Of course, you know why I left you."
The men looked at each other without reply, and Roland laughed.
"I see you have been harboring dark suspicions, but the case is very
simple. The pious monks tell us that the Scriptures say if a man asks us
to go one league with him, we should go two. My good friends of the
guild last night made a most reasonable request, namely, that I should
bestow upon them three thalers each, and surely, to quote the monks
again, the laborer is worthy of his hire."
"Oh, that is the way you look upon it, then," said Greusel.
"From a scriptural point of view, yes; and I am going to better the
teachings of my young days by giving each of the men ten times the
amount he desired. Thirty thalers each are waiting in this bag for
them."
"By my sword!" cried Ebearhard, "if that isn't setting a premium on
mutiny it comes perilously close."
"Not so, Ebearhard; not so. You and Greusel did not mutiny, therefore to
each of you I give a hundred and thirty thalers, which is the thirty
thalers the mutineers receive, and a hundred thalers extra, as a reward
of virtue because you did not join them.
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