to bite?" retorted Hartmut. "Ah, you can spend the whole long year in
the woods if you desire, you are free, free."

"Are you a prisoner, then?" asked his friend. "You and your comrades are
out daily, are you not?"

"But never alone, never without supervision and control. We are always
and eternally in the service, even in recreation hours. O how I hate it,
this service, and the whole slavish life."

"But Hartmut, what if your father heard you?"

"Oh, then he would punish me again as he always does. He has nothing
else for me but force and punishment, all for my own good--that goes
without saying."

He threw himself full length on the grass, but hard as the words
sounded, there was a tremor in his tone which told of pain and passion.
The young heir only shook his head soberly while he put a new bait on
his hook and for a few minutes there was perfect silence.

Then suddenly something black swooped down like a flash of lightning
from the height above them into the water, and a second later rose again
in the air with the slippery, glittering prey in its beak.

"Bravo, that was a good catch!" cried Hartmut, rising. But Will spoke
angrily.

"The wretched robber robs our whole pond. I will speak to the forester
and tell him to fill him full of lead."