The Strong Arm by Robert Barr

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"How can the throne fall, surrounded as it is by so many supporters?"

But when the approaching two saw the Empress, all remembrance of others
faded from their minds. Brunhilda was a woman of superb stature. She
stood alone upon the dais which supported the vacant throne, one hand
resting upon its carven arm. A cloak of imperial ermine fell gracefully
from her shapely shoulders and her slightly-elevated position on the
platform added height to her goddess-like tallness, giving her the
appearance of towering above every other person in the room, man or
woman. The excessive pallor of her complexion was emphasised by the
raven blackness of her wealth of hair, and the sombre midnight of her
eyes; eyes with slumbering fire in them, qualified by a haunted look
which veiled their burning intensity. Her brow was too broad and her
chin too firm for a painter's ideal of beauty; her commanding presence
giving the effect of majesty rather than of loveliness. Deep lines of
care marred the marble of her forehead, and Wilhelm said to himself:

"Here is a woman going to her doom; knowing it; yet determined to show
no sign of fear and utter no cry for mercy."

Every other woman there had eyes of varying shades of blue and gray,
and hair ranging from brown to golden yellow; thus the Empress stood
before them like a creature from another world.

Elsa was about to sink in lowly courtesy before the queenly woman when
the Empress came forward impetuously and kissed the girl on either
cheek, taking her by the hand.

"Oh, wild bird of the forest," she cried, "why have you left the pure
air of the woods, to beat your innocent wings in this atmosphere of
deceit! And you, my young Lord, what brings you to Frankfort in these
troublous times? Have you an insufficiency of lands or of honours that
you come to ask augmentation of either?"

"I come to ask nothing for myself, your Majesty."

"But to ask, nevertheless," said Brunhilda, with a frown.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"I hope I may live to see one man, like a knight of old, approach the
foot of the throne without a request on his lips. I thought you might
prove an exception, but as it is not so, propound your question?"

"I came to ask if my sword, supplemented by the weapons of five hundred
followers, can be of service to your Majesty."

The Empress seemed taken aback by the young man's unexpected reply, and
for some moments she gazed at him searchingly in silence.

At last she said:

"Your followers are the men of Schonburg and Gudenfels, doubtless?"

"No, your Majesty. Those you mention, acknowledge my father as their
leader. My men were known as the Outlaws of the Hundsrueck, who have
deposed von Weithoff, chosen me as their chief, and now desire to lead
honest lives."

The dark eyes of the Empress blazed again.

"I see, my Lord, that you have quickly learned the courtier's language.
Under proffer of service you are really demanding pardon for a band of
marauders."

Wilhelm met unflinchingly the angry look of this imperious woman, and
was so little a courtier that he allowed a frown to add sternness to
his brow.

"Your Majesty puts it harshly," he said, "I merely petition for a
stroke of the pen which will add half a thousand loyal men to the ranks
of the Emperor's supporters."

Brunhilda pondered on this, then suddenly seemed to arrive at a
decision. Calling one of the ministers of state to her side, she said,
peremptorily:

"Prepare a pardon for the Outlaws of the Hundsrueck. Send the document
at once to the Emperor for signature, and then bring it to me in the
Red Room."

The minister replied with some hesitation:

"I should have each man's name to inscribe on the roll, otherwise every
scoundrel in the Empire will claim protection under the edict."

"I can give you every man's name," put in Wilhelm, eagerly.

"It is not necessary," said the Empress.

"Your Majesty perhaps forgets," persisted the minister, "that pardon
has already been proffered by the Emperor under certain conditions that
commended themselves to his imperial wisdom, and that the clemency so
graciously tendered was contemptuously refused."

At this veiled opposition all the suspicion in Brunhilda's nature
turned from Wilhelm to the high official, and she spoke to him in the
tones of one accustomed to prompt obedience.

"Prepare an unconditional pardon, and send it immediately to the
Emperor without further comment, either to him or to me."

The minister bowed low and retired. The Empress dismissed the court,
detaining Elsa, and said to Wilhelm:

"Seek us half an hour later in the Red Room. Your wife I shall take
with me, that I may learn from her own lips the adventures which led to
your recognition as the heir of Schonburg, something of which I have
already heard. And as for your outlaws, send them word if you think
they are impatient to lead virtuous lives, which I take leave to doubt,
that before another day passes they need fear no penalty for past
misdeed, providing their future conduct escapes censure."

"They are one and all eager to retrieve themselves in your Majesty's
eyes!"

"Promise not too much, my young Lord, for they may be called upon to
perform sooner than they expect," said Brunhilda, with a significant
glance at Wilhelm.

The young man left the imperial presence, overjoyed to know that his
mission had been successful.

CHAPTER IV

THE PERIL OF THE EMPEROR

Wilhelm awaited with impatience the passing of the half hour the
Empress had fixed as the period of his probation, for he was anxious to
have the signed pardon for the outlaws actually in his hand, fearing
the intrigues of the court might at the last moment bring about its
withdrawal.

When the time had elapsed he presented himself at the door of the Red
Room and was admitted by the guard. He found the Empress alone, and she
advanced toward him with a smile on her face, which banished the former
hardness of expression.

"Forgive me," she said, "my seeming discourtesy in the Great Hall. I am
surrounded by spies, and doubtless Mayence already knows that your
outlaws have been pardoned, but that will merely make him more easy
about the safety of his cathedral town, especially as he holds Baron
von Weithoff their former leader. I was anxious that it should also be
reported to him that I had received you somewhat ungraciously. Your
wife is to take up her abode in the palace, as she refuses to leave
Frankfort if you remain here. She tells me the outlaws are brave men."

"The bravest in the world, your Majesty."

"And that they will follow you unquestioningly."

"They would follow me to the gates of--" He paused, and added as if in
afterthought--"to the gates of Heaven."

The lady smiled again.

"From what I have heard of them," she said, "I feared their route lay
in another direction, but I have need of reckless men, and although I
hand you their pardon freely, it is not without a hope that they will
see fit to earn it."

"Strong bodies and loyal souls, we belong to your Majesty. Command and
we will obey, while life is left us."

"Do you know the present situation of the Imperial Crown, my Lord?"

"I understand it is in jeopardy through the act of the Electors, who,
it is thought, will depose the Emperor and elect a tool of their own. I
am also aware that the Imperial troops have been disbanded, and that
there will be four thousand armed and trained men belonging to the
Electors within the walls of Frankfort before many days are past."

"Yes. What can five hundred do against four thousand?"

"We could capture the gates and prevent the entry of Treves and
Cologne."

"I doubt that, for there are already two thousand troops obeying
Mayence and the Count Palatine now in Frankfort. I fear we must meet
strength by craft. The first step is to get your five hundred secretly
into this city. The empty barracks stand against the city wall; if you
quartered your score of Schonburg men there, they could easily assist
your five hundred to scale the wall at night, and thus your force would
be at hand concealed in the barracks without knowledge of the
archbishops. Treves and his men will be here to-morrow, before it would
be possible for you to capture the gates, even if such a design were
practicable. I am anxious above all things to avoid bloodshed, and any
plan you have to propose must be drafted with that end in view."

"I will ride to the place where my outlaws are encamped on the Rhine,
having first quartered the Schonburg men in the barracks with
instructions regarding our reception. If the tales which the spies tell
the Archbishop of Mayence concerning my arrival and reception at court
lead his lordship to distrust me, he will command the guards at the
gate not to re-admit me. By to-morrow morning, or the morning after at
latest, I expect to occupy the barracks with five hundred and twenty
men, making arrangement meanwhile for the quiet provisioning of the
place. When I have consulted Gottlieb, who is as crafty as Satan
himself, I shall have a plan to lay before your Majesty."

Wilhelm took leave of the Empress, gave the necessary directions to the
men he left behind him, and rode through the western gate unmolested
and unquestioned. The outlaws hailed him that evening with acclamations
that re-echoed from the hills which surrounded them, and their cheers
redoubled when Wilhelm presented them with the parchment which made
them once more free citizens of the Empire. That night they marched in,
five companies, each containing a hundred men, and the cat's task of
climbing the walls of Frankfort in the darkness before the dawn, merely
gave a pleasant fillip to the long tramp. Daylight, found them sound
asleep, sprawling on the floors of the huge barracks.

When Wilhelm explained the situation to Gottlieb the latter made light
of the difficulty, as his master expected he would.

"'Tis the easiest thing in the world," he said.

"There are the Mayence men quartered in the Leinwandhaus. The men of
Treves are here, let us say, and the men of Cologne there. Very well,
we divide our company into four parties, as there is also the Count
Palatine to reckon with. We tie ropes round the houses containing these
sleeping men, set fire to the buildings all at the same time, and,
pouf! burn the vermin where they lie. The hanging of the four Electors
after, will be merely a job for a dozen of our men, and need not occupy
longer than while one counts five score."

Wilhelm laughed.

"Your plan has the merit of simplicity, Gottlieb, but it does not fall
in with the scheme of the Empress, who is anxious that everything be
accomplished legally and without bloodshed. But if we can burn them, we
can capture them, imprisonment being probably more to the taste of the
vermin, as you call them, than cremation, and equally satisfactory to
us. Frankfort prison is empty, the Emperor having recently liberated
all within it. The place will amply accommodate four thousand men.
Treves has arrived to-day with much pomp, and Cologne will be here to-
morrow. To-morrow night the Electors hold their first meeting in the
election chamber of the Romer. While they are deliberating, do you
think you and your five hundred could lay four thousand men by the
heels and leave each bound and gagged in the city prison with good
strong bolts shot in on them?"

"Look on it as already done, my Lord. It is a task that requires speed,
stealth and silence, rather than strength. The main point is to see
that no alarm is prematurely given, and that no fugitive from one
company escape to give warning to the others. We fall upon sleeping
men, and if some haste is used, all are tied and gagged before they are
full awake."

"Very well. Make what preparations are necessary, as this venture may
be wrecked through lack of a cord or a gag, so see that you have
everything at hand, for we cannot afford to lose a single trick. The
stake, if we fail, is our heads."

Wilhelm sought the Empress to let her know that he had got his men
safely housed in Frankfort, and also to lay before her his plan for
depositing the Electors' followers in prison.

Brunhilda listened to his enthusiastic recital in silence, then shook
her head slowly.

"How can five hundred men hope to pinion four thousand?" she asked. "It
needs but one to make an outcry from an upper window, and, such is the
state of tension in Frankfort at the present moment that the whole city
will be about your ears instantly, thus bringing forth with the rest
the comrades of those you seek to imprison."

"My outlaws are tigers, your Majesty. The Electors' men will welcome
prison, once the Hundsrueckers are let loose on them."

"Your outlaws may understand the ways of the forest, but not those of a
city."

"Well, your Majesty, they have sacked Coblentz, if that is any
recommendation for them."

The reply of the Empress seemed irrelevant.

"Have you ever seen the hall in which the Emperors are nominated--or
deposed?" she asked.

"No, your Majesty."

"Then follow me."

The lady led him along a passage that seemed interminable, then down a
narrow winding stair, through a vaulted tunnel, the dank air of which
struck so cold and damp that the young man felt sure it was
subterranean; lastly up a second winding stair, at the top of which,
pushing aside some hanging tapestry, they stood within the noble
chamber known as the Wahlzimmer. The red walls were concealed by
hanging tapestry, the rich tunnel groining of the roof was dim in its
lofty obscurity. A long table occupied the centre of the room, with
three heavily-carved chairs on either side, and one, as ponderous as a
throne, at the head.

"There," said the Empress, waving her hand, "sit the seven Electors
when a monarch of this realm is to be chosen. There, to-morrow night
will sit a majority of the Electoral College. In honour of this
assemblage I have caused these embroidered webs to be hung round the
walls, so you see, I, too, have a plan. Through this secret door which
the Electors know nothing of, I propose to admit a hundred of your men
to be concealed behind the tapestry. My plan differs from yours in that
I determine to imprison four men, while you would attempt to capture
four thousand; I consider therefore that my chances of success,
compared with yours, are as a thousand to one. I strike at the head;
you strike at the body. If I paralyse the head, the body is powerless."

Wilhelm knit his brows, looked around the room, but made no reply.

"Well," cried the Empress, impatiently, "I have criticised your plan;
criticise mine if you find a flaw in it."

"Is it your Majesty's intention to have the men take their places
behind the hangings before the archbishops assemble?"

"Assuredly."

"Then you will precipitate a conflict before all the Electors are here,
for it is certain that the first prince to arrive will have the place
thoroughly searched for spies. So momentous a meeting will never be
held until all fear of eavesdroppers is allayed."

"That is true, Wilhelm," said the Empress with a sigh, "then there is
nothing left but your project; which I fear will result in a melee and
frightful slaughter."

"I propose, your Majesty, that we combine the two plans. We will
imprison as many as may be of the archbishops' followers and then by
means of the secret stairway surround their lordships."

"But they will, in the silence of the room, instantly detect the
incoming of your men."

"Not so, if the panel which conceals the stair, work smoothly. My men
are like cats, and their entrance and placement will not cause the most
timid mouse to cease nibbling."

"The panel is silent enough, and it may be that your men will reach
their places without betraying their presence to the archbishops, but
it would be well to instruct your leaders that in case of discovery
they are to rush forward, without waiting for your arrival or mine,
hold the door of the Wahlzimmer at all hazards, and see that no Elector
escapes. I am firm in my belief that once the persons of the
archbishops are secured, this veiled rebellion ends, whether you
imprison your four thousand or not, for I swear by my faith that if
their followers raise a hand against me, I will have the archbishops
slain before their eyes, even though I go down in disaster the moment
after."

The stern determination of the Empress would have inspired a less
devoted enthusiast than Wilhelm. He placed his hand on the hilt of his
sword.

"There will be no disaster to the Empress," he said, fervently.

They retired into the palace by the way they came, carefully closing
the concealed panel behind them.

As Wilhelm passed through the front gates of the Palace to seek
Gottlieb at the barracks, he pondered over the situation and could not
conceal from himself the fact that the task he had undertaken was
almost impossible of accomplishment. It was an unheard of thing that
five hundred men should overcome eight times their number and that
without raising a disturbance in so closely packed a city as Frankfort,
where, as the Empress had said, the state of tension was already
extreme. But although he found that the pessimism of the Empress
regarding his project was affecting his own belief in it, he set his
teeth resolutely and swore that if it failed it would not be through
lack of taking any precaution that occurred to him.

At the barracks he found Gottlieb in high feather. The sight of his
cheerful, confident face revived the drooping spirits of the young man.

"Well, master," he cried, the freedom of outlawry still in the
abruptness of his speech, "I have returned from a close inspection of
the city."

"A dangerous excursion" said Wilhelm. "I trust no one else left the
barracks."

"Not another man, much as they dislike being housed, but it was
necessary some one should know where our enemies are placed. The
Archbishop of Treves, with an assurance that might have been expected
of him, has stalled his men in the cathedral, no less, but a most
excellent place for our purposes. A guard at each door, and there you
are.

"Ah, he has selected the cathedral not because of his assurance, but to
intercept any communication with the Emperor, who is in the cloisters
attached to it, and doubtless his lordship purposes to crown the new
emperor before daybreak at the high altar. The design of the archbishop
is deeper than appears on the surface, Gottlieb. His men in the
cathedral gives him possession of the Wahlkapelle where emperors are
elected, after having been nominated in the Wahlzimmer. His lordship
has a taste for doing things legally. Where are the men of Cologne?"

"In a church also; the church of St. Leonhard on the banks of the Main.
That is as easily surrounded and is as conveniently situated as if I
had selected it myself. The Count Palatine's men are in a house near
the northern gate, a house which has no back exit, and therefore calls
but for the closing of a street. Nothing could be better."

"But the Drapers' Hall which holds the Mayence troops, almost adjoins
the cathedral. Is there not a danger in this circumstance that a
turmoil in the one may be heard in the other?"

"No, because we have most able allies."

"What? the townsmen? You have surely taken none into your confidence,
Gottlieb?"

"Oh, no, my Lord. Our good copartners are none other than the
archbishops themselves. It is evident they expect trouble to-morrow,
but none to-night. Orders have been given that all their followers are
to get a good night's rest, each man to be housed and asleep by sunset.
The men of both Treves and Cologne are tired with their long and
hurried march and will sleep like the dead. We will first attack the
men of Mayence surrounding the Leinwandhaus, and I warrant you that no
matter what noise there is, the Treves people will not hear. Then being
on the spot, we will, when the Mayence soldiers are well bound, tie up
those in the cathedral. I purpose if your lordship agrees to leave our
bound captives where they are, guarded by a sufficient number of
outlaws, in case one attempts to help the other, until we have pinioned
those of Cologne and the Count Palatine. When this is off our minds we
can transport all our prisoners to the fortress at our leisure."

Thus it was arranged, and when night fell on the meeting of the
Electors, so well did Gottlieb and his men apply themselves to the task
that before an hour had passed the minions of the Electors lay packed
in heaps in the aisles and the rooms where they lodged, to be
transported to the prison at the convenience of their captors.

Many conditions favoured the success of the seemingly impossible feat.
Since the arrival of the soldiery there had been so many night brawls
in the streets that one more or less attracted little attention, either
from the military or from the civilians. The very boldness and
magnitude of the scheme was an assistance to it. Then the stern cry of
"_In the name of the Emperor!_" with which the assaulters once
inside cathedral, church or house, fell upon their victims, deadened
opposition, for the common soldiers, whether enlisted by Treves,
Cologne, or Mayence, knew that the Emperor was over all, and they had
no inkling of the designs of their immediate masters. Then, as Gottlieb
had surmised, the extreme fatigue of the followers of Treves and
Cologne, after their toilsome march from their respective cities, so
overcame them that many went to sleep when being conveyed from church
and cathedral to prison. There was some resistance on the part of
officers, speedily quelled by the victorious woodlanders, but aside
from this there were few heads broken, and the wish of the Empress for
a bloodless conquest was amply fulfilled.

Two hours after darkness set in, Gottlieb, somewhat breathless, saluted
his master at the steps of the palace and announced that the followers
of the archbishops and the Count Palatine were behind bars in the
Frankfort prison, with a strong guard over them to discourage any
attempt at jailbreaking. When Wilhelm led his victorious soldiery
silently up the narrow secret stair, pushed back, with much
circumspection and caution, the sliding panel, listened for a moment to
the low murmur of their lordships' voices, waited until each of his men
had gone stealthily behind the tapestry, listened again and still heard
the drone of speech, he returned as he came, and accompanied by a guard
of two score, escorted the Empress to the broad public stairway that
led up one flight to the door of the Wahlzimmer. The two sentinels at
the foot of the stairs crossed their pikes to bar the entrance of
Brunhilda, but they were overpowered and gagged so quickly and silently
that their two comrades at the top had no suspicion of what was going
forward until they had met a similar fate. The guards at the closed
door, more alert, ran forward, only to be carried away with their
fellow-sentinels. Wilhelm, his sword drawn, pushed open the door and
cried, in a loud voice:

"My Lords, I am commanded to announce to you that her Majesty the
Empress honours you with her presence."

It would have been difficult at that moment to find four men in all
Germany more astonished than were the Electors. They saw the young man
who held open the door, bow low, then the stately lady so sonorously
announced come slowly up the hall and stand silently before them.
Wilhelm closed the door and set his back against it, his naked sword
still in his right hand. Three of the Electors were about to rise to
their feet, but a motion of the hand by the old man of Treves, who sat
the head of the table, checked them.

"I have come," said the Empress in a low voice, but distinctly heard in
the stillness of the room, "to learn why you are gathered here in
Frankfort and in the Wahlzimmer, where no meeting has taken place for
three hundred years, except on the death of an emperor."

"Madame," said the Elector of Treves, leaning back in his chair and
placing the tips of his fingers together before him, "all present have
the right to assemble in this hall unquestioned, with the exception of
yourself and the young man who erroneously styled you Empress, with
such unnecessary flourish, as you entered. You are the wife of our
present Emperor, but under the Salic law no woman can occupy the German
throne. If flatterers have misled you by bestowing a title to which you
have no claim, and if the awe inspired by that spurious appellation has
won your admission past ignorant guards who should have prevented your
approach, I ask that you will now withdraw, and permit us to resume
deliberations that should not have been interrupted."

"What is the nature of those deliberations, my Lord?"

"The question is one improper for you to ask. To answer it would be to
surrender our rights as Electors of the Empire. It is enough for you to
be assured, madame, that we are lawfully assembled, and that our
purposes are strictly legal."

"You rest strongly on the law, my Lord, so strongly indeed that were I
a suspicious person I might surmise that your acts deserved strict
scrutiny. I will appeal to you, then, in the name of the law. Is it the
law of this realm that he who directly or indirectly conspires against
the peace and comfort of his emperor is adjudged a traitor, his act
being punishable by death?"

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