A clattering, as if from the approach of many people, interrupted the earnest monologue. Arwed slipped among the bushes beside the way, and about ten men, of wild and ferocious aspect, armed with knives, iron-mounted cudgels, and some of them with muskets, came down from the mountain and passed directly by him, gabbling among themselves in their unintelligible gibberish, without being aware of his near proximity. They had no sooner showed him their backs, than he hastily arose and proceeded up the mountain with rapid strides. With toilsome efforts Arwed succeeded in following the Laplander's directions. At length he found the glacier brook, and at the same time the end of his journey. A huge mass of bare, dark-gray rocks, surrounded by ice-mountains, towered up into the clouds in terrible majesty. Upon their summit lay the ruins of an ancient castle, of which only a couple of towers with their connecting wall were standing, and above them swarmed innumerable multitudes of rooks and daws, some of which sat in thick rows upon the battlements, while others fluttered in flocks about them in wild commotion. Their harsh croakings resounded amid the deep stillness of the place, boding misfortune. 'Truly, not alone in the battlefield is the courage of man called into exercise!' said he to himself, while seeking the way which led up to the ruins. At length he had found a foot-path, when a rough voice cried out to him, 'Halt!' He looked up, and upon a high rock hardly ten steps before him stood a brigand, whose rifle was aimed at his head. 'What may be the matter?' cried Arwed, roughly, taking his gun from his shoulder. 'Lay aside your arms, or I will shoot you down!' commanded the robber. 'That is not my custom,' answered Arwed. 'Shoot, rascal! But be sure to hit, or you are lost.' And presenting his gun with his left hand, as he would have presented a pistol, he rushed towards his adversary. The latter, daunted by his boldness, fired and missed; and instantly afterwards, with Arwed's bullet in his head, he fell upon the rock, whence, yet struggling with death, he tumbled down a neighboring and unfathomable abyss. Frightened by the firing, the whole flock of funereal birds arose croaking from the summit, with the rustling of a thousand wings, and fluttered like a dark rushing cloud in the air, for some minutes obscuring the light of the sun. 'Those villanous birds will alarm the garrison and bring the whole gang in an uproar upon me,' thought Arwed, as he reloaded his gun. 'I would willingly have ascended further, but now I must not venture it. Every thing depends upon my safely reaching Gyllensten with the knowledge I have acquired. I have obtained the necessary information concerning the enemy's position. It has indeed cost one man's life, but he is no great loss to the world.' He hastened homeward. Soon the dangerous mountain lay far behind him; and, just as the stars began to twinkle in the firmament, he reached Gyllensten in safety.