[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
entire meal of them. D.W.]





IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE

A ROMANCE OF OLD NUREMBERG

By Georg Ebers

Volume 8.



CHAPTER XV.

Day followed day, a week elapsed, and no message had reached Schweinau
from Heinz Schorlin or Katterle.

The magistrate had learned that the Siebenburg brothers, with the robber
knights who had joined them, were obstinately defending their castles and
making it difficult for Heinz Schorlin to perform his task. The day
before news had come that the Absbach's strong mountain fortress had
fallen; that the allied knights, in a sortie which merged into a
miniature battle, had been defeated, and the Siebenburgs could not hold
out much longer; but in the stress of his duties the knight seemed to