Scene-19- A camp near the Black Forest.
Rudolph, The Outlaw of Rothenstein.
Osric, From Norway.
Dagobert, Chief of the Huns.
Each with their own followers.
They are looking for plunder.
Orion appears,disguised as one of the free-lancers
and points them in the direction of the Convent
for their pillage. 



ORION

The cornfields are golden that skirt the Rhine,
Fat are the oxen, strong is the wine,
In those pleasant pastures, those cellars deep,
That o'erflow with the tears that those vineyards weep;

Is it silver you stand in need of, or gold?
Ingot or coin? There is wealth untold
In the ancient convent of Englemehr;
That is not so very far from here.

The Abbot esteem'd a holy man,
Will hold what he has and grasp what he can;
The cream of the soil he loves to skim,
Why not levy a contribution on him?

Dagobert
The stranger speaks well; not far away
That convent lies; and one summer's day
Will suffice for a horseman to reach the gate;
The garrison soon would capitulate,

Since the arm'd retainers are next to none,
And the walls, I wot, may be quickly won.
Rudolph
I kept those walls for two months and more,
When they feared the riders of Melchior;

That was little over three years ago.
Their Abbot is thrifty, as well I know;
He haggled sorely about the price
Of our service.
Dagobert
                Rudolph, he paid thee twice.

Rudolph
Well, what of that? Since then I've tried
To borrow from him; now I know he lied
When he told me he could not spare the sum
I asked. If we to his gates should come,

He could spare it though it were doubled; and still,
This war with the Church, I like it ill.
OSRIC
The creed of our fathers is well nigh dead,
And the creed of the Christian reigns in its stead

But the creed of the Christian, too, may die,
For your creeds or your churches what care I!
If there be plunder at Englemehr,
Let us strike our tents and thitherward steer.
                           Adam Lindsay Gordon