"Hutadi! Hutadi!" screamed Landolin, springing up as if in a frenzy, and dashing into the crowd. "Hutadi!" he screamed, stretching out his arms, and clenching his fist in Titus' face.
"Be quiet, Landolin! The time for that has gone by," said Walderjörgli in a commanding tone; and laid his broad hand between the combatants. They stood still; but their chests heaved, and they looked down at the ground like chidden boys.
The ancient cry of defiance, "Hutadi!"--no one knows exactly what it means; probably 'Beware' or 'Take care of yourself'--was formerly regarded as a challenge which no one could refuse. When it rang out, whether from forest or from meadow, whoever heard it must give battle to him who called.
In his youth, Walderjörgli had been considered the readiest and most powerful of combatants; but in his riper years he had become one of the most even-tempered and circumspect of men, so that he was elected Master of Justice for the forest republic in the mountain; which, as an independent peasant state, acknowledged no lord but the emperor.
Jörgli settled lawsuits, decreed punishments, and in conjunction with the council, apportioned the taxes; and all without appeal.
Jörgli was the only survivor of that last embassy which the forest peasants sent to the emperor at Vienna, to protest against being made subject to any prince. They desired to remain a free peasantry of the empire. Jörgli insisted that he was ninety-three years of age, but it was universally believed that he was already over a hundred; for the church registers had been burned with the church and parsonage in Napoleon's time.
The thought flashed through Landolin's mind that Walderjörgli could, with one stroke, reinstate him in all his old honor; so he said:
"From you, Master of Justice, I am glad to receive commands. All reverence is due you; and besides, you were my grandfather's dearest friend."
He laid his hand on his heart, and hoped that Walderjörgli would grasp it; but the old man looked sternly at him from under his bushy, snow-white brows, and said:
Landolin could scarcely answer. What did this mean? His health was not asked after! Had his wife then suddenly acquired any peculiar distinction? Did the old man ask after her only to avoid asking after Landolin's own health?