And in any case this young man might with all safety be my pupil or servant, whichever best liketh him." "Servant, then," said I, "for the art of disputation I have hitherto chiefly undertaken with my fists and side-irons.

And as to surgery, I am more practised in the giving of wounds than in the healing of them." The Prince leaned his head upon his hand.

He thought carefully over our proposal, taking up point after point, resolving difficulty after difficulty in his mind, as was his wont.
"How long would you be away ?" he asked, looking up at us.
"Ten days, Prince," said I."Give us but ten days and we will return." "I will give you eight, and if ye are not home again on the eve of the last, as sure as I am Karl Miller's Son, the army of Plassenburg will be thundering on the walls of Thorn seeking for a wandering Chancellor and a lost Hugo Gottfried!" And so it was arranged.

We of the Prince's staff were indeed in great need of such a mission, for we had heard nothing from Thorn or the Wolfmark during many months; no tidings, at all events, that could be relied upon.

For the cutting up of our frontiers by new raids, and the severance of all relations between us and the dwellers in the Wolfmark, through fear of reprisals, caused us to hear little news but such as was manifest lies.
As thus: Duke Casimir was collecting a great army, magnificent with cannon and munitions of war.