One bright morning, not long after Wulf had climbed the ivy tower, there came to the Swartzburg a herald bearing a message whereat Baron Everhardt laughed long and loud. So also laughed the youngerlings of the place, when the thing came to be noised among them; albeit two or three, and in especial Wulf and Hansei, who was now head groom, laughed not, but were sore troubled. The baron had been declared an outlaw. For an emperor now ruled in Germany, and good folk had begun to dare hope that the evil days might be drawing to a close. The new emperor was none other than Rudolf of Hapsburg, he who had been count of that name, and since coming to the throne he had bent his whole mind and strength to the task of bringing peace and good days to the land, and order and law within reach of the unhappy common folk whose lives were now passed in hardship and fear. To this end the Emperor Rudolf had early sent to summon all of the barons and the lesser nobles of the land to come to his help against the rebel counts Ulric and Eberhard of Würtemberg, who had joined with King Ottakar of Bohemia to defy the new ruler. The head of the Swartzburg had been summoned, with the others, but, filled with contempt for “the poor Swiss count,” as he dubbed the emperor, had defied him, and tore up the summons before the eyes of the herald who brought it. Nevertheless, in spite of the refusal of nearly all the nobles to aid their emperor, the latter had, with his own men, gone against the two rebel counts and their kingly ally, and had beaten their armies and brought them to sue for peace. Now he was turning his attention to the larger task of putting fear of the law and of rightful authority into the hearts of the robber nobles. Of these a goodly number were already declared outlaws, and now the baron’s turn had come. Moreover, one of the men of the Swartzburg, who had ridden beyond the mountains on a matter for the Herr Banf, had ridden back with word that the emperor, with a strong army, was already out against the outlawed strongholds, and meant soon to call at the Swartzburg. “And a warm welcome shall we give this new emperor of ours,” boasted Conradt, on the castle terrace. “Emperor, forsooth! By the rood! Count Rudolf will have need of all his Swiss rabble if he would bring the Swartzburg’s men to knee before him!” A chorus of assent greeted this speech. For once his hearers listened respectfully to the baron’s nephew. Right eager were all the young men for the fray that was threatening; and so great was their contempt for the emperor that they could see for it but one outcome. “But that his Austrians were in revolt and his army divided,” declared one, “King Ottakar had never yielded to the Swiss. He of Hapsburg will find it a harder matter to yoke the German barons.” And all his hearers nodded assent to the bragging speech.