Instantly the tumult was quieted. The great hall was absolutely still. Every man looked on Luther with bated breath, while he very deliberately squared himself before Von Eck. Then down the chamber bore his voice, not shrill, not shouting, simply deep with the depths of the mighty spirit within. “Well, then, since your Serene Majesty and your Lordships ask for a plain answer, I will give it without horns or teeth, and here it is: Unless I am convinced by Scripture or by plain reason, seeing that Popes and Councils have often erred and contradicted, I cannot recant. I neither will nor can recant anything, because it is neither safe nor right to act against one’s conscience. For my conscience is caught in the Word of God.” Then he threw his arms wide, like some warrior grappling the innumerable foe. “HERE I STAND. I CAN DO NO OTHER. GOD HELP ME. AMEN!” A great cry, hostile, friendly, broke from hundreds of throats. The Emperor rose from his seat, and vanished by a rear entrance without a word, while around Luther swirled a multitude that almost bore him from his feet. I elbowed my way to my master. Many friends were there before me, for a score of high nobles and deputies of the towns had ringed him around. They were pressing his hand, stamping, laughing, shouting, even trying to kiss him. Good Elector Frederick did not tarry, but as I passed him I heard him saying to the Duke of Pomerania, “Ah! how well Dr. Luther spoke this day. Never now will I believe him a heretic.” At last the whole mass of us had my master out the door. As we went, we saw the Italian and Spanish soldiers and prelates crowding around, moving their dark lips, flashing malignity from their eyes, and crying in their own tongues, “To the fire! To the fire! Burn the heretic!” But the German nobles closed about him as a guard of honor, and their swords flashed out and tossed wildly in the darkened streets. Just as we reached the portal, and the cold air smote us, Luther threw his hands high above his head, as would a ritter returning victorious from the lists. “I am through!” he cried, with feverish laughter, “I am through! _I am through!_” So back to the house of the Knights of St. John. Outside in the streets we heard a true whirlwind raging; a concourse of all the wild spirits in Worms was loose, drinking deep, shouting loud, clashing its swords and bawling its “_vivats!_” for the peasant’s son who had made even Emperor and Electors hear the cry of the Fatherland against the tyrant of Italy. At our quarters there were other tokens of the general favor, heartening messages from princes, city deputies, and even high ecclesiastics, and Duke Erik of Brunswick sent Luther a true German present, a mighty can of Einbecker beer from his own table. Spalatin, Elector Frederick’s confessor, was there, with cheering words from his sovereign, and a host of humbler friends who had not been able to enter the hall, but who now caught as it were for the hem of their leader’s garment.