Was Sam
slow in following at his heels, having all his ancient terrors revived.
Away, then, did they scramble, through bush and brake, horribly
frightened at every bramble that tagged at their skirts, nor did they
pause to breathe, until they had blundered their way through this
perilous wood and had fairly reached the high-road to the city.
Several days elapsed before Wolfert could summon courage enough to
prosecute the enterprise, so much had he been dismayed by the
apparition, whether living dead, of the grizzly buccaneer. In the
meantime, what a conflict of mind did he suffer! He neglected all his
concerns, was moody and restless all day, lost his appetite; wandered
in his thoughts and words, and committed a thousand blunders. His rest
was broken; and when he fell asleep, the nightmare, in shape of a huge
money-bag, sat squatted upon his breast. He babbled about incalculable
sums; fancied himself engaged in money digging; threw the bed-clothes
right and left, in the idea that he was shovelling among the dirt,
groped under the bed in quest of the treasure, and lugged forth, as he
supposed, an inestimable pot of gold.
Dame Webber and her daughter were in despair at what they conceived a
returning touch of insanity. There are two family oracles, one or other
of which Dutch housewives consult in all cases of great doubt and
perplexity: the dominie and the doctor. In the present instance they
repaired to the doctor. There was at that time a little, dark, mouldy
man of medicine famous among the old wives of the Manhattoes for his
skill not only in the healing art, but in all matters of strange and
mysterious nature. His name was Dr. Knipperhausen, but he was more
commonly known by the appellation of the High German doctor.[4] To him
did the poor women repair for counsel and assistance touching the
mental vagaries of Wolfert Webber.
[Footnote 4: The same, no doubt, of whom mention is made in the history
of Dolph Heyliger.]
They found the doctor seated in his little study, clad in his dark
camblet robe of knowledge, with his black velvet cap, after the manner
of Boorhaave, Van Helmont, and other medical sages: a pair of green
spectacles set in black horn upon his clubbed nose, and poring over a
German folio that seemed to reflect back the darkness of his
physiognomy. The doctor listened to their statement of the symptoms of
Wolfert's malady with profound attention; but when they came to mention
his raving about buried money, the little man pricked up his ears.
Alas, poor women! they little knew the aid they had called in.
Dr. Knipperhausen had been half his life engaged in seeking the short
cuts to fortune, in quest of which so many a long lifetime is wasted.
He had passed some years of his youth in the Harz mountains of Germany,
and had derived much valuable instruction from the miners, touching the
mode of seeking treasure buried in the earth.
