"Petard held one of those lofty mountain-passes," continued Carlton,
"that lead from the valley of the Rhine, and through which at times
much travel passed. Here he had so thoroughly entrenched himself,
with his band of some sixty bravadoes, at the time of our story,
that ten and twenty times his own force sent against him, in the
shape of the regular government troops, had utterly failed to reach
even the outer walls of his retreat, they being entrapped in all
manner of snares, and shot down like a herd of wild and distracted
animals. Several repetitions of these attempts with similar results
had fairly disheartened the officers and soldiery, and they utterly
refused to proceed on any such dangerous service for the future,
while the officers of the government in their weakness were quite
powerless. So that Petard remained virtually the master of the
district, and levied such tax as he pleased upon such of the better
classes as he could arrest upon the road.

"The story of Petard's generous charity to the peasantry is
preserved and related to the traveller by the grateful people; and
there is no doubt that, springing from this class, he felt a
sympathy for them that induced this honest generosity towards them
on his part. The cunning plans which he and his band adopted to
obtain the necessary information for the prosecution of their
designs, it would be tedious to relate. The peasantry, ever
oppressed by those in authority, were, of course, most faithful to
the interests of this famous outlaw, to whose open hand they often
came for bread, and who was ever ready to aid them. Thus, no bribery
nor offered rewards could induce one of these rough but true-hearted
mountaineers to betray Petard, or disclose the secret paths that led
to his lofty stronghold.