Knight of Trautwangen shouted after him their vehement reproaches, and then stretched out their arms, like faithful friends, in earnest entreaties that he would return to them. But, meanwhile, Gerda held out her beautiful hand, with the green branch, towards him, and, as if drawn onwards by irresistible attraction, he advanced, till at last he suddenly made his appearance amid the fiery circle beside her, and, with smiles of confidence, made signs to his comrades that they should join him there. Arinbiorn and Sir Otto looked at one another for a while in silence, and indeed with melancholy. At last, “Our end will indeed come sooner than I had thought,” said the sea-monarch. “Ay truly,” replied Sir Otto, “and I shall not deny it to you, I should gladly have lived a little longer in this world, and gained some laurel wreathes ere I died!” “From my inmost heart,” answered the sea-monarch, “I also should have wished that this had been possible.” “As these hopes are now over,” said the Knight of Trautwangen, “and as the enchantress yonder will ere long distract our senses, so that we shall not know what we do, were it not better, if, like friends and brethren, we should now take leave of each other, and also promise our mutual forgiveness before-hand for all crimes that we may commit against each other after the madness comes upon us?”--Thereupon they embraced cordially; and after they had briefly admonished their troops to die nobly, and fail not in their prayers to Heaven, they shouted aloud to Gerda,--“Come on now if thou wilt;--thou shalt hear our signals for attack.” But, with the first notes of the battle-horns, lo! they were surprised by the gleams of a new light that shone from behind them. Looking back, they perceived that it was only the full moon that now rose bright and serenely over the mountains. Ere long, however, her light revealed to them the well-known figure of the Lady Minnatrost, who stood with her hands clasped, and looking up thankfully to heaven. She stood on a high cliff, and ere long her mild sweet voice was heard addressing the knights,--“With God’s help and blessing you have overcome the temptations by which you were here assailed. Onwards, then, in his holy name, and your wicked foes will fly before you!” The fire that circled round Gerda became now pale and exhausted. The moon shed her bright solemn light over the mountains, and guided the Christian warriors against the Finland hordes, who no longer dared to rally, but fled howling through the snow-covered deserts. CHAPTER XIX. How Sir Otto once more encountered his Double-goer.