a light, to see what was going on there. Martina would not believe what Adam said:--"Who knows but they may have found our Joseph in the mill?" and yet she wanted to go there instantly herself; but Adam persuaded her to wait, at all events till Haespele came back.

At last he came; he ran as fast as he could to the spot where he had left them, but they were no longer there. "Is the whole world entirely bewitched this blessed night?" said Haespele. Adam and Martina however, at that moment, were engaged in laying hold of the three angels. Adam shouted to them in his powerful voice to stop, as they came near: the angels, however, seemed to feel such desperate alarm at any of the Roettmann family, that they fairly took to their heels.

"You will see that our Joseph is gone with the Christmas singers," said Martina, in a hopeful tone.

Adam pursued the angels, and was lucky enough to catch hold of one by the wing, but it came off in his hand; he followed them; and the flying angels were not quick enough to escape a man like Adam. He clutched one of the angels tight, and asked him about Joseph; then he brought him to Martina, who was waiting above; but the boy was in such mortal terror, that they could not get a word out of him; above all he refused to say who his companions were, and when he was asked if he had not met a fine tall boy, seven years old, in the wood, the angel first said yes, and then no; it was impossible to make sense of what he said. In the midst of this judicial examination, Haespele appeared: "He is there! he is there!"

"Who is there?"

"Joseph," said Haespele, quite hoarse.

"Where? where? where?" cried Martina, rushing up to him. "Where is he? for God's sake tell me! dead or living?"

"He is sitting in the mill below, drinking mulled wine."

"My child! my child!" cried Martina, in so shrill a tone that it vibrated through the valley, and running down the hill, as fast ever she could; Adam could scarcely keep up with her; she rushed up the steps and dashed open the door, crying out, "Joseph! Joseph! where is my Joseph?"

"You and your Joseph may go the devil," answered a voice: well did she know it; it was the voice of the Roettmaennin. Neither fear, nor anxiety, nor peril of death, nor intense happiness could have overcome Martina, but this voice had such an overwhelming effect on her, that, with a loud scream, she sank to the ground in a swoon; even Adam, who was standing close behind her, was so terrified, that he let her fall, without trying to support her. "Mother! mother!" said he: he could not utter another syllable.

"Do not call her mother," said Tony; "go away, Adam; leave us; I will raise Martina myself: but first give me that warm mulled wine, and sprinkle some drops of snow water from your cloak on her face. So, so! she breathes!"

"Capital!" said the old Roettmannin, with a harsh laugh, "if the whole world go crazy, I won't. If they all fall down dead around me, like so many cockchafers, I will still say _no_!"

Speidel-Roettmann, however, instead of replying to his wife, went up to Martina, saying, "Come, Martina, try to be composed and to command your feelings--there, I have lifted you up, sit down here."

"My Joseph! where is my Joseph?"

"In the warm stable below, sound asleep," said Tony; "let him sleep on quietly, your father is with him; we laid him in warm, dry hay; and I'll tell you what we will do--we will carry him upstairs immediately, and lay him in my bed, in the next room. You can go down to fetch him: Adam, you need not be afraid about your Martina; go at once, and I will stay with her."

"And I!" said Speidel-Roettmann. Adam went down to the stable, and carried the child upstairs to bed, but Schilder-David was sleeping so soundly that he did not choose to wake him. The child, too, continued fast asleep, even when he took him in his arms. The father stroked the child's head fondly, and then his hand once more hung down by his side. Martina was now brought gently into the room; she bent over Joseph quietly, and listened to his breathing.

"Lie down beside the child, on my bed," said the Forest Miller's Tony to Martina, who looked at the girl in surprise, while Tony added, "You may be very glad that matters have taken this turn. Your Adam and I were forced into a betrothal; he disliked it quite as much as I did, and your Adam is good and true; he never spoke one word to me except about you; and though we were bride and bridegroom, yet we never kissed each other once."

"Then I will give you a kiss," said Martina, starting up and embracing Tony.

"I wish I had my cheeks between the two," said Haespele to Adam; and then addressing the two women, "You are both very nice girls, I must say! Come, Tony, your best plan is to take me: will you have me? I see you won't, but I'll give you a wedding present whoever you marry, all the same."

"Where is my father?" interrupted Martina.

"Still sleeping in the hay."

"Good Heavens! when he awakes, and no longer finds the child by his side, he will go out of his senses."

"Don't be uneasy, I will go to the stable and stay there with him till he awakes," answered Tony; but Haespele detained her by asking for something to drink, before he set out as quick as he could for the Reitersberg, where the men were still keeping watch. Tony quickly poured him out a glass of hot wine. The betrothal wine had been tasted by strange guests to-day.

All was again quiet in the mill. Joseph was asleep, and Adam and Martina watching by his bedside; Schilder-David was asleep stretched on the hay, and Tony seated near him; and in the room above the Forest Miller was asleep. The Roettmaennin tried to wake him, for she wanted the help of a man, but the Forest Miller made no sound, and the Roettmaennin cursed the "flour sack" lying there motionless, while the whole house was in an uproar. Just as the Roettmaennin returned into the room, she cried out "What's the matter? is the world come to an end to day?" for the hills echoed with the report of guns, and every valley and rock resounded with joyful cries, so that little Joseph himself was awakened by the noise, and starting up in bed, called out "Father!"

"I am here," answered Adam.

The shots were repeated, and now the whole party drew near, amid the sound of horns, the ringing of bells, the cracking of whips, and the barking of dogs.

"You called on the devil to come--do you hear? he is coming. Give your consent, while it is yet time," said Speidel-Roettmann, in the hope of softening his wife's heart.

"If the devil comes, I shall be very happy to see him; I should rather like to have a talk with him," answered the Roettmaennin; "you are all fools. If you choose to truckle to others, do so; but a woman of spirit never gives in--nor will I--never--I would rather die!"

The hobgoblin troop came nearer and nearer, and at last drew up at the