The townsfolk drove off our cattle as security and, by way of punishment, your uncle seized the goods of their merchants, and they came to blows.

True, the Schorlin retainers forced back the men from town with bloody heads, but if the feud lasts much longer we cannot hold out, for the others have the money, and since the war cry has sounded less frequently there has been no lack of men at arms who will serve any one who pays.

Besides, the townsfolk can appeal to the treaty of peace, and if your uncle continues to seize the merchant's wares they will apply to the imperial magistrate, and then: "Then," cried Heinz eagerly, "then the time will have come for me to leave the court and return home to look after my rights." "A single arm, no matter how strong it may be, can avail nothing there, my lord," Biberli protested earnestly.

"Your Uncle Ramsweg has scarcely his peer as a leader, but even were it not so you could not bring yourself to send the old man home and put yourself in his place.
Besides, it would be as unwise as it is unjust.

What is lacking at home is money to pay the town what it demands for the use of the bridge, or to increase the number of your men, and therefore: "Well ?" asked Heinz eagerly.
"Therefore seek the Countess von Montfort, who favours you above every one else," was the reply; "for with her all you need will be yours without effort.