The Count, as evening approached, reached the borders of a Meer a short
distance from the Zuyder Zee. It was fringed by trees and by tall reeds
almost as high as the trees, which grew partly in the water and partly
out of it. "If I could find a boat I might take a passage in her to the
other side of the Meer, and thus continuing my journey obtain rest at
the same time," he thought.
He hunted about, and at last found a path, at the further end of which
he observed a barge with her bows run into the bank. Having left his
knapsack and gun on the bank, he stepped on board, thinking that some of
the crew might appear. Seeing no one, he was again going on shore, when
the after hatch was flung open and three huge heads adorned by
nightcaps, with big staring eyes expressive of wonder, popped up, each
face being more ugly than the other.
"Who are you?" asked the first.
"What business have you on board here?" inquired a second.
"Where do you come from, where do you want to go?" asked a third, the
ugliest of all three.
"Really, gentlemen," said the Count, bowing, for he was always polite,
"you overwhelm me with questions. My object is to cross the Meer, or to
get to some inn or farmhouse where I may pass the night in comfort."
"Ho, ho, ho!" exclaimed the last speaker. "You will not find any inn or
farmhouse where you can pass the night on the borders of this Meer, but
we'll give you a passage to the other end, for which we are bound when
we have had our suppers, always provided you are willing to pay for it."
"Certainly," replied the Count. "I am willing to pay for everything I
obtain. Your barge looks like a very safe one, and I will therefore
engage a passage."
"Safe! I should think she was safe," answered the ugly individual. "It
would require a gale to upset her with all sail hoisted. Trust Captain
Jan Dunck for that."
Upon this the Count looked harder than before at the ugly man's
countenance. "What, are you Captain Jan Dunck?" he inquired.
"No doubt about that, though I do not command so large a craft as
formerly," said the ugly man. "If I mistake not, you are Count
Funnibos, whom I, once upon a time, brought round from Antwerp, and
landed at Amsterdam."
"No, you did not land me at Amsterdam," answered the Count; "you landed
me on the island of Marken, when you played that scurvy trick upon poor
Pieter. I thought that you had been lost."
"So I nearly was, for the _Golden Hog_ went down, but my mate and small
ship's boy were saved. Here is one of them."
The mate gave a wink of recognition.
"So you want me to carry you across the lake--is that it?" continued the
skipper.
"Such is my wish," said the Count, though, at the same time, he felt
very doubtful about trusting himself and his fortunes to Captain Jan
Dunck.
"Well, we'll get under weigh immediately," said the skipper. "Though
there is no wind, we can pole the barge a considerable part of the
distance."
"But I must first get my luggage, my fowling-piece, my knapsack, and
telescope," said the Count.
"Well, be sharp about it," answered the skipper. "Time and tide wait
for no man."
"But there is no tide in this lake, and you did not appear to be in a
hurry when I came on board," said the Count.
"For the best of reasons, we were fast asleep," answered the skipper, as
the Count went for his luggage, which neither the skipper, the mate, nor
the crew offered to carry for him. He therefore brought it on board
himself, for he had become wonderfully independent during his travels.
He sat himself down on his knapsack, expecting that the skipper would at
once get under weigh; but that individual, instead of doing so, dived
again below, followed by his mate and his crew, to discuss some supper
which they had stowed away in a locker.
While the Count sat awaiting the return of the skipper and his crew on
deck, he observed another boat in the distance, in which was a single
man. The person appeared to have been watching the barge, and now
cautiously approached, using a paddle, so as to make as little noise as
possible. He was apparently about to address the Count when the skipper
popped up his head, with his mouth full of food, on which the stranger
immediately began to row away in an opposite direction.
"Hilloa, you! have you anything to say to me? If not, keep your
distance, or you will have to smart for it!" shouted the skipper.
The stranger made no reply, but rowed slowly away, and Captain Jan Dunck
again dived into the cabin. The stranger then stopped, and made a sign
to the Count. Soon afterwards the mate and the crew, returning on deck,
cast off the rope which secured the barge to the bank, and taking up
some long spars, began to pole out into the lake, while the skipper sat
at the helm smoking his pipe. He smoked and smoked as he used to do on
board the _Golden Hog_, but did not invite the Count to join him. After
some time the water became too deep for poling, and the mate and the
crew took to their oars. The water was calm, and there appeared to be
no possibility of danger; but yet the Count did not feel altogether
comfortable.
"And so you say that one-eyed Pieter threatened to bring me to justice?"
growled Captain Jan Dunck.
"I said nothing of the sort," answered the Count; "I told you that the
Baron and I took one-eyed Pieter on board our boat. Had he been
drowned, you would have been guilty of his death; and you ought to be
thankful to me for saving you from committing so great a crime."
"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the skipper, and his mate and crew laughed in
chorus. After the crew had rowed for some time, an island appeared in
view, with dunes, or sandhills, rising over a considerable portion. It
was a barren-looking spot, as far as the Count could judge in the fast
increasing gloom of night.
"We are going to put into the shore there," said the skipper, pointing
to it. "If you take my advice, you will land."
"But that is not the sort of place to which I wish to go," said the
Count. "My object on board your barge was to take a passage to some
habitable region, where I could obtain food, rest, and shelter."
"The sea-gulls will afford you plenty of food; as to rest, you can lie
down on the sand; and as for shelter, your pocket-handkerchief will
afford you as much as you are likely to find."
"I protest against being so treated," said the Count, naturally growing
indignant.
"To whom do you protest," asked the skipper, "to me or my crew? There's
no one else to hear you, and we do not care the snuff of a candle for
your protestations."
The mate and the crew uttered not a word.
"I must submit to my hard destiny," thought the Count; "I have not made
a very brilliant commencement of my sporting adventures, but I set out
with the intention of shooting birds, and apparently the island abounds
with them."
In a short time the barge touched the sandy beach.
"You will step on shore, Count Funnibos," said the skipper, with an
ill-favoured grin on his countenance.
"But I have paid my passage-money, and I protest."
"We settled that point some time ago," said the skipper; "you will step
on shore, as I have just remarked."
The Count looked at the mate and the crew. Their countenances wore the
same ill-favoured expression as did that of the skipper. They merely
placed a plank from the bow of the barge to the beach.
"You will walk along the plank, Count Funnibos," said the skipper.
The Count took up his knapsack, his gun, and his telescope, and,
shrugging his shoulders with as dignified an air as he could assume,
obeyed. The moment he had set foot on the island, the plank was
withdrawn and his retreat cut off. Directly afterwards the mate and the
crew shoved the barge away from the shore, and began rowing as before,
while the skipper resumed his seat at the helm, and puffed calmly from
his pipe, as if he had just performed some meritorious act. A few
sea-birds came flying in with loud cries and shrieks from their daily
fishing excursions over the waters, but they would not have afforded him
a palatable meal even if he had shot one of them.
"The sand is soft, that is one comfort," he thought; "and there are no
wild beasts, wolves, or bears to trouble me; it might have rained, or
there might have been a strong cold wind, or I might have been more
hungry than I am; so I might have been worse off. A boat of some sort
will probably be passing during the day and take me off. I may at
present consider myself very like that great hero, Robinson Crusoe, or
any other mariner who has been wrecked or marooned on a desert island."
These sort of thoughts occupied his mind till he fell fast asleep.
Having had a long walk the previous day, he was more tired than usual,
and did not once wake during the whole night. The rays of the rising
sun glaring into his eyes aroused him, and he sprang to his feet,
feeling rather stiff and somewhat chilled, for the night had been cold.
He climbed to the top of a sand-hill, that he might take a wider survey.
Scarcely had he reached it than he observed a boat approaching the
shore. Putting down his gun and knapsack, he took out his telescope,
and that he might steady it, stretched himself on the side of the
sand-hill. Having adjusted the focus, he directed it towards the boat.
She came nearer and nearer. He saw that she contained several people,
who seemed to have the intention of landing.
"I shall now be able to escape from this," he thought.
As the boat approached he could clearly distinguish the features of
those in her. He could not be mistaken; three were ladies--the Vrouw
Van Arent and her two daughters; three were gentlemen--Mynheer Van
Arent, Mynheer Bunckum, and a stranger. They helped the ladies out of
the boat, and then all six walked along the beach. The stranger offered
his arm to the fair Isabelle, which she took with evident willingness.
Mynheer Bunckum walked on with Vrouw Margaret, and the old couple
followed.
"No, I cannot join them. I cannot so demean myself as to ask for a
passage to the shore," muttered the Count. "I only hope that they will
not discover me. I shall certainly not discover myself, if I can help
it."
If curiosity had brought the party to the island, they were soon
satisfied, for in a short time they re-embarked, and the Count had lost
his chance of escaping for that time.
"It is better that it should be so," he said. "I should only have had
to answer disagreeable questions, and perhaps have subjected myself to
further indignities."
Hunger now compelled him to seek for food, and loading his gun, he
looked out for a bird which might come within range, but the birds all
kept at a wary distance. He observed, further to the south, that the
island was very much lower, and that the birds frequented it in greater
numbers; he accordingly bent his steps in that direction. It appeared
level, and, as far as he could judge, easy to walk over. On reaching
it, however, he found that it was sprinkled with so many shallow pools
that he would speedily wet his boots through, therefore, sitting down on
the first dry spot he came to, he pulled them off and hung them over his
shoulders.
"Come, I feel something like a sportsman now," he said to himself.
Immediately afterwards a duck came quacking by within range. He fired,
and, to his infinite satisfaction, brought it to the ground. He rushed
eagerly forward to secure his prize, and although it went fluttering on
for some distance, he succeeded in catching it, and, wringing its neck,
hung it behind him.
"I need no longer fear dying of starvation, even although I may have to
spend a day or two on this desert spot," he said to himself.
To his delight he brought down, before long, another duck, and was now
thinking of returning to the higher ground, when he saw a boat passing
near the further end of the low part of the island. He rushed forward
to make a signal, hoping to attract the attention of those on board, but
by the time he had got to the point to which he was directing his steps,
the boat was at such a distance that his signals could not be seen. On
and on he went; the sea-fowl came shrieking and quacking round him,
when, to his dismay, he observed that dark clouds were gathering in the
sky, threatening a storm of no gentle nature.
"This sort of work is all very well in fine weather, but I have no fancy
to be exposed to drenching rain and howling wind," he said to himself.
"I must get back, at all events, to the higher ground."
He had got so far from it, that this was no easy matter. Before he had
walked for many minutes, down came the rain like a sheet of water,
driven against him by the fierce wind.
He had now good reason to be seriously alarmed. The water in the pools,
before scarcely up to his ankles, now reached almost to his knees. "Can
the dykes have been burst through?" he thought. "If so, my fate is
sealed--not only mine, but that of numbers of the inhabitants of the
surrounding district." From the rapid way in which the surface of the
Meer rose he felt convinced that this must be the case. Still the love
of life compelled him to try and save himself, and he did not despair;
although, as far as he could see, no means of making his escape were
likely to present themselves.