At last he sprang out of bed. Better to pace his room to and fro for an hour than toss restlessly there. The moon was at the full. Kurt went to the window, whence he had a clear view of the spacious court-yard of the castle. Opposite lay the farm-buildings in which a part of the Uhlans were quartered, the stalls being appropriated to their horses, and back of those Kurt could in the brilliant moonlight get a view of a portion of the broad road leading to the village. The court-yard was empty; the two sentinels posted in front of the stables were slowly pacing to and fro, their sabres resting negligently in their arms, and one of them, as Kurt was looking, so far forgot his duty in his sense of security as to lean against the house and rest. This was a culpable want of the vigilance which the captain had enjoined upon the guards on the previous evening. The lives of many might depend upon the watchfulness of any one of the sentinels posted in the court-yard. Kurt left the window and dressed, not hastily, but quite leisurely; he would himself go down to the court-yard and make an example of any soldier not vigilant at his post. He needed no light; the moonlight was all that he required. When quite dressed he sat for a moment, his head resting on his hand, reflecting whether it were not perhaps best to visit the sentries placed in the park, when he was suddenly startled by a shot; another and another came in quick succession, and then followed a sharp rattle of musketry, apparently in the very court-yard. Kurt rushed to the window. Where was the scene of repose and security upon which he had looked out little more than a quarter of an hour previously? A disorderly crowd of armed men, some hundreds strong, was pouring in at the court-yard gates and rushing towards the farm buildings and stables, while along the road from the village a dark mass was moving quickly, the moonlight glinting here and there upon polished rifle-barrels. In a few moments the assailants had attained their end; the two sentinels were shot down, the doors of the farm buildings and stables were forced; there were but a few scattered carbine-shots in answer to the continuous rattle of musketry; victory over the Uhlans quartered there was easy for such overpowering numbers.