Castle Hohenwald Part 12

He mounted the box again and whipped up his horses, but the next instant there was a jolt, a crash! The wheels on one side of the carriage rolled over a stone, while those on the other sank deeper and deeper into the mud, the carriage leaned more and more to one side and finally upset.

Anna felt herself tossed to one side; her head struck against some hard object. She experienced a burning pain in her temple, and was near fainting, but the next moment recalled her to herself; she did not choose to faint, and her will was victorious.

The carriage had fallen upon the side where sat the Finanzrath. Anna heard him groan as he struggled to rise.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, anxiously.

"My foot pains me terribly; I fear it is broken," he replied, in a loud, distinct voice which soothed Anna's apprehensions that his injuries might be mortal.

"I will try to open the door that is uppermost," she said; and this, after several attempts, she succeeded in doing. The rain poured down upon her, but she braved it, and exerting all her strength, she climbed out upon the side of the carriage and thence got down to the ground. At first she sank ankle-deep in the mud, but in a minute she found firm footing. "Can you possibly get out, Herr Finanzrath?" she asked.

"I will try," a voice from the carriage replied, and immediately afterward the Finanzrath looked out of the open door. He gazed about him, but in the gloom could see nothing. Anna's figure was hardly distinguishable, although she was but a few paces off. "John! John!

Where are you?" Werner called loudly, but, although he repeated the call several times, there was no reply.

"I am afraid the poor fellow has had a bad fall," said Anna.

"So it seems, since he does not answer," rejoined the Finanzrath. There was not much sympathy in the tone of his voice, and still less was there in the remark that followed. "The clumsy scoundrel cannot even hold the horses after upsetting us. This is horrible! Suppose the horses should run off just as I am climbing out?"

This fear was groundless. The horses had stopped the instant the vehicle overturned. They did not stir, and the Finanzrath climbed out upon the carriage, but did not attempt to descend from it.

"Is your foot so painful that you cannot step upon it?" Anna asked, compa.s.sionately. "Can I help you? Take my hand, I pray you!"

"Thank you," he replied; "but my foot will not permit me to climb farther. What are we to do? We cannot sit here all night in the rain."

"I will seek help," Anna replied, resolutely. "The road must lead to some house or village. Wait for me here. I shall soon return with men, who can right the carriage."

"For Heaven's sake, do not go one step!" Werner cried, in great agitation. "We are close upon the quarry; there must be a deep chasm just at hand!"

"I will be very careful. At all events help must be procured. Something must be done for the poor coachman, who has given no sign of life yet; and you too, Herr Finanzrath, need a.s.sistance."

"Yes, yes; but you must not leave me. Let us both shout for help. We shall perhaps be heard. There must be labourers' cottages near the quarry. Help! help!" he thereupon shouted with all the force of his powerful lungs. And in fact scarcely had the sound died away when a distant "Halloo!" was heard.

"Thank Heaven, they have heard us!" Werner said, and then shouted again, "Help! help!"

The answering shout came nearer, and in a few moments a dark figure approached. "What is the matter here?" a rough voice asked. "A carriage upset, as I live! What the devil were you doing in the quarry at this hour?"

"We lost the road, and are greatly in need of a.s.sistance," replied Werner.

"Lost the road? Were you going to Grunhagen?"

"No; to Castle Hohenwald."

"To the castle? Then you belong to Hohenwald?"

"I am the Finanzrath von Hohenwald; but this is not the time for talking. I beg you, my friend, to help me to reach some place of security."

A burst of discordant laughter was the only reply vouchsafed to this request. After indulging in his ill-timed merriment, the new-comer inquired, "Have you ever heard of Carter Jock?"

"No; but, my friend----"

"No friend of yours! I would rather eat my head than help a Hohenwald.

Any of the castle people can tell you about Carter Jock. Finely they treated him indeed; and, by way of thanks, he wishes you a pleasant night!" With another scornful laugh the man turned on his heel and would have gone, when Anna approached him, and, laying her hand on his shoulder, said, "You will not be so cruel as to desert us in our need?"

"The deuce! There's a woman in the sc.r.a.pe, and not the madcap Celia either!" the man exclaimed, in amazement, after having lighted a couple of matches, which the rain, to be sure, instantly extinguished, but not before he had perceived that it was not Celia who addressed him.

"A lady! a stranger!" he muttered to himself. "She must not be left all night in the quarry. The devil take the Hohenwalds; but I must let the folks at Grunhagen know what has happened."

For one moment he stood reflecting, and then, without heeding the Finanzrath's entreaties, he turned away and vanished in the darkness.

For a while Werner von Hohenwald sat silent as if in utter despair. At last a red spark of light appeared in the distance; again he shouted as loud as he could for help, and to his joy the voice that answered him was Arno's.

In a few minutes Arno, followed by several men with lighted torches, reached the overturned carriage. "I was afraid," he said, "that John would miss the road, and so came out to meet you with torches; not soon enough, unfortunately, to prevent an accident. But why do you sit up there on the carriage, Werner? Why don't you jump down?"

"The chasm must be close by, Arno."

"Nonsense! there is no chasm here. Give me your hand and spring down."

Werner grasped the hand extended to him and sprang out upon the road.

His foot could not have been severely injured, since he accomplished this with apparent ease.

"Where is Fraulein Muller? I hope nothing has happened to her."

"Nothing has happened to me, Herr von Hohenwald," said Anna, who was standing in the shadow, "but I am afraid the coachman has received some injury."

Arno turned hastily, and stepped aside so that the torchlight fell full upon Anna's face. Its great beauty astonished him also, but he was shocked at the sight of a dark-red streak that extended from beneath the chestnut curls on her temple to the white kerchief about her throat, which was stained crimson. "You are bleeding?" he exclaimed, "you are hurt?"

"It is nothing. Never mind me; but let us search for the unfortunate coachman. I fear he is terribly hurt."

"Where is he? John, where are you?"

There was no reply, and Arno became alarmed. He took one of the torches from the men, and was not long in finding poor old John, who was lying unconscious by the roadside, with a terrible wound on his forehead.

Arno kneeled beside him, and laid his hand upon his heart. "He is alive," he instantly declared, "but I am afraid he is very badly hurt."

"Oh, is he?" said Werner, who was seated on a stone, calmly watching his brother's proceeding. "I thought it must be so when he did not answer. But what are we to do, Arno? My foot is terribly painful."

"Indeed? It cannot be very bad, since you easily jumped from the carriage."

"Nevertheless it pains me terribly. I never can walk to the castle. Can the carriage not be righted?"

"We will see." Arno examined the carriage, but found the axle broken.

"This is bad," he said. "We cannot, then, drive poor old John to Hohenwald, but we can make a litter comfortable with the carriage cushions, and you, my men, can carry him to the village."

The men a.s.sented eagerly, but the Finanzrath was not satisfied. "I should suppose," he said, peevishly, "that I might be attended to before John. I cannot possibly walk. When the men have carried me to Hohenwald they can return and fetch John."

His brother greeted this speech with a glance of contempt. "If you cannot walk," he said, coolly, "you can sit here! The old man's life, perhaps, depends upon his having surgical aid speedily."

"I cannot stay here in the pouring rain; I shall catch my death of cold!"