PAGE 7
Good Government
by
Mat was the first who stepped forward; but Buchmaier held him by the arm and said, “Let the older men come first.”
This movement turned the scale in the minds of those who had halted between two opinions, not knowing whether to imitate Buchmaier’s course or to condemn it. The old squire made his essay first, with a trembling hand; after him, no one kept aloof, and the name of the judge in particular was hacked into a hundred pieces. By degrees, all the village assembled, and every one contributed his stroke amid shouts and laughter.
The acting squire, informed of what had happened, thought of calling the military from Horb. But his sapient minister dissuaded him from such a requisition, as it would be of no use; “and, besides,” thought he, “let them make as much rebellion as they can; there will be a fine crop of summonses, and every summons is a creutzer to me. Hack away, boys: you are hacking into your own flesh, and that flesh is my copper.” With a joyous mien he counted his coming gains as he drank his stoup of wine in the Adler.
Thus it happened that not one in the village remained innocent of the offence except Soges and the squire.
Next Tuesday, at the suggestion of the old squire, the councilmen went to court of their own accord and gave information of what they had done. The judge stormed. His name–Rellings–is a word used in the Black Forest to designate a tom-cat; and he might then really be compared to a shorn puss, with spectacles on its nose and spurs at its feet. He talked of locking up all the offenders at once; but Buchmaier stepped forward with great decision and said, “Is that all you are good for? Locking up? You won’t do that yet a while. We are here to stand by what we have done: we avow it freely, and there can be no such thing as imprisonment before trial. I am not a vagrant. You know where I live. I am Buchmaier, this here’s Beck, that there’s John the Blacksmith, and that’s Michael’s son Bat, and we’re all to be found on our own freeholds. You can’t lock us up without a sentence, and after that the way is still open to Reutlingen and to Stuttgard, if need be.”
The judge changed his tone, and summoned the men to appear before him at nine o’clock of the following day. This was well at least, so far as Soges thereby lost his creutzers. Thus do great lords and little lords frequently err in their calculations.
Next day an array of more than a hundred farmers, with axes in their hands, marched through the village. They often stopped before the door of a house and called for the belated master, who rushed out in great haste, pulling on his coat as he walked along the road. Jokes and witticisms were passed about, but died away whenever the speaker’s eye fell upon Buchmaier, who walked on silently with contracted brows. Not a drop had been tasted before going to court. Business first, pleasure afterward, was the motto of the farmers.
The judge was lounging at the window in his dressing-gown, with his long pipe in his mouth. On seeing the approach of the armed force, he closed the window in all haste, and ran to ring the bell; but, as his boots were always spurred, he stumbled over the window-curtain and fell at full length upon the floor. His long pipe lay beside him like a weapon of offence. He rose quickly, however, rang for the tipstaff, sent him to the commandant and to the captain of the gens-d’armes, and ordered them all to come up with arms heavily loaded. Unfortunately, there happened to be but four men in the town. He now ordered them to remain in the porter’s room and hold themselves in readiness to act at a moment’s warning. He then gave directions that but one farmer should be admitted at a time, and the door always closed upon him.