just as they were passing through a ravine near Schloss Altenstein—the three of them were violently set upon by a group of armed horsemen. Whether Petzensteiner was in on the ruse, we don’t know, but we do know that seeing the armed horsemen approaching, he leaped off the wagon and fled on foot, arriving in Waltershausen that evening. The kidnappers—for such they now revealed themselves to be—pointed their fearsome crossbows at the wagon driver, demanding with rough curses to know whom he was carrying.
