I arose and asked him how much I had to pay for my supper? He fell a laughing, and exclaimed, with marks of astonishment,
"You don't intend to depart in this dark and tempestuous night? Don't you hear how the tempest roars, and how the rain beats against the windows? I hope you don't think you will be shot or stabbed because there are so many fire-arms and swords in that recess? No, no, good friend, you need not be afraid, all these things are not mine, they belong to sportsmen who have laid them up here, that they may have them when they are a hunting in this part of the forest; perhaps you may see them yourself to-morrow morning; the sword by my bed-side I bought some years ago from an Austrian deserter."
Though I was not inclined to stay for the sportsmen, I did not know whither I should go with my jaded horse in that dark tempestuous night, and dreaded to run the riskof
