第40章

Sintram overcame the horror which seemed to hold him back, and began in silence to climb down into the deep dry moat which was cut in the rock.He was soon so low down that he could no longer see the stars shining; beneath him moved a shrouded form; and sliding with involuntary haste down the steep descent, he stood near the groaning figure; it ceased its lamentations, and began to laugh like a maniac from beneath its long, folded, female garments.

"Oh ho, my comrade! oh ho, my comrade! wert thou going a little too fast? Well, well, it is all right; and see now, thou standest no higher than I, my pious, valiant youth! Take it patiently,--take it patiently!""What dost thou want with me? Why dost thou laugh? why dost thou weep?" asked Sintram impatiently.

"I might ask thee the same questions," answered the dark figure, "and thou wouldst be less able to answer me than I to answer thee.Why dost thou laugh? why dost thou weep?--Poor creature! But I will show thee a remarkable thing in thy fortress, of which thou knowest nothing.Give heed!"And the shrouded figure began to scratch and scrape at the stones till a little iron door opened, and showed a long passage which led into the deep darkness.

"Wilt thou come with me?" whispered the strange being; "it is the shortest way to thy father's castle.In half-an-hour we shall come out of this passage, and we shall be in thy beauteous lady's apartment.Duke Menelaus shall lie in a magic sleep,--leave that to me,--and then thou wilt take the slight, delicate form in thine arms, and bring her to the Rocks of the Moon; so thou wilt win back all that seemed lost by thy former wavering."Sintram trembled visibly, fearfully shaken to and fro by the fever of passion and the stings of conscience.But at last, pressing the sword and scarf to his heart, he cried out, "Oh! that fairest, most glorious hour of my life! If I lose all other joys, I will hold fast that brightest hour!""A bright, glorious hour!" said the figure from under its veil, like an evil echo."Dost thou know whom thou then conqueredst? A good old friend, who only showed himself so sturdy to give thee the glory of overcoming him.Wilt thou convince thyself? Wilt thou look?"The dark garments of the little figure flew open, and the dwarf warrior in strange armour, the gold horns on his helmet, and the curved spear in his hand, the very same whom Sintram thought he had slain on Niflung's Heath, now stood before him and laughed: "Thou seest, my youth, everything in the wide world is but dreams and froth; wherefore hold fast the dream which delights thee, and sip up the froth which refreshes thee! Hasten to that underground passage, it leads up to thy angel Helen.Or wouldst thou first know thy friend yet better?"His visor opened, and the hateful face of the little Master glared upon the knight.Sintram asked, as if in a dream, "Art thou also that wicked enchantress Venus?""Something like her," answered the little Master, laughing, "or rather she is something like me.And if thou wilt only get disenchanted, and recover the beauty of Prince of Paris,--then, 0 Prince Paris," and his voice changed to an alluring song, "then, 0 Prince Paris, I shall be fair like thee!"At this moment the good Rolf appeared above on the rampart; a consecrated taper in his lantern shone down into the moat, as he sought for the missing young knight."In God's name, Sir Sintram,"he called out, "what has the spectre of whom you slew on Niflung's Heath, and whom I never could bury, to do with you?""Seest thou well? hearest thou well?" whispered the little Master, and drew back into the darkness of the underground passage."The wise man up there knows me well.There was nothing in thy heroic feat.Come, take the joys of life while thou mayst."But Sintram sprang back, with a strong effort, into the circle of light made by the shining of the taper from above, and cried out, "Depart from me, unquiet spirit! I know well that I bear a name on me in which thou canst have no part."Little Master rushed in fear and rage into the passage, and, yelling, shut the iron door behind him.It seemed as if he could still be heard groaning and roaring.

Sintram climbed up the wall of the moat, and made a sign to his foster-father not to speak to him: he only said, "One of my best joys, yes, the very best, has been taken from me; but, by God's help, I am not yet lost."In the earliest light of the following morning, he and Rolf stopped up the entrance to the perilous passage with huge blocks of stone.