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"It is like a miracle to me that I hold thy hand, my father. But thou must tell me everything over again---how you were all saved from the battle, and found me."

"The master went along the path of the fishes," began Berthar, laughing; "his retinue followed him. In our retreat we aimed many sword-strokes against the pursuing bands, till I spied out a place on the bank for a leap; like frogs thy boys hopped into the Rhine --- not all, my lord; thou thinkest also of those who are missing today. On our linden shields we struggled down in dire distress, the arrows of the enemy buzzing about us. Then a friendly god sent us help. A willow stem --- a strong trunk, with roots and branches --- drove slowly along the stream; sheltering the weary ones, and drawing it with us, we directed it downward from the Roman bank. Thus we went on in a thick crowd, mixed with flying warriors of the Allemanns, like a shoal of eels swarming about a dead animal.

"When we who were saved had climbed up the bank on the opposite side of the river, we concealed ourselves in a thick forest, and inquired every night in the valleys for news of thee. We thought to show the last service to our master, and to stand round his last resting-place. But vain was all our search and inquiry; none of the fugitives had beheld thy face. Then, pressed by the Roman army, we sorrowfully struck across the Black Forest, into the country of the Burgundians.

"When we were led by the Burgundian sentinels into the presence of their king, Gundomar, the fame of thy leap had already reached him, and he imagined thee to have been taken up to the hall of the gods. He had been an enemy to thee, but now he signed when I mentioned thy name; he thought of thy virtue, and was averse to deliver us bound to the Romans. He begged us to follow his army on an expedition which he was preparing to make to the East, against the March people on the Danube. We were in great want of horses and dresses, and we were like jackdaws among mice, longing for booty. Therefore we accompanied him, and it suceeded well with us; thy boys obtained good horses, and went stately along with filled bags. Last month we were lying one evening on the banks of the Danube. The Burgundians collected booty, drank jovially, and chatted, as they like to do, with Roman traders and jugglers who had hastened thither for gain and gifts. But thy boys were sad at heart, and looked at the dry leaves driving along in the autumn wind. Then a traveler came to me, and began with a greeting:

"If it please thee, Hero, I will ask thee a riddle; see if thou canst find an answer: Who swung the minstrel into the boat? Who ducked under spears like a miraculous swan?"

"I was startled, and answered, "King Ingo swung Volkmar into the boat, and the King vanished into the stream like a miraculous swan!"

Then answered the stranger, "Tis thou whom I seek, and I have wandered far for that, as the messenger of my comrade. Now, as I have found thee, hear the second message that Volkmar sends thee: The guardian of the swans sits in Irmfried's hall; the fugitive tarries by the hearth of the Thuringian."

"Then we became more joyful than I can say, for we understood what the name of Irmfried signified. King Gundomar wished to keep us, but I begged him to allow our return home. But I did not tell him that the home of thy boys is where the person of their master throws its shadow."

"Poor boys!" said Ingo, gloomily. "The shadow has become small; it covers no more than the track of your feet."

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