On entering the forest the wagon was driven on until a shaded and lonely
dell was reached, seemingly a fitting place for deeds of violence.
Suddenly from the forest glades rode forth four armed and masked men,
who stopped the wagon, sternly bade the traveller to descend and mount a
spare horse they had with them, and rode off with him, a seeming
captive, through the thick woodland.
As if in fear of pursuit, the captors kept at a brisk pace, not drawing
rein until the walls of a large and strong castle loomed up near the
forest border. The gates flew open and the drawbridge fell at their
demand, and the small cavalcade rode into the powerful stronghold, the
entrance to which was immediately closed behind them. It was the castle
of Wartburg, near Eisenach, Saxony, within whose strong walls the man
thus mysteriously carried off was to remain hidden from the world for
the greater part of the year that followed.
The monk-like captive was just then the most talked of man in Germany.
His seemingly violent capture had been made by his friends, not by his
foes, its purpose being to protect him from his enemies, who were many
and threatening.
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