the Court Marshal von Waldow was most energetically massing the friends of Schwarzenberg, and his brother, Sebastian von Waldow, traveled from place to place, to gain friends and partisans for Count John Adolphus, and to ask them to come to Berlin, that, in case of danger, the count might be prepared to make a bold front against his foes.  His friends everywhere led a life of bustle and stir, and all proclaimed themselves ready joyfully to unsheathe their swords in behalf of the young count, and to do battle for him if the Elector should refuse to confirm him in all his father’s appointments.

“He will not refuse,” said John Adolphus to himself, when he had just finished reading the report of his agent, Otto von Marwitz, which had only that morning reached him, “No, the weak, impotent Elector will not dare to refuse to acknowledge me as my father’s successor; for he must be well aware that I am even now more powerful in the Mark than himself, and enjoy, moreover, the favor and protection of the Emperor.  He will not dare to attack me.  I shall be sustained by him in my position of Stadtholder in the Mark, and then—­from Stadtholder to independent Sovereign requires but one step, which I mean to take, and—­”

The door was violently burst open and Sebastian von Waldow rushed in.

“Count!” he cried, gasping for breath—­“Count, we are lost!”

“What is the matter?  Say, what is the matter?”

“Conrad von Burgsdorf has captured the letters sent to you and myself, from Koenigsberg, by my brother, the marshal, in which was a full statement of a plan for open war.”

“For God’s sake, who says so?  How do you know that?”

“One of our secret friends, who keeps his eye upon Burgsdorf, came to tell me, that I might have opportunity of warning you.  In the course of a ride taken by Burgsdorf and his men in the environs of Berlin, they captured the servant whom my brother had intrusted with dispatches for you and myself.[48] The dispatches he sent forthwith by a courier to Koenigsberg, and the servant was hurried off to the fortress of Kuestrin, that he might be unable to communicate with us.”

“That is bad news indeed,” said John Adolphus thoughtfully.  “It also explains to me why Burgsdorf and his men have taken up their abode here, and frequently talk so captiously and insolently when excited by wine.  It is palpable that he has been commissioned to watch and, if need be, arrest us.  We must therefore be on our guard, too, and render him harmless; that is to say, we must imprison him, so that he can not imprison us.”

“If I only knew the contents of the package,” murmured Sebastian von Waldow.  “In the last letter which I received from my brother he stated that he hoped soon to be able to announce with certainty whether the Elector would nominate you Stadtholder or select some one else.  Now this very letter has been intercepted, and we are left in utter darkness and uncertainty.”