“Just wait a moment, friends,” said I to Sperver and his comrade.  “I want to know, first of all, where does this Black Pest come from?”

Sperver stared at me with astonishment.

“Come from?  Who can tell that?”

“Very well, you can’t.  But when does she come within sight of Nideck?”

“As I told you, ten days before Christmas, at the same time every year.”

“And how long does she stay?”

“A fortnight or three weeks.”

“Is she ever seen before?  Not even on her way?  Nor after?”

“No.”

“Then we shall have to catch her, seize upon her,” I cried.  “This is contrary to nature.  We must find out where she comes from, what she wants here, what she is.”

“Lay hold of her!” exclaimed Sperver; “seize her!  Do you mean it?” and he shook his head.  “Fritz, your advice is good enough in its way, but it is easier said than done.  I could very easily send a bullet after her, almost at any time; but the count won’t consent to that measure; and as for catching in any other way than by powder and shot, why, you had better go first and catch a squirrel by the tail!  Listen to Sebalt’s story, and you shall judge for yourself.”

The master of the hounds, sitting on the table with his long legs crossed, fixed his eyes mournfully upon me, and began his tale.

“This morning, as I was coming down from the Altenberg, I followed the hollow road to Nideck.  The snow filled it up entirely.  I was going on my way, thinking of nothing particular, when I noticed a foot-track; it was deep down, and went across the road.  The person had come down the bank and gone up on the other side.  It was not a soft hare’s foot, which hardly leaves an impression, it was not forked like a wild boar’s track, it was not like a cloven hoof, such as the wolf’s—­it was a deep hole.  I stopped and stooped down, and cleared away the loose snow that fell round, and came upon the very track of the Black Pest!”

“Are you sure it was that?”

“Of course I am.  I know the old woman by her foot better than by her figure, for I always go, sir, with my eyes on the ground.  I know everybody by their tracks; and as for this one, a child might know it.”

“What, then, distinguishes this foot so particularly?”

“It is so small that you could cover it with your hand; it is finely shaped, the heel is rather long, the outline clean, the great toe lies close to the other toes, and they are all as fine as if they were in a lady’s slipper.  It is a lovely foot.  Twenty years ago I should have fallen in love with a foot like that.  Whenever I come across it, it has such an effect upon me!  No one would believe that such a foot could belong to the Black Plague.”

And the poor fellow, joining his hands together, contemplated the stone floor with doleful eyes.

“Well, Sebalt, what next?” asked Sperver impatiently.