"So far everything is well, Johann, and if only the door at the bottom of that flight of steps is unbolted it seems to me that we shall have no difficulty. Everything has succeeded beyond our expectation. But three days ago the rescue of my sister seemed almost impossible, but now, thanks to Bertha Grun and her father, everything is in train." Returning as they came, they carried the ladder to the wood where they had left their horses, and hiding it there rode home. The boys had not been idle; every day they had gone out, sometimes to places many miles away, to warn the vassals that their young lord had returned, and that they must hold themselves in readiness to assemble at Waldensturm, with the best arms they could obtain, immediately upon receiving a summons. The tenants were all delighted when they heard the message. The boys had carried with them money, to give to those who were in want, to purchase long pikes and swords in readiness for whatever service their lord might require of them. The day after his expedition to Goldstein, Conrad resumed his trader's dress, and, taking his pack pony as before, went to Grun's. "The matter will be easier than I expected," he said to the farmer, who gave him a hearty greeting. "I have found that once at the foot of the castle there is no difficulty in making one's way along. If your daughter finds that the door at the bottom of the staircase is unlocked, there are no difficulties whatever;" and he then described how they made their way along to the foot of the walls of the castle itself. "As it can be but a few paces from the bottom of that staircase to the one in the angle, they could, if in dark clothes, mount the wall unperceived, even were there guards in the courtyard itself, which is most unlikely, as the baron has no fear whatever of attack, and it is only upon the outer wall that any shrewd watch would be kept. I think that, to avoid all danger, it would be better that your daughter and her companion should also fly. When once beyond the walls I would have a guide in readiness to take them to one of the cottages still standing on my estate. In my pack is a long rope, well knotted; it is not bulky, and your daughter could wind it round her under her garments. When they get on to the wall they will fasten one end securely, and drop the other down. I shall be there, and shall at once climb to the top and lower my sister and the girls down, one by one. My sergeant will be there to receive them. Then I shall descend by the rope, and we will make off. I have received promises from forty men to join me, and have fixed on a spot where they shall be placed in ambush a mile from the castle. Have you done anything?"