At Krems, already the valley of the Danube has again widened out very considerably, especially on the north; and for the greater part of the journey thence to Vienna the river flows through a broad flat tract of country, only approaching the hills closely at one point, where it washes the northern end of the Wiener Wald, which is soon seen rising darkly ahead of us, many miles away. A number of small branches of the river cut the low, willow-grown land into many islands again here, and these islands cut off the view on either side for some distance. When the solitary church of Wetterkreutz, on a hill, and the small town of Hollenburg are passed, the right bank, too, becomes scenically uninteresting. The ruined castle of Bertholdstein above Hollenburg, is said to have been the stronghold of a couple more of the fifteenth century river robbers--a pair of worthies named Frohnauer and Wettau. These two seem at last to have aroused their neighbours to retaliation, for when the robbers were engaged in seeking to stop a barge that they might secure what they wished of its cargo, their castle was set on fire. The story is a little reminiscent of one of those told of Aggstein: “A barge floats down the Danube’s flood, With costly merchandise-- ‘Now up and arm, my comrades good, That barge shall be our prize!’ So spake the robber Hollenburg, And, girding on his glaive, Swift through the glen, with his harnessed men, He rushed to the Danube’s wave. ‘To the shore! to the shore! thou skipper knave! For thy life and prize are mine!’ ‘Not so, proud knight! for we bear this freight To the Lord of Greiffenstein. Look back!’--And looking back he saw His towers in a ruddy blaze Where flashing aloof, through the crackling roof, The fiery vengeance plays. ‘Now yield thee! yield thee!’ the skipper calls-- For thy men we’ve a gallows-tree, We have loyal hearts to fill thy halls-- But an axe and block for thee!’” Shortly beyond Hollenburg, also on the right, the river Traisen flows in, and not far from its mouth, but invisible as we pass down the Danube, stands the ancient town of Traisenmauer, the home of Helka the first queen of Etzel, and the last stopping place of Kriemhilda on her journey from the Rhine to her marriage with Etzel and to her long-nursed revenge. We have remarked the splendid cavalcade as it touched points of the river, and may here recall the stanzas describing its arrival at this penultimate stage of the long journey:-- “Unto the Traisen river the guests they soon did bring; And Rudeger’s retainers served them unwearying, Until the Hun-folk riding across the country came. Then was there mickle honour done to the royal dame.