CHAPTER V

A COUNCIL OF WAR

THE next day, the whole of Carfoos was up in arms, for though Freskel had told no one but Pastor Oshart that his brother were concerned in the night attack on the woodcutter's cottage, Dorlat and Hervitz were held in such ill repute, that as soon as the news reached the village that Grubert Reuss' house had been forcibly entered, suspicion had at once fallen upon them. Indeed, so vehement in their indignation were the villagers that the old pastor could hardly restrain them from making a raid upon the dwelling of the Valdens, and laying violent hands upon the two young men and upon their father also, for Jaspar Valden was accounted no better than his sons, though, being seldom abroad, he was not so well-known by sight.

"It is time that our village was rid of this family of evil-doers," said one of the men in council. "They are lawless enough to have descended in a direct line from the dreadful pirate band that are said to have settled here so long ago, and stored their treasure in the Isle of Ghosts."

"It is so," assented another; "and I propose that we take the law into our own hands, and punish these men as they deserve. But you, Pastor Oshart, it seems to us that you know more about them than you care to say. Why do you keep silence among us, when perhaps you have positive proof of the guilt of the brothers Valden, and possibly of old Jaspar also, in this matter of breaking forcibly into a man's homestead in search of plunder?"

"I have no proof that I should be justified in bringing forward at present," replied the old man, who could not suffer Freskel to witness against the members of his own family, and who had not yet heard the story of the siege of the cottage from the lips of Tonie and Blonda. "Nor, my people, would I counsel you to punish these men for violence with violence, however much they may seem to deserve such treatment at our hands. At the same time, I feel with you that a peaceful village and godly community cannot longer suffer in its midst the presence of such a family. Therefore my advice would be that you should depute one of your number on whose wisdom and self-control you can rely to go to the Valdens, and to tell them, in the name of the inhabitants of Carfoos, that we desire, nay, that we require them to leave this neighbourhood in the course, say, of a week, and that if they refuse to do as we wish, we must call in the aid of the police, and, collecting all possible evidence against them, have them punished by the law."

"Pastor Oshart, your counsel is wise. I propose that we do as you suggest," said the oldest villager present.

"And I would add," said another, "that our good pastor be elected to undertake to be our messenger and ambassador to the Valden family. We have no one amongst us in whom we have such confidence, or for whom we cherish so great esteem."

"It is true. So be it, then. Let the pastor be our ambassador!" shouted a score of voices.

"Yet bethink you a moment, my friends," said Rolf Bresser, who had arrived at Carfoos early that morning, and joined the little company collected at the pastor's house. "It is true that so far as you yourselves are concerned, it is well that the pastor should be your messenger. But none of you seem to have thought whether this mission would not be difficult and perhaps even dangerous, for the ambassador himself. Though I am not one of you, I have some right to speak now, since, innocently, I am the cause of the late disturbance which has brought things to a crisis; for it was I that entrusted the bag of money to Pastor Oshart's care, fancying—and probably not without reason—that the brothers Valden had come to know of it, and might rob me ere I could quit the neighbourhood. The pastor, in his turn, having the same feeling, and wishing to secure the safety of the property entrusted to him, stole away, under cover of night, to the woodcutter's cottage, and in that humble abode, where it might well be considered safe, left the bag of coin.

"Reuss himself was not at home, but the treasure was safely hidden away, and nothing occurred to disturb the little guardians that night. Two nights later, however, after the good pastor had brought the children news of their father's accident at Klingengolf, the cottage was broken into, and but for the courage and timely help of one whom I may not name here, the money entrusted to me for the poor of my village would have been carried away. In some fashion best known to themselves, the Valdens must have come to suspect that the bag of coin was no longer in the custody of the pastor; indeed, they may have followed him on his second visit to Grubert's cottage, mistaking the motive for it.

"Knowing of the woodcutter's absence from home, the men doubtless expected to have no trouble in effecting an entrance and seeing for themselves whether the money were there or no. Well, as we know, the robbers entered indeed, but the rest of their evil intent was frustrated. My friend, your pastor, tells me this morning that the money is hidden in a safe place, and as for the children of Grubert Reuss, they are no longer to stay alone in the cottage in the forest, but will remain with the pastor until their father's return. But now, to come back to the point from which I started," continued Rolf; "think you, indeed, that, after all that has passed, your pastor will be a welcome visitor at Jaspar Valden's home? Remember there are old grudges out against him for his faithful warnings in the past. And now there is this new trouble. What greeting, think you, he will receive?"

"You are right, Rolf Bresser!" cried several voices at once. "Our pastor shall not go. We will not expose him to insult or worse."

"Peace, children," said the old man tranquilly. "It is my duty, and I have no misgivings. I thank thee, Rolf, and you, my people, for your thought of me, but your kindness cannot alter the thing that is right. I accept the embassage, and this evening I go to the Valdens. And as for thee, Rolf, my friend, since thou dost not commence thy journey until the morrow, come thou and sup with Tonie and Blonda Reuss and me, and take care, during my absence afterwards, of these lambs of my flock, who must be left no longer unshepherded, a prey to the prowling wolf of the night."

After supper, good Pastor Oshart was about to set out on his unpleasant errand, when Blonda came down the stairs with her cloak and hood on.

"What is this, child?" asked the old man. "Whither goest thou so late? Why, it is time almost that all good little maids were asleep."

"I would go with you, dear pastor," replied Blonda, smiling up in his face.

"With me, little one? Nay, that must not be. Knowest thou whither I am bound?"

"Yes, surely," said Blonda. "You go to the Valdens."

"And that is no place for thee, my lamb; stay here with Tonie and my good Rolf till I return. Go, take off thy things, Blonda."

"They said you might be in danger, dear pastor," sobbed Blonda, "and I thought I might perhaps help you. Or if I could not help—being so small—at least I could share your danger, as my dear father would have done had he been here. It is so hard you should go all alone."

"Little one, I am not alone," replied the old man, smiling. "Knowest thou not, Blonda, that they who are in the path of duty have ever with them the presence of Him, the Beloved, who said to His disciples in the old time, 'Lo, I am with you alway'?

"So, my child, fear not for me. What, must I pray for thee as Elisha prayed for his servant, that thine eyes may be opened, and that thou mayest see that they which are with me are more than those which are against me? Nay, my dear little maid, wipe away those tears, but pray that I, thine old pastor, may speak wise words and brave and true, giving a message, not only from the people of Carfoos, but from Him Whose I am and Whom I serve."

So saying, the good old minister laid a gentle hand in blessing on Blonda's little fair head, then he opened the door and passed out into the night.

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