“And looks strong enough to stand forever,” said Paul.

“Did you ever hear of Hans Winkelsee, who was once imprisoned there?” asked Uncle Braun.

“No.  Please tell us about him,” said the three eagerly.

“Hans Winkelsee was, in his time, one of the boldest, most daring robbers that ever infested the Frankfort forests and the foresters did their best to entrap him and make him their prisoner, but for a long time he eluded them.  At length his time came, and he who had lived the wild, free life of a bird of prey was in a narrow cell at the top of Eschenheimer tower, judged guilty of so many crimes that he was sentenced to death.

“He who had roamed the forest, after deer and other wild animals, and had lain in wait to plunder travelers, now saw nothing, heard nothing but the creaking of the weather-vane on the top of the tower, which tormented him by day and robbed him of sleep by night until he preferred going to the gallows to longer imprisonment.

“’Oh, that I were free to see the bright sunshine, the moon and the stars; hear the thrush sing and the owl hoot!’ he would say to himself in the darkness of his cell.  ’But I see nothing, hear nothing but the horrible grating sound overhead.’

“‘Well, Winkelsee,’ said the jailor one evening as he stood at the cell door, ’you must feel it a great relief to be safely in here, as would a bear that had escaped the hunters and the dogs, and was safe in the depths of his cave.’

“’I could endure it if it were not for that fiendish weather-vane.  If I only had my good rifle in my hand and was upon the ground, I would shoot a bullet hole through it for every night it has robbed me of sleep.’

“’Now, Winkelsee, do you really imagine that you could shoot to the top of the tower from the ground?’

“’I don’t imagine it.  I know it, and it would be a joy to me to have revenge upon it for robbing me of sleep.’

“’Hans Winkelsee, the burgomaster and the judge who condemned you would believe you a boaster, or out of your mind did they hear you say this, for it is simply impossible.’

“’You can go and tell them, and say that if I lose my life upon the gallows, they lose the best marksman in the kingdom.’

“The jailor shook his head, then turned the key in the lock and went slowly down the steps.  He believed that the judge and the burgomaster would laugh at him should he give them Winkelsee’s message.  Yet he feared that if the imprisoned man died upon the scaffold, he would feel self-reproach and remorse for not giving him the one chance for his life.

“He went to the judge and told him, and a council was called to discuss the question.  As in most cases, part were in favor of giving him the chance for his life, and the other part believed that he was planning a flight, and his associates would gather about to help him escape.

“But there were huntsmen among them who were eager to see what Winkelsee could do and argued that if he failed, it would then be time enough to have him executed, so they decided that as soon as the clock struck twelve the next morning they would allow him the trial of his skill.