"Me? Violent?" Tom slurped his own brew. "How could you ever think that? I am wounded, Captain! Wounded!"
"You are a big bullshitter, Tom Simpson. After you picked that one drunken bastard up and tossed him right through the door of this very inn, you can say that to me?" Heinrich declaimed.
"Yeah, well." Simpson drank his beer.
"You know, Heinrich, this garrison duty beats the hell out of marching around, and it sure beats fighting, but it is awful damn boring."
"Ja, Tom, but you know, it isn't going to be boring forever."
"You think they'll come through Suhl?"
"I don't know, but it is a good bet."
"When will they come?"
"Who knows? Don't get all, how do you Americans say it, all stressed out, ja, that's it . . . don't get all stressed out over it, eh? They will come when they come. It is our job to be ready."
"Yeah, well, I guess I ought to go out and see how the breastworks are coming."
"Tom, stop. Listen to me. Our men know what they are doing. You know that. What do you think they will do if you keep going out and looking over their shoulders?"
"I guess they'll think I'm nervous."
Heinrich nodded. "That's right. And you are. But you can't let them see it. So have another beer, and let's finish cleaning up the APC."
"Hauptmann Heinrich! Captain!" One of the sentries at the breastworks was running toward them. "Soldiers! Some soldaten coming are!"
"Who are they?" Heinrich asked.
"Don't know," the runner panted. "They have no banner. It is a small troop, but they have dogs and a woman with them."
"A woman?" Heinrich asked. Von Spee tensed, knowing who the soldiers and the woman must be.
"Ja, Hauptmann! She is riding behind one of the men."
Abruptly, Heinrich stood.
"We will come. Tell them to keep them at the gate. But do not fire on them!"
"Ja, Hauptmann!" The runner tore off back toward the American emplacements.
"Good, now Tom, let us go finish our beer, and then make an appearance."
"I see," said Tom. "It wouldn't do for either our men, or our visitors to believe that we were too anxious. Did I get it right?"
"Right in one." Heinrich smiled.
"Should we take the APC?"
"I don't think so. Let us walk."
"Suits me, Captain," Simpson said.
Von Spee waited until the two officers had gotten a couple of buildings down the street, and then he stood and tucked his breviary into the sash of his cassock, and quietly followed the soldiers.
The commander of the troop of soldiers was arguing with one of Heinrich's guards when Heinrich and Tom arrived at the gate. The American troops stood, and saluted as Heinrich walked up. Von Spee stopped, and stood in a doorway far enough away so he would not be noticed.
"What is going on, Sergeant Massaniello?" Heinrich asked, pleasantly. Simpson stood behind him, a little to one side.
Sergeant Massaniello, the soldier in command of the detachment, reported.
"This gentleman wishes to enter Suhl, sir!" Massaniello spoke in heavily accented German, obviously a courtesy to the strangers.
"And why does he wish to do that, Sergeant?" Heinrich asked, also in German.
"It appears that they have caught themselves a witch, sir, and they want to bring her in and put her on trial."
Tom Simpson began to look very angry. Von Spee sharpened his gaze, and looked closely at the huge American. Simpson started forward. Heinrich held up his hand. Simpson stood still. Heinrich thought, then he moved forward.
"Guten Tag," he said. "Good day."
"I am Captain Wolfgang, Ritter von Brun," the mounted commander replied. "I am the Commander of the Guard of His Eminence, Bishop Friedrich von Hatzfeld, of Würzburg-Bamberg. This is Father Joachin Eberhardt, the bishop's inquisitor."
Heinrich smiled. "I am Captain Heinrich Schmidt, of the Army of the United States. This is Lieutenant Thomas Simpson, and Sergeant Lawrence Massaniello. Welcome to Suhl, mein Herr Ritter. May I ask your purpose in coming here?"
"Father Eberhardt and I would like to use the courtroom here in Suhl, and the town square."
"For what?"
"We have apprehended a notorious witch, already tried before the ecclesiastical court in Bamberg, and we want to relax her to the secular authorities and burn her."