Travers looked bewildered, and Sir Carnaby still more so; but Trevor Chute, by habit, profession, and nature, had all that coolness in front of immediate peril, and utter indifference of personal risk, which made him renowned in his regiment and the idol of the soldiers, and he had been in many critical situations, where caution and decision had to be combined with instant action. The head and shoulders of the uppermost man on the ladder had barely appeared above the front of the balcony when Chute seized the former by its two uprights, and thrust it fairly outward from the wall. For a moment it oscillated, or seemed to balance itself, and then, describing a radius of about thirty feet or more, fell back among the crowd with its load of ruffians. Then shrieks and the rattle of musketry were heard, as the Prussian guard arrived from the Rathhaus, and by orders of a burgomaster poured in a volley of some twenty muskets or so, on which the mob took to flight, and dispersed in all directions, leaving behind two or three dead men and the maimed wretches who had been on the upper portion of the ladder. So ended this episode of excitement and peril, after which the three Englishmen, to whom every species of apology was tendered--after due explanation given--were conducted by the armed night watch back to their hotel, and once more quietness settled over the little city of Lubeck. CHAPTER XIX. SIR CARNABY'S GRATITUDE. Save that he had got a terrible shaking, a few blows, and considerable fright, Sir Carnaby Collingwood, thanks to Trevor Chute and his servant, was not much the worse and between his draughts of iced seltzer and brandy, he sputtered and threatened the whole city of Lubeck with our ambassador at Berlin, and to have the outrage of the night brought 'before the House' as soon as he returned to town; while Lady Evelyn, filled with genuine admiration of the pluck shown by Chute, his manly and generous bearing, and with gratitude for the manner in which he had assuredly saved the life of her _caro sposo_, became his most ardent ally; but as he and Sir Carnaby lingered over their wine that night he felt--and still more next day--the weight of the many blows and buffets of which he had been quite unconscious at the time they were so freely bestowed upon him. 'Egad, Chute,' chuckled Sir Carnaby, 'didn't think you and I should ever figure like two heroes in a melodrama; by Jove--absurd, don't you know--but those Germans _are_ beastly fellows. The moselle stands with you. We have had nothing here,' he continued, laughing with more genuine heartiness than was usual to him, for his feelings had undergone a revulsion--'we have had nothing here but mistakes and scenes--actually scenes. I refused you Clare, and you make off, per train, with Lady Evelyn. I was most unkind to you, and you act generously by returning good for exceeding evil.'