“You are quite right:  they are the men; I recognise the younger by his tall, slender figure, his aquiline nose, and his long, drooping moustache.”

They disappeared through a side passage.

Gideon took a torch from the wall, and guided me through quite a maze of corridors, aisles, narrow and wide passages, under high vaulted roofs and under low-built arches; who could remember?  There seemed no end.

“Here is the hall of the margraves,” said he; “here is the portrait-gallery, and this is the chapel, where no mass has been said since Louis the Bold became a Protestant.”

All these particulars had very little interest for me.

After reaching the end we had again to go down steps; at last we happily came to the end of our journey before a low massive door.  Sperver took a huge key out of his pocket, and handing me the torch, said—­

“Mind the light—­look out!”

At the same time he pushed open the door, and the cold outside air rushed into the narrow passage.  The torch flared and sent out a volley of sparks in all directions.  I thought I saw a dark abyss before me, and recoiled with fear.

“Ha, ha, ha!” cried the huntsman, opening his mouth from ear to ear, “you are surely not afraid, Fritz?  Come on; don’t be frightened!  We are upon the parapet between the castle and the old tower.”

And my friend advanced to set me the example.

The narrow granite-walled platform was deep in snow, swept in swirling banks by the angry winds.  Any one who had seen our flaring torch from below would have asked, “What are they doing up there in the clouds? what can they want at this time of the night?”

Perhaps, I thought within myself, the witch is looking up at us, and that idea gave me a fit of shuddering.  I drew closer together the folds of my horseman’s cloak, and with my hand upon my hat, I set off after Sperver at a run; he was raising the light above his head to show me the road, and was moving forward rapidly.

We rushed into the tower and then into Hugh Lupus’s chamber.  A bright fire saluted us here with its cheerful rays; how delightful to be once more sheltered by thick walls!

I had stopped while Sperver closed the door, and contemplating this ancient abode, I cried—­

“Thank God! we shall rest now!”

“With a well-furnished table before us,” added Gideon.  “Don’t stand there with your nose in the air, but rather consider what is before you—­a leg of a kid, a couple of roast fowls, a pike fresh caught, with parsley sauce; cold meats and hot wines, that’s what I like.  Kasper has attended to my orders like a real good fellow.”

Gideon spoke the truth.  The meats were cold and the wines were warm, for in front of the fire stood a row of small bottles under the gentle influence of the heat.

At the sight of these good things my appetite rose in me wonderfully.  But Sperver, who understood what is comfortable, stopped me.