Active and intelligent scouts had been sent out to watch the movements
of the enemy, and to bring back due notice of their approach to Leyden.
The citizens meantime were labouring as before at their fortifications;
they well knew that there was no time to spare to complete their work.
Van Arenberg, who had still managed to retain the confidence of the
burgomaster, was a constant visitor at his house during the short time
in the evening that he was at home. The baron, however, was convinced
that there was no longer a hope of persuading the stout-hearted
magistrate to submit, and yet anxious as he was to get outside and avoid
the miseries he saw impending, he could not bring himself to abandon the
prospects of winning the fair Lily. He still, therefore, endeavoured to
work on her feminine nature by pointing out to her the horrors and
sufferings in which she must share with the other inhabitants of the
place should she remain.
"You have often spoken to me on this subject, Baron Van Arenberg," she
answered, regarding him calmly; "but know that I would rather trust to
the pikes and swords of the citizens of Leyden to defend our poor women
and children from the clutches of the Spanish soldiery than I would to
the tender mercies of their general. It is useless again to speak to me
on the subject; but since you fancy that you see so clearly the dreadful
doom prepared for those who remain, I advise you to quit the city while
there is time."
The baron could say no more, but he muttered as he walked homeward that
evening, "I must take other means of carrying out my object."
The next morning Jaqueline had repaired with her father to the ramparts
on the south side of the town. They were soon joined by Albert.
"I met Arenberg just now," he said to Jaqueline, "looking as sulky as a
bear. He asked where you were gone, as he had not found you at home. I
could not tell him, as I did not know, and would not have told him if I
had known; but I saw him start off to the north side of the town, so
there is no fear of your being troubled by his presence."
"But how do you know his presence troubled me?" asked Jaqueline.
"Because I am very sure you cannot like a man who is a `Glipper' at
heart, whatever he may seem to be to people openly; and I have observed
the way you always speak to him, and very glad I have been to see it."
Jaqueline was inclined to smile, and she could not chide Albert for his
frankness.
"Hulloa! look up there!" he exclaimed, pointing along the road. "I see
two men on horseback and another on foot. What if they should prove to
be the captain and Berthold with a guide? Perhaps they will bring us
good news."
"They do not come on as fast as I should have expected," said Jaqueline,
watching them intently. "Yet they seem to be cavaliers, not common
horse soldiers. Perhaps they have to wait for their guide."
The two horsemen and their attendant on foot drew near.
"It is Captain Van der Elst and my cousin Berthold!" exclaimed
Jaqueline, in a more joyous tone than she had spoken for many a day.
"The message they bring from the Prince will, I trust, encourage our
citizens."
"Encouragement they will certainly bring if they come from William the
Silent, who is very sure to inspire all whom he addresses with the
spirit which animates his own dauntless mind. We will go down to the
gate to meet them," said the burgomaster.
The captain and Berthold, with their companion, having answered the
challenge of the sentries, were forthwith admitted. Perceiving the
burgomaster and Jaqueline, they leaped from their steeds, and giving the
reins to their companion, advanced towards them.
"We have been a much longer time in reaching the city than the Prince or
we ourselves expected," said the captain, after the usual greetings.
"We were pursued by a party of Spaniards, and had to take refuge in the
fortress of Polderwaert, from which for several days we were unable to
make our escape; but the message we bring will, I trust, encourage the
citizens and garrison of Leyden to defend the city until the Spaniards
are compelled to retire."
"There is little doubt about that," said Berthold. "He has not told you
how, after we had taken refuge in the fortress, through his vigilance
and courage, the Spaniards, who attempted to surprise it, were driven
off, and had he not been charged with the message from the Prince, he
would have been detained to assist in its defence should it again be
attacked."
"And who is that lanky fellow you brought with you, who is leading on
the horses after us?" asked Albert of his friend, as they followed the
burgomaster with Jaqueline and the captain.
"A first rate fellow, Hans Bosch, he has done us good service twice
already, besides piloting us along last night by paths which I could not
have found by myself, though I know the country pretty well; he
volunteered to come in order to carry messages from the city, and very
useful we are likely to find him."
As it was important at once to communicate the message brought by
Captain Van der Elst, the burgomaster summoned the chief inhabitants
forthwith to the Stadhuis. The captain having delivered his written
despatches, spoke as he had been directed, employing the very words the
Prince himself had used, and advancing the most powerful arguments to
induce the citizens not to yield to their foes. "He implores you," he
continued, "to hold out for at least three months, and he pledges his
word that he will within that time devise the means of delivering you
from the Spaniards."
"For six months, if necessary, even if we have to eat the grass in our
squares, the shoes on our feet, the rats and dogs to be found in the
streets," was the reply.
"I will announce your resolution to the Prince, and it will, I am sure,
encourage him to continue the efforts he is making for your relief,"
answered the captain. "Had Prince Louis lived and joined him he would
have had an army at his disposal, but the forces he can at present
muster are only sufficient for the protection of Rotterdam and Delft."
The address of the Prince was printed and circulated throughout the
city. After the meeting broke up, the burgomaster invited the young
captain to accompany Berthold to his house.
"And who's your attendant, he appears to be a strange being?"
"There are not many like Hans Bosch," remarked Berthold. "He has twice
saved us from falling into the hands of the Spaniards, and, if I mistake
not, will still render us good service, he can run like a deer and leap
like a young calf. There are few who can dodge the Spaniards as he can,
and if we get shut up in the city, he will manage to get out again and
slip through their ranks so as to let the Prince know what we are
about."
"Berthold does not over-praise Hans Bosch," observed the captain. "I
commend him to your care, Burgomaster, while he remains in the city, and
he will be ready to make himself useful when his services are required."
It was the first evening since preparations for the defence were
commenced, that any of the inhabitants were able to take rest. Though
labourers were still employed on the works, they were nearly completed,
and Jaqueline felt that she might, without neglecting her self-imposed
duty, return home and resume her ordinary attire, so that she could
preside at her father's table. There were no guests besides Captain Van
der Elst and Albert--Berthold always resided with his uncle.
"Can you now remain with us?" asked the burgomaster of Captain Van der
Elst.
"Would that I could," answered Karl, his eyes turning for a moment
towards Jaqueline. "But our Prince requires my services and directed me
to return without delay, he has, as you know, but few officers. His
great object is forthwith to raise a force of sufficient strength to
drive the Spaniards from your gates; he did not inform me how it was to
be done, but it will be no easy task, for he has to garrison Rotterdam
and Delft, and to guard the immediate country. Were he to leave those
places unprotected, all might be lost."
"We will trust to his sleepless energy and determination, both to devise
and carry out a project for our relief," observed the burgomaster.
"An idea has occurred to me, Captain Van der Elst!" exclaimed Albert.
"I lately gave four beautiful carrier pigeons to the Vrouw Jaqueline,
and if she will consent to make them over to you, you can carry them
with you, and by their means inform us what progress the Prince is
making in his plans for our relief. Do you consent to give up your
pets, Vrouw Jaqueline?"
"Most willingly," she answered, "if Captain Van der Elst will undertake
the charge of the birds."
"I will tend them carefully, and trust that they may become the
messengers of happy news," he said, a smile for a moment lighting up his
countenance.
Albert proposed that they should at once visit the pigeons with Captain
Van der Elst, and instruct him how they were to be fed and treated, as
it was possible that he might have to depart at an early hour the next
morning. As Jaqueline expressed her readiness to do as Albert proposed,
the whole party, with the exception of the burgomaster, accompanied her
to the tower of the house in which they were kept. In the same tower
was situated her boudoir, and hence she could enjoy a wider view over
the country than from any other part of the house.
"We must put them into two small cages, so that they may be carried
easily on horseback, or by a man on foot, if necessary," said Albert.
"Come, Berthold, if your cousin will allow us, we will go and procure
such cages. I know where they are to be found, and we will be back in a
few minutes." As Jaqueline did not forbid them, they set off.
It was the first time that Jaqueline and Karl Van der Elst had been
together. They had never spoken of love, and the present moment seemed
most inappropriate. Karl did not conceal from himself the dangers to
which he must be exposed in carrying out the projects of the Prince, nor
could he shut his eyes to the fearful risk all the inhabitants of Leyden
must run, even though relief might soon be brought to them. He, almost
against his intentions, spoke a few words to Jaqueline, the meaning of
which she could not fail to understand.
"It may be weeks--months--before we meet again, but my feelings, when I
have learned once to esteem, are not given to change," she said. The
young captain had reason to be content with the look which accompanied
her words, even more than with the words themselves. The two lads soon
returned with the cages, which were so small that two pigeons could only
be pressed into each.
"They will be hurt, poor things," cried Jaqueline.
"Oh, no, no," said Albert, "they will support each other, and travel far
more comfortably than if they had more space, and were allowed to tumble
about."
As the captain had to start the following morning, Arthur and Berthold
undertook to carry the birds to his lodgings that evening.
Captain Van der Elst, accompanied by Hans Bosch, for whom a horse had
been provided, and who carried the two cages, set off at an early hour
the following morning. Secretly as his departure had been arranged, it
was discovered by Baron Van Arenberg, who had that morning risen at an
earlier hour than usual and gone out to the ramparts. The baron
recognised him, and muttered, as he observed him leaving the gate, "It
will be many a long day before he is again within the walls of Leyden,
for ere long the Spaniards, if I mistake not, will be in possession of
them."
In the evening the burgomaster, accompanied by his daughter and nephew
and Albert, had ascended to the top of the Tower of Hengist, when
Albert, whose eyes were of the sharpest, exclaimed, pointing over the
city to the eastward, "See, see, there come a large body of men; they
must be either the troops the Prince has promised to send to our
assistance, or the Spaniards."
The rest of the party gazed in the same direction. "They form the
advance guard of our foes," said the burgomaster. "Albert and Berthold,
hasten and give the information to the commandant; he will take good
care that the walls are forthwith manned, though the Spaniards, after a
day's march, will be in no mood to make an attack when they know full
well that we shall give them as warm a reception as did our friends at
Alkmaar."
In a few minutes the bells of all the churches were ringing forth the
well-known call to arms, and the citizens, with their weapons in hand,
were seen hurrying to man the forts and ramparts. The burgomaster, with
Jaqueline, remained some time longer on the top of the tower that he
might judge what positions the Spanish general was likely to take. The
head of the leading column advanced till it reached a spot just beyond
range of the guns in the batteries, then it halted to wait for the
arrival of other troops; these quickly followed, the whole force
numbering not less than eight thousand men, Walloons and Germans. Some
immediately took possession of Leyderdorp, and of the other forts which
ought to have been destroyed, while others, armed with pickaxes and
spades, without a moment's loss of time began throwing up fresh lines
and forts, a third party being employed in pitching the tents and
forming a camp just beyond them. All night long a vigilant watch was
kept, as it was very possible that the Spaniards might attempt to
surprise the city in the hopes of capturing it at once, and saving
themselves from the annoyance and sufferings of a protracted siege.
Young Albert and Berthold together went the rounds to see that the
sentries were at their posts and wide awake, and that no post was left
without a sufficient guard. No experienced officers could have been
more on the alert. More than once they met the commandant, who,
entrusting nothing of importance to others, was himself going the
rounds.
He gave the lads some words of approval. "While the young ones show
such zeal I feel confident that we shall keep the foe in check till they
are compelled ignominiously to retreat," he observed.
For several days the citizens beheld the foreign troops gathering round
them, bringing their batteries closer to the walls, till Leyden was
invested by no less than sixty-two redoubts, while fresh troops were
seen coming in to swell the ranks of the besiegers. The city was now
placed on a strict allowance of food, all the provisions having been
purchased by the authorities, with an allowance of half a pound of meat,
half a pound of bread allotted to each full-grown man, and to the rest
in due proportion. At length the soldiers, and even some of the
burghers began to murmur at their own inactivity; to give them
confidence the commandant allowed a sortie to be made, promising a
reward to each man who brought in the head of a Spaniard. The men of
Leyden waited till nightfall, having previously carefully surveyed the
point it was proposed to attack. All was still in the city, the
Spaniards might have supposed that the besieged were sleeping, when
suddenly the gate at which the sortie was to be made was thrown open,
three hundred men eager for the fray noiselessly rushed out, not a word
was spoken, not a shout raised till they were upon their foe. The
Spaniards, the work of the day over, had piled their arms, and had
scarcely time to fall into their ranks before their enemies were upon
them; though a score or more fell yet they were too well disciplined to
remain long in a state of confusion, and the officer leading the sortie
deemed it prudent to call back his men. They returned without the loss
of one of their number, bringing back at least a dozen Spanish heads,
such was the savage commencement of the struggle. Night after night
similar enterprises were undertaken, not always with the same result,
though the Hollanders were invariably successful, so silently and well
executed were all their sorties, but several brave men fell, and the
commandant, from fear of losing too many of his troops, deemed it
necessary to prohibit any from leaving the gates without his express
order.