第 4 页

"Dastardly ruffians they are," cried the lieutenant.

It was indeed the order, which the burgher guard receivedwith a roar of triumph. They immediately sallied forth, withlowered arms and fierce shouts, to meet Count Tilly'sdragoons.

But the Count was not the man to allow them to approachwithin an inconvenient distance.

"Stop!" he cried, "stop, and keep off from my horse, or Ishall give the word of command to advance."

"Here is the order!" a hundred insolent voices answered atonce.

He took it in amazement, cast a rapid glance on it, and saidquite aloud, --

"Those who have signed this order are the real murderers ofCornelius de Witt. I would rather have my two hands cut offthan have written one single letter of this infamous order."

And, pushing back with the hilt of his sword the man whowanted to take it from him, he added, --

"Wait a minute, papers like this are of importance, and areto be kept."

Saying this, he folded up the document, and carefully put itin the pocket of his coat.

Then, turning round towards his troop, he gave the word ofcommand, --

"Tilly's dragoons, wheel to the right!"

After this, he added, in an undertone, yet loud enough forhis words to be not altogether lost to those about him, --

"And now, ye butchers, do your work!"

A savage yell, in which all the keen hatred and ferocioustriumph rife in the precincts of the prison simultaneouslyburst forth, and accompanied the departure of the dragoons,as they were quietly filing off.

The Count tarried behind, facing to the last the infuriatedpopulace, which advanced at the same rate as the Countretired.

John de Witt, therefore, had by no means exaggerated thedanger, when, assisting his brother in getting up, hehurried his departure. Cornelius, leaning on the arm of theEx-Grand Pensionary, descended the stairs which led to thecourtyard. At the bottom of the staircase he found littleRosa, trembling all over.

"Oh, Mynheer John," she said, "what a misfortune!"

"What is it, my child?" asked De Witt.

"They say that they are gone to the Town-hall to fetch theorder for Tilly's horse to withdraw."

"You do not say so!" replied John. "Indeed, my dear child,if the dragoons are off, we shall be in a very sad plight."

"I have some advice to give you," Rosa said, trembling evenmore violently than before.

"Well, let us hear what you have to say, my child. Whyshould not God speak by your mouth?"

"Now, then, Mynheer John, if I were in your place, I shouldnot go out through the main street."

"And why so, as the dragoons of Tilly are still at theirpost?"

"Yes, but their order, as long as it is not revoked, enjoinsthem to stop before the prison."

"Undoubtedly."

"Have you got an order for them to accompany you out of thetown?"

"We have not?"

"Well, then, in the very moment when you have passed theranks of the dragoons you will fall into the hands of thepeople."

"But the burgher guard?"

"Alas! the burgher guard are the most enraged of all."

"What are we to do, then?"

"If I were in your place, Mynheer John," the young girltimidly continued, "I should leave by the postern, whichleads into a deserted by-lane, whilst all the people arewaiting in the High Street to see you come out by theprincipal entrance. From there I should try to reach thegate by which you intend to leave the town."

"But my brother is not able to walk," said John.

"I shall try," Cornelius said, with an expression of mostsublime fortitude.

"But have you not got your carriage?" asked the girl.

"The carriage is down near the great entrance."

"Not so," she replied. "I considered your coachman to be afaithful man, and I told him to wait for you at thepostern."

The two brothers looked first at each other, and then atRosa, with a glance full of the most tender gratitude.

"The question is now," said the Grand Pensionary, "whetherGryphus will open this door for us."

"Indeed, he will do no such thing," said Rosa.

"Well, and how then?"

"I have foreseen his refusal, and just now whilst he wastalking from the window of the porter's lodge with adragoon, I took away the key from his bunch."

"And you have got it?"

"Here it is, Mynheer John."

"My child," said Cornelius, "I have nothing to give you inexchange for the service you are rendering us but the Biblewhich you will find in my room; it is the last gift of anhonest man; I hope it will bring you good luck."

"I thank you, Master Cornelius, it shall never leave me,"replied Rosa.

And then, with a sigh, she said to herself, "What a pitythat I do not know how to read!"

"The shouts and cries are growing louder and louder," saidJohn; "there is not a moment to be lost."

"Come along, gentlemen," said the girl, who now led the twobrothers through an inner lobby to the back of the prison.Guided by her, they descended a staircase of about a dozensteps; traversed a small courtyard, which was surrounded bycastellated walls; and, the arched door having been openedfor them by Rosa, they emerged into a lonely street wheretheir carriage was ready to receive them.

"Quick, quick, my masters! do you hear them?" cried thecoachman, in a deadly fright.

Yet, after having made Cornelius get into the carriagefirst, the Grand Pensionary turned round towards the girl,to whom he said, --

"Good-bye, my child! words could never express ourgratitude. God will reward you for having saved the lives oftwo men."

Rosa took the hand which John de Witt proffered to her, andkissed it with every show of respect.

"Go! for Heaven's sake, go!" she said; "it seems they aregoing to force the gate."

John de Witt hastily got in, sat himself down by the side ofhis brother, and, fastening the apron of the carriage,called out to the coachman, --

"To the Tol-Hek!"

The Tol-Hek was the iron gate leading to the harbor ofSchevening, in which a small vessel was waiting for the twobrothers.

The carriage drove off with the fugitives at the full speedof a pair of spirited Flemish horses. Rosa followed themwith her eyes until they turned the corner of the street,upon which, closing the door after her, she went back andthrew the key into a cell.

The noise which had made Rosa suppose that the people wereforcing the prison door was indeed owing to the mobbattering against it after the square had been left by themilitary.

Solid as the gate was, and although Gryphus, to do himjustice, stoutly enough refused to open it, yet evidently itcould not resist much longer, and the jailer, growing verypale, put to himself the question whether it would not bebetter to open the door than to allow it to be forced, whenhe felt some one gently pulling his coat.

He turned round and saw Rosa.

"Do you hear these madmen?" he said.

"I hear them so well, my father, that in your place ---- "

"You would open the door?"

"No, I should allow it to be forced."

"But they will kill me!"

"Yes, if they see you."

"How shall they not see me?"

"Hide yourself."

"Where?"

"In the secret dungeon."

"But you, my child?"

"I shall get into it with you. We shall lock the door andwhen they have left the prison, we shall again come forthfrom our hiding place."

"Zounds, you are right, there!" cried Gryphus; "it'ssurprising how much sense there is in such a little head!"

Then, as the gate began to give way amidst the triumphantshouts of the mob, she opened a little trap-door, and said,--

"Come along, come along, father."

"But our prisoners?"

"God will watch over them, and I shall watch over you."

Gryphus followed his daughter, and the trap-door closed overhis head, just as the broken gate gave admittance to thepopulace.

The dungeon where Rosa had induced her father to hidehimself, and where for the present we must leave the two,offered to them a perfectly safe retreat, being known onlyto those in power, who used to place there importantprisoners of state, to guard against a rescue or a revolt.

The people rushed into the prison, with the cry --

"Death to the traitors! To the gallows with Cornelius deWitt! Death! death!"

Chapter 4

The Murderers

The young man with his hat slouched over his eyes, stillleaning on the arm of the officer, and still wiping fromtime to time his brow with his handkerchief, was watching ina corner of the Buytenhof, in the shade of the overhangingweather-board of a closed shop, the doings of the infuriatedmob, a spectacle which seemed to draw near its catastrophe.

"Indeed," said he to the officer, "indeed, I think you wereright, Van Deken; the order which the deputies have signedis truly the death-warrant of Master Cornelius. Do you hearthese people? They certainly bear a sad grudge to the two DeWitts."

"In truth," replied the officer, "I never heard suchshouts."

"They seem to have found out the cell of the man. Look,look! is not that the window of the cell where Cornelius waslocked up?"

A man had seized with both hands and was shaking the ironbars of the window in the room which Cornelius had left onlyten minutes before.

"Halloa, halloa!" the man called out, "he is gone."

"How is that? gone?" asked those of the mob who had not beenable to get into the prison, crowded as it was with the massof intruders.

"Gone, gone," repeated the man in a rage, "the bird hasflown."

"What does this man say?" asked his Highness, growing quitepale.

"Oh, Monseigneur, he says a thing which would be veryfortunate if it should turn out true!"

"Certainly it would be fortunate if it were true," said theyoung man; "unfortunately it cannot be true."

"However, look!" said the officer.

And indeed, some more faces, furious and contorted withrage, showed themselves at the windows, crying, --

"Escaped, gone, they have helped them off!"

And the people in the street repeated, with fearfulimprecations, --

"Escaped gone! After them, and catch them!"

"Monseigneur, it seems that Mynheer Cornelius has reallyescaped," said the officer.

"Yes, from prison, perhaps, but not from the town; you willsee, Van Deken, that the poor fellow will find the gateclosed against him which he hoped to find open."

"Has an order been given to close the town gates,Monseigneur?"

"No, -- at least I do not think so; who could have givensuch an order?"

"Indeed, but what makes your Highness suppose?"

"There are fatalities," Monseigneur replied, in an offhandmanner; "and the greatest men have sometimes fallen victimsto such fatalities."

At these words the officer felt his blood run cold, assomehow or other he was convinced that the prisoner waslost.

At this moment the roar of the multitude broke forth likethunder, for it was now quite certain that Cornelius de Wittwas no longer in the prison.

Cornelius and John, after driving along the pond, had takenthe main street, which leads to the Tol-Hek, givingdirections to the coachman to slacken his pace, in order notto excite any suspicion.

But when, on having proceeded half-way down that street, theman felt that he had left the prison and death behind, andbefore him there was life and liberty, he neglected everyprecaution, and set his horses off at a gallop.

All at once he stopped.

"What is the matter?" asked John, putting his head out ofthe coach window.

"Oh, my masters!" cried the coachman, "it is ---- "

Terror choked the voice of the honest fellow.

"Well, say what you have to say!" urged the GrandPensionary.

"The gate is closed, that's what it is."

"How is this? It is not usual to close the gate by day."

"Just look!"

John de Witt leaned out of the window, and indeed saw thatthe man was right.

"Never mind, but drive on," said John, "I have with me theorder for the commutation of the punishment, the gate-keeperwill let us through."

The carriage moved along, but it was evident that the driverwas no longer urging his horses with the same degree ofconfidence.

Moreover, as John de Witt put his head out of the carriagewindow, he was seen and recognized by a brewer, who, beingbehind his companions, was just shutting his door in allhaste to join them at the Buytenhof. He uttered a cry ofsurprise, and ran after two other men before him, whom heovertook about a hundred yards farther on, and told themwhat he had seen. The three men then stopped, looking afterthe carriage, being however not yet quite sure as to whom itcontained.

The carriage in the meanwhile arrived at the Tol-Hek.

"Open!" cried the coachman.

"Open!" echoed the gatekeeper, from the threshold of hislodge; "it's all very well to say 'Open!' but what am I todo it with?"

"With the key, to be sure!" said the coachman.

"With the key! Oh, yes! but if you have not got it?"

"How is that? Have not you got the key?" asked the coachman.

"No, I haven't."

"What has become of it?"

"Well, they have taken it from me."

"Who?"

"Some one, I dare say, who had a mind that no one shouldleave the town."

"My good man," said the Grand Pensionary, putting out hishead from the window, and risking all for gaining all; "mygood man, it is for me, John de Witt, and for my brotherCornelius, who I am taking away into exile."

"Oh, Mynheer de Witt! I am indeed very much grieved," saidthe gatekeeper, rushing towards the carriage; "but, upon mysacred word, the key has been taken from me."

"When?"

"This morning."