The report of the king's arrival had preceded him. It had excited great alarm in the whole neighbourhood, and had especially thrown the burghers of Kallundborg into a state of anxious suspense. Their devotion to the king, and fear of his wrath, placed them in a most dangerous position with regard to their stern deputed master, Junker Christopher, and his warlike commandant at the castle. Disquieting and contradictory reports respecting a difference between the king and his brother had already for some time been in circulation, but no one knew the real state of the case. As Lord of Samsoee, Holbek, and Kallundborg, Junker Christopher exercised an almost royal authority wherever he had troops and fortresses under his command. Latterly he had been often seen in Kallundborg, where he had assembled a considerable garrison at the castle, and, to the dismay of the burghers, had put the fortifications opposite the town and the land side into such a state of defence as if the breaking out of a dangerous civil war might daily be expected. Some weeks back admittance had been refused at the castle to Marsk Oluffsen, who, with a small troop of men-at-arms, had demanded to enter in the king's name. From this refractoriness towards a royal ambassador it was thought the most serious results were now to be apprehended. The prince himself went night and day to and from Kallundborg; now with a large armed train on horseback, and now by sea with the armed vessels which constantly plied between Samsoee and Kallundborg, and conveyed both men-at-arms and provisions to the fortress. No one knew whether Junker Christopher was personally present at the castle at the time when the report of the king's arrival threw the whole town into commotion; but it was observed with dismay that the drawbridge was raised, and that serious preparations were making to repel an attack. The king halted at the head of his numerous train on the hill, and caused his white steed to be rubbed down while he looked down thoughtfully upon town and castle. At his right hand was the brave young Margrave Waldemar of Brandenborg, who had deferred his homeward journey, and accompanied the king on this expedition, to take leave of his good friend Junker Christopher, and, if possible, to avert the storm which menaced him. At the king's left hand was seen his energetic general, Count Henrik of Mecklenborg, who now, next to Drost Aage, seemed the king's most confidential friend. The troops watered their horses at the pond by the chapel of the Holy Cross. All the cripples of St. George's Hospital came out to see the king, and the numerous fraternity of St. George, or demi-ecclesiastical attendants on the sick, vied with each other in offering refreshments to him and his train. The thronging and curious crowd kept, however, at a respectful distance from the king and the two stranger lords.