serving with Hans Muller of Bulgenbach, then with Jacklein Rohrbach of
Bockingen, and participating with the multitude in the overthrow of the
city and castle of Neuenstein. At Weinsberg he saw Count Helfenstein
rush upon the spears, and when the noble countess was driven past him to
Heilbronn in the dung-cart, he tossed his cap in the air with the rest.

The peasant was to be lord now; the yoke of centuries was to be broken;
unjust imposts, taxes, tithes and villenage would be forever abolished,
while the fourth of the twelve articles he had heard read aloud more than
once, remained firmly fixed in his memory "Game, birds and fish every one
is free to catch." Moreover, many a verse from the Gospel, unfavorable
to the rich, but promising the kingdom of heaven to the poor, and that
the last shall be first, had reached his ears. Doubtless many of the
leaders glowed with lofty enthusiasm for the liberation of the poor
people from unendurable serfdom and oppression; but when Marx, and men
like him, left wife and children and risked their lives, they remembered
only the past, and the injustice they had suffered, and were full of a
fierce yearning to trample the dainty, torturing demons under their
heavy peasant feet.

The charcoal-burner had never lighted such bright fires, never tasted
such delicious meat and spicy wine, as during that period of his life,
while vengeance had a still sweeter savor than all the rest. When the
castle fell, and its noble mistress begged for mercy, he enjoyed a
foretaste of the promised paradise. Satan has also his Eden of fiery
roses, but they do not last long, and when they wither, put forth sharp
thorns. The peasants felt them soon enough, for at Sindelfingen they
found their master in Captain Georg Truchsess of Waldberg.

Marx fell into his troopers' hands and was hung on the gallows, but only