"It happened more than three hundred years ago; a great battle was delivered on the banks of the Rhine between the Gauls and the Franks. One of my ancestors fought with yours--the Terrible Eagle. It was a desperate struggle; it was not merely a fight between soldier and soldier, it was a conflict between two races that were fated foes! My ancestor had a presentiment that the stock of Neroweg would be fatal to ours, and he sought to kill him in order to extinguish his family. Fate willed it otherwise. Alas, my ancestor's forebodings did not deceive him. This is the second time that our two families meet across the ages. You had my two sons put to the torture, and to-day they were to be executed upon your orders. Now you are in my power; you are about to die, and your stock will be extinct."
A flash of joy lighted the Frank's eyes, and he answered with a firm voice: "Kill me!"
"My Vagres, this man belongs to me--it is my part of the booty."
"He is yours, old Karadeucq--you may dispose of him at your pleasure. Say the word and we will strike him down dead."
"I wish him to be unbound; I wish him to have the full use of his limbs--but make a strong circle around us two, so that he can not run away."
"Here we are--a strong circle of swords' points, axes, pikes and sharp scythes--he will not be able to break through."
"A priest!" suddenly cried the count in accents of anguish. "I do not wish to die without the assistance of a priest! Will you assist me, hermit-laborer?"
"Father," cried Loysik, "do not kill this man in that manner!"
"I do not ask you for my life, Gallic dogs! Slaves! But I do not wish to go to hell! I ask the absolution of a priest!"
"Take this axe, Count Neroweg; we shall be equally armed; the combat between us is to be to the death."
"Father, in the name of your two sons, whom you have just saved, desist from this combat."
"My sons, this axe does not weigh heavy in my hands--I shall extinguish in this Frank the stock of the Nerowegs."
"I, a man of an illustrious family, do battle with a beggar, a Vagre, a revolted slave! No! I shall not bestow such an honor upon you, bastard dog--you may slay me."
"Seize him, and shave his head smooth like a slave. Shame upon the coward!"