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"Thou art not the only one of thy race who has been well-disposed toward us since we were in the Prince's territory," replied Ingo, with a sorrowful smile. The Hero agreed to the visit, whereupon Bero, pleased, turned his nag along a side path.

Rothari followed them with a loud call. "Your first resting-place must be my house," exclaimed the burly man, stretching out his hand from his horse, and shaking many by the hand. "Cast thy cares behind thee, Hero, and do not be angry with all because thou hast parted with one in displeasure;" and riding by Ingo, he continued, confidentially, "In our district also many are astonished that thy sword did not give the last honors to a wrangler; for the man and his family have enemies among the people, because they are unjust; and I am one of those enemies." Thus he trotted on among the guests, with comforting words, sometimes whirling his spear in the air, and relating jovial accounts of travels, till the strangers listening to him laughed.

When on the following morning the first dawn of day shone in the dark room, Irmgard rose gently from her bed, that she might not awake her sleeping guardian, and she said to herself, "I dreamt that one was standing by the torrent above, expecting me. The bank of the running flood has been traveled over; loosened is the pine tree which clung to our ground; down the valley it drives with the water, betwixt ice and stones, and never shall I see it again. I know not what I care for in life, since he has gone from us." She threw a dark covering round her dress, opened softly the door, and stepped into the empty court. "Who will unlock the gate for me?" she said, standing before it; but when she touched it, she found the wooden bolt of the barrier drawn out. She went through the gate, and hastened over the snow up the mountain to the place where she had formerly found her loved one. But when she came near, she perceived by the torrent, in the twilight, a tall figure; she was frightened, and stopped. Then Ingo hastened toward her. "I thought I should find you in this place, and that feeling brought me on my speedy horse through the night."

"The King rides among enemies," answered Irmgard, "because my family have broken faith with him. Bitter is the thought, and hateful is life to me; for thou wilt be angry with us when thou thinkest in the hour of danger, on the hall of my father."

"I think of thee wheresoever I tarry," exclaimed Ingo; "from thee I hope for all the welfare of my days. Thou art most dear to me, and strong is thy courage; therefore I place today in thy hand the threads on which, as the Priestess said, my fate hangs." He presented to her a little pouch of otter skin, with strong straps upon it. Irmgard looked timidly at the gift. "It contains the magic dragon," continued Ingo, softly, "the victorious talisman of the Romans, as our warriors imagine, and also my fate. In the King's castle the Romans have been distributing gold; it is possible that the King's men may work me evil. If they kill me and my followers, the Romans shall not gain again what, as they say, ensures them the victory. Therefore keep the purple for me till I ask for it; but if my enemies accomplish their work, then carry the talisman to the death-mound they raise over me, and bury it there deep in the earth."

Irmgard took the pouch, held it with both hands, and her tears rolled down on it. "A stranger wilt thou be to the hearth of my father, but thou remainest my guest-friend, Ingo, and thou shalt dwell near my heart. Hear I keep what thou givest me, and I pray to the gods of fate that this pledge may win me a share in thy lot. Had I been born a boy, as my parents wished, I could follow thee on thy path; but lonely shall I sit, with closed lips, in a joyless house, and I will think of thee whom only the hawks behold, the wild birds, when they fly betwixt heaven and man's earth. For restlessly dost thou wander, noble man, to hostile walls, under wailing winds and falling rime."

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