demanded was not an error on his part. It was to this end that he had
stamped on his memory the names of Saint George and Saint Christina,
whose days in the calendar are on the 24th of April and the 24th of July,
and the number of thousands named for the ransom was likewise four and
twenty. Also Herdegen had bid him think of twice the twelve apostles,
and of the twenty-four hours from midnight till midnight again. It would
seem beyond belief to most folks, he said, yet it was indeed twenty-four
thousand, and not hundred, sequins which that devilish Sultan has asked,
as indeed we must know from the letter. Presently, when he had rested a
while, we made him tell us more, and we learned that the Sultan had been
minded to set Herdegen free without price, and he would have had him led
forthwith to the imprisoned King Janus of Cyprus, to whom he thought he
might thus do a pleasure, but that Ursula Tetzel, who was standing by
with her husband, had whispered to the Sultan that she would not see him
robbed of a great profit forasmuch as that yonder Christian slave--and
she pointed to my brother--was of one of the richest families of her
native town, who could pay a royal ransom for him and find it no great
burthen; and that the same was true of Sir Franz, who was likewise to
have been set free. Hereupon the Sultan, who at all times lacked moneys,
notwithstanding the heavy tribute he levied on all merchandise, commanded
that Herdegen and the Bohemian should be led away again and then he asked
this overweening ransom. Then Ursula took upon herself of her own free
will to send tidings of the Sultan's demands to the slaves' kith and kin,
and of her deep malice had never done so.

That evening we might not hear how and on what authority Eppelein knew
all this, for much talking had wearied him. All we could then learn was
that it was Ursula, and none other, whom the lad would still speak of as
the She-devil, who had plotted the snare which had well nigh cost my
other brother his life. Yet had he left him so far amended that he,