the entire band of seventeen persons, representing four gen- 

 erations, was arrested and confined in barracks, where they 

 were destined to linger many a weary month, forgotten of 

 their captors. 



In the Horcicky household consternation raged ; Christian, 

 his wife Dorothea, Jacob and Ferdinand were overwhelmed 

 with grief, Sofie was prostrated, and Carlo Malombra was 

 voluble in sympathetic inquiries and protestations of dis- 

 tress. Two days passed and they seemed like so many 

 months to the friends of the Lieutenant who was not allowed 

 to communicate with a living soul; at length, however, 

 Fraulein Sofie recovered her composure and pointed out to 

 her brother Jacob the total lack of a motive on the part of 

 her fiance, and spoke of his great affection for and devotion 

 to the mute animals under his care; Jacob then waited on 

 the clerk of the tribunal having charge of the case and made 

 a strong impression on him in favor of Swoboda. 



On the morning of the third day Dr. Michael Maier cal- 

 led at the City Pharmacy to purchase for his own use a 

 bottle of Aqua Sinapii, and expressed surprise at the dejected 

 appearance of the Horcickys, father and son; on hearing 

 from them the tragedy of the mews and of the arrest of his 

 young friend Maximilian, he said that he believed he could 

 clear the officer from suspicion. The Doctor and Jacob hast- 

 ened to the Vice Chancellor, who admitted them at once to 

 his private chamber; there Doctor Maier made the following 

 statement : On the night of the equine catastrophe the moon 

 was in Aries, which was favorable for gathering human skull 

 to be used in a magical potion for which he was gradually 

 securing the ingredients; accordingly he started about two 

 o'clock in the morning to collect the material in the old Jews' 

 cemetery, and as he passed through the royal gardens he 

 encountered a man creeping along, screened by the shrubbery 



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