"We shall massacre the wretch and his people," Jonas continued.
"Massacre!" the stranger exclaimed, then aside he murmured "my father!" because in truth the stranger who had been caught near the camp was none other than the Oberthal who had carried away Bertha.
The three Anabaptists continued to speak in so blood-thirsty a manner of their exploits that Oberthal was horrified by the thought that it was his father who was to fall into their hands on the morrow. More than that, they expected him to swear to join their expedition.
"Well, here we stand, talking in the darkness still. Let us get out of it," Jonas cried, and they moved toward the light of the camp, taking Oberthal with them. Suddenly when in the bright light, Jonas recognized his old master who had sent him away and punished him for stealing.
"Heaven! Well, I have you now!" he cried, wickedly. "Now I'll make short work of you!" and he called the guard. "Here! surround him. Lead him instantly to execution."
"Without consulting the Prophet?" all cried in amazement. That was high-handed work, indeed.
"Wait for nothing. Kill him," Jonas cried, going excitedly by one path, as John the Prophet came upon the scene by another. He was sad and cast down, and Zacharia spoke to him. "What is wrong with you?"
"I get small joy from all this," he answered. "Jeanne d'Arc was born to such affairs, but I was better off in my inn, serving my people. It is a bad business," and he was very melancholy.
"I say that I think of my Bertha and my mother. I wish I were with them, while others were reforming Holland."
"But thy mother and thy sweetheart, since they got into the hands of Oberthal, are doubtless dead."
"Then there is little for me to fight for. I shall stop now; do you carry on your schemes as best you may. Who is that prisoner?" he asked, as Oberthal was brought back by the soldiers.
"It is a man who is about to be executed."
"Oh--he is? Who says so, since I say otherwise?" John replied, looking at Zacharia contemptuously. "I am thy Prophet," he declared with hardly less contempt in his tone than before. "I am thy Prophet and settle these matters of life and death. I settle this one. Yonder man shall not die. I am in a humane mood." He motioned the guard to bring Oberthal, whom he had not yet seen, before him. When face to face, John of Leyden lifted his eyes and looked again upon the man who had brought all his woes upon him; who had so persecuted him that he had in a mad moment left his peaceful inn, and undertaken to change the face of Germany. He had already wrought untold pain and suffering.