REUNITED
For a time Jacqueline sat huddled and motionless in the corner where she
had fallen. Her eyes were still bandaged, her mouth was gagged and her
hands were tied behind her. She wondered vaguely whether they would ever
come to release her from these bonds, and she shivered pitifully in her
wet garments. Finally she roused herself and struggled feebly to free
her hands. Her surprise was great when she found that the cords fell
apart easily, but it was not till later that she guessed the
secret--they had probably been severed nearly through before she was
pushed into the room.
Once her hands were free, it was the work of but a few seconds to unbind
her eyes and mouth and look about her. The room was in inky darkness,
save where a small window admitted a faint gray light that indicated the
outer world. There was no sound anywhere through the house. Oh, if they
had only allowed her a little light! It was weird and uncanny to be thus
thrust into a strange room and left there in utter darkness.
Presently the chill of her dripping clothes caused her to shudder and
give an involuntary moan. A moment after she was electrified by hearing
_something_ move, on the other side of the room. There was then some
living thing in here with her! A chill, not of cold this time but of
sheer terror, shook her from head to foot, and a wild desire to shriek
aloud possessed her. Again the dreaded something moved, breathed hard,
and uttered the word, "Jacqueline"! With a cry of joy and recognition
she sprang across the room, and brother and sister found themselves
tightly clasped in each others' arms. For a moment neither of them
could do anything but sob and laugh and kiss the other distractedly. At
last they grew sufficiently calm for speech.
"Oh, Gysbert, my brother! Art thou truly unharmed and well? How did this
dreadful thing happen?" breathed Jacqueline.
"Yes, I am alive and whole," he replied, "but how I got here is a long
story which I will tell thee later. But what about thee, Jacqueline?
Thou art soaking wet! How didst thou come to be caught in the same
trap?" In rapid sentences she sketched the history of the night's
adventures.
"The scoundrel!" exclaimed Gysbert. "He must have brought thee through
that same hole in the wall. I felt sure he had been planning to capture
thee, but to-night when thou wert thrown so violently into the room, I
could not tell whether it was thyself or some new trap he had been
setting for me. Not till I heard thee moan was I sure. He has some
deep-laid scheme in getting possession of us two, but what it is I
cannot imagine. However, thou must get rid of these wet things, sister.
There is a little room adjoining this where thou canst sleep. It has
evidently been arranged for that purpose. Take off thy dripping clothes
and wrap thyself in the bed-coverings, and we will then tell each other
all that has happened since we parted.
"Now," said Gysbert, when his sister had arrayed herself in the warm
bed-coverings, "I will begin by telling thee all about my journey to
Rotterdam." And he rehearsed to her all the details of his interview
with the Prince of Orange, and continued: "It took me another day and
night to pass Delft and reach the Spanish outposts. Feeling so certain I
should get through in safety, I think I grew a little reckless and
determined to try the route I had taken the first time. I never made a
bigger mistake!
"In the first place, I hadn't an idea of the password, having been away
three days. As luck would have it, I failed to encounter my friend
Alonzo de Rova, but did meet right face to face with the same captain
who had arrested me before. He made short work of laying hands on me and
delivered me over to the charge of about six or eight soldiers in a big
tent. I tried again my scheme of drawing pictures, and they all became
very much interested, hanging over me with laughter and much admiration
as I drew the portrait of each one. I was hoping Alonzo would happen
along, but he didn't.
"I cannot tell how my plan would have worked, nor whether the soldiers
would have released me, for just as I was finishing the last one, I
happened to look up and there was the evil face of Dirk Willumhoog in
the door of the tent, staring down at me. I thought perhaps he would not
recognize me in my disguise, but he did somehow. Disappearing for a
moment, he came back with the captain and pointed to me, saying:
"'That is the boy I want, and I've been hunting for him all over. He is
no Glipper at all, but a spy and a very dangerous character. Give him to
me, and I'll see that he is properly taken care of.' I saw by this that
resistance would be useless, so I very meekly followed him out of the
tent. Once outside, he blindfolded my eyes, tied my hands, and led me
what seemed a long distance. At last we entered this house. Upstairs we
climbed, and inside this room he uncovered my eyes. 'We'll see if thou
art a Glipper!' he said, and proceeded to wash off all the stain. 'Now
we will pay off some old scores of long standing!' he added, and with a
heavy switch, he gave me such a beating as I never had in my life
before."
"He beat _thee_!" exclaimed the girl, her eyes blazing in the dark. "Oh,
I could kill him for it!"
"Yes, but I did not cry out!" replied Gysbert proudly. "Not one moan did
he hear from me, till at last he stopped from sheer weariness. 'That's
to pay for thy kind remarks on the day I left Leyden!' he said. 'We will
settle the rest later!' Then he took my bag and examined it, wondering
at the herbs, and finding the food and pigeon. 'What hast thou here?' he
asked, 'And why wast thou outside the walls?' I told him we were hungry,
and I had been trying to get some food by selling herbs. 'Thou liest!'
he shouted. 'What was this carrier pigeon for? I tell thee thou earnest
messages to the enemy!'
"I said I had taken it so that in case I could not get back in time, I
could send a message. 'Well, _I'll_ send the message,' he replied, 'and
it will be somewhat differently worded, thou canst wager!' What was it,
Jacqueline?" The girl told him, and both together puzzled over the
supposition that Dirk and Vrouw Voorhaas must sometime have met, and
held some secret knowledge in common. She also told him what the woman
had uttered in her delirium, but they could make nothing of the mystery.
Then Gysbert went on with his story.
"After that he left me, bolting the door behind him, and I was free to
look about me, and see where I was, as far as my limited space would
permit I found myself in this room which thou wilt see at daylight, with
the other small one opening from it. Both contained a bed, and that made
me guess that at some time he hoped to capture thee also. There are two
little windows well guarded by heavy iron bars like a prison. However, I
could see enough through them to guess where I was. This is a little,
lonely farmhouse well outside the village of Zoeterwoude. Thou knowest
where that is, Jacqueline. We have often gone there to buy pigeons. It
is about a mile and a half from Leyden.
"The walls and floorings of the rooms are thick, and I seldom hear any
sounds from the rest of the house. There is no fireplace and very little
furniture. Well, here I was, and likely to remain till fortune again
turned in my favor! For three successive days Dirk came up and gave me a
beating, till I foresaw that this was to become a daily practice.
Otherwise I had food enough shoved in the door at me,--more than I had
in Leyden!--and nothing on earth to do. At length I became thoroughly
weary of the beating performance, and hit upon a scheme to avoid it. And
what dost thou think that was, Jacqueline?"
"I cannot guess!" she answered.
"Why, I pretended I had the _plague_!" he cried gleefully. "Oh,
Jacqueline, thou canst not guess what a desperate coward that Dirk
Willumhoog is! One day when I heard him coming, I held my breath till I
was scarlet in the face, like fever. I lay covered up in bed, and when
he entered, I began to toss my arms about and rave, as though light in
the head. He did not beat me that time, but stared at me uneasily for a
while, and went out muttering. He did not come in again that day, and I
had a chance to make myself a little worse!
"I found a place in the wall where some loose plaster had fallen away
from the brick lining within. Breaking off some of this brick, powdering
and moistening it, I thus obtained some fine red paint with which I
proceeded to decorate myself. With the pail of water for a mirror, all
over my face and hands I imitated the blotches that appear on the
plague-stricken. Oh, I must have been a fine, healthful sight!
"When Dirk came in to visit me next morning, he looked, gave one howl,
and rushed out of the room! I have not seen him since, and I know he
believes me far gone in this illness. Strange to say though, in spite of
his hatred, he does not seem to wish me to die, but has caused to be
thrust in the door the finest food and nourishment that could be
procured. I could live like a lord if I wished, but I scarcely touch it,
saving only enough to keep life in me, else he would surely suspect.
Thus have I passed the three weeks!" He ceased to speak, and for a while
they sat silent, hoping, doubting, fearing for the future, yet rejoicing
that they were at last together.
"But now thou must go to bed, Jacqueline," said Gysbert at length. "Thou
art wearied out and sleep will do thee good." Obediently she crept into
the bed in the little room, dropped asleep almost as soon as her head
touched the pillow, and never woke till the sun was streaming in at the
small window high overhead. Rising and donning the clothes that were now
dry, she hurried into the next room to get the first glimpse at her
brother.
He was indeed a remarkable sight, as he lay in bed exhibiting his
horribly blotched face and hands. It would have taken a keen eye, so
cleverly had he executed this dreadful decoration, to detect it as
false.
"Thou must pretend to be greatly alarmed about me, Jacqueline, should
they interview thee, and do not be surprised at my ravings, for they
are right hair-raising!" Gysbert had hardly uttered this caution, when
there was a sound of steps approaching the door. Immediately he began to
toss his arms about, moan, mutter, and occasionally shriek in a muffled
manner.
"Go away! Go away from me!" he raved. "Thou art not my sister! Why dost
thou say thou art Jacqueline! I do not know thee! Thou art someone sent
by that enemy of ours! Go away, go away, I tell thee!" Then the door was
unbolted, a basket of food was thrust within, and a voice was heard
calling above the racket of Gysbert's pretended delirium:
"Juffrouw Jacqueline! Is thy brother very ill?"
"Yes," answered the girl trembling. "He is so sorely ill that I fear he
will die!"
"Well, thou must not let him die! Thou must nurse him carefully. We do
not wish either of you to come to harm."
"Why dost thou keep us here?" demanded Jacqueline growing bolder. "Let
us go away where he can get a doctor and proper treatment."
"'Tis not for thee to inquire why thou art here. That thou shalt perhaps
know in due time," answered the voice. "As for a doctor, it is
impossible to procure one and inadvisable to bring him here if we could.
Thou knowest much about nursing the plague, and hast had rare experience
in the city. If thou dost need any special food or medicine for him we
will try to procure it, but otherwise all must remain as it is. Dost
think this case is very contagious?"
"Ah, very!" replied Jacqueline, slyly. "Even the odor from the room is
enough to infect one, especially if one fears it greatly!" At this the
door was slammed hastily shut, and when the children had heard the last
departing footsteps of Dirk Willumhoog die away, they could not, in
spite of their danger, repress a giggle of uncontrollable mirth!
ADRIAN VAN DER WERF