"
"It lieth between ye both," rejoined Nicklaus Wagner; "thou art not less
to blame than these madmen, Baptiste. Hadst thou left the town at the hour
named in our conditions, this danger could not have overtaken us."
"Am I a god to command the winds! I would that I had never seen thee or
thy cheeses, or that thou wouldst relieve me of thy presence, and go after
them into the lake."
"This comes of sleeping on duty; nay, I know not but that a proper use of
the oars would still bring us in, in safety, and without necessary harm to
the property of any. Noble Baron de Willading, here may be occasion for
your testimony, and, as a citizen of Berne, I pray you to heed well the
circumstances."
Baptiste was not in a humor to bear these merited reproaches, and he
rejoined upon the aggrieved Nicklaus in a manner that would speedily have
brought their ill-timed wrangle to an issue, had not Maso passed rudely
between them, shoving them asunder with the sinews of a giant. This
repulse served to keep the peace for the moment, but the wordy war
continued with so much acrimony, and with so many unmeasured terms, that
Adelheid and her maids, pale and terror-struck by the surrounding scene as
they were, gladly shut their ears, to exclude epithets of such bitterness
and menace that they curdled the blood.
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