all the foolish fears that possessed me, by reason of a real and well-
founded terror; again did Kubbeling shake his head, and then I heard him
call to my Uncle Conrad and Grubner the headforester, to come close to
him, but to tread carefully. Then they stood at his side, and they
likewise stooped low and then my uncle clasped his hands, and he cried in
horror, "Merciful Heaven!"

In two minutes I had run on tip-toe across the damp, frosted grass to
join them, and there, sure enough, I could see full plainly the mark of a
woman's dainty shoe. The sole and the heel were plainly to be seen, and,
hard by, the print of a man's large, broad shoes, with iron-shod heels,
which told Kubbeling that they were those of Uhlwurm's great boots. Yet
though we had not met those we sought, the forest was full of by-ways, by
which they might have crossed us on the road; but nigh to the foot-prints
of the maid and the old man were there three others. The old woodsman
could discern them only too well; they had each and all been made in the
hoar-frost by men's boots. Two, it was certain, had been left by finely-
cut soles, such as are made by skilled city cordwainers; and one left a
track which could only be that of a spur; whereas the third was so flat
and broad that it was for sure that of the shoe of a peasant, or charcoal
burner.

There was a green patch in the frost which could only be explained as
having been made by one who had lain long on the earth, and the back of
his head, where he had fallen, had left a print in the grass as big as a
man's fist. Here was clear proof that Ann and her companion had, on this
very spot, been beset by three robbers, two of them knights and one of
low degree, that Uhlwurm had fought hard and had overpowered one of them
or had got the worst of it, and had been flung on the grass.