AN EXCURSION AMONG THE DIKES.
Terrill and Duncan, with the letters in their hands which they had just
received, entered the main cabin. They were called upon, in the presence
of Mr. Lowington and Mr. Hamblin, as well as Captain Kendall, to give
their testimony, which went to show that the commander was thoroughly
and heartily opposed to any demonstration against the obnoxious
instructor.
"What did Mr. Kendall say to you?" asked Mr. Hamblin.
"He asked me to use my influence with the fellows to prevent anything
being done, and wished me to let them all know that he would not
tolerate anything irregular," replied Duncan.
"Did he, indeed!" sneered Mr. Hamblin.
"He did, indeed," answered Duncan, with a twinkle of the eye.
"How happened he to say as much as this to you?" demanded the professor.
"Because, being an old friend and schoolmate of Captain Kendall, I
happened to tell him that the fellows were inclined to haze Mr.
Hamblin."
"To haze me!" exclaimed Mr. Hamblin.
"I understand that we are to tell the whole truth here," added Duncan,
who seemed to enjoy the confusion of the learned gentleman. "I didn't
hear of any particular plans; but the fellows kept hinting at
something."
"Did they, indeed?"
"They did, indeed."
"But you don't know what they were?"
"I do not, sir."
"Can you tell me who wrote the letter I asked you to translate?"
"No sir, I cannot."
Mr. Lowington asked some questions of the witness; and it was evident to
him that the disaffection on board of the Josephine was more general
than he had before suspected. Terrill was called upon to explain still
further the position of the captain; and Duncan opened his letters,
being, as all the boys were, anxious to hear from home. He had two
letters. Besides the one from his mother, there was another postmarked
at Cologne, which he read after he had finished the first.
As Duncan read this Cologne letter his face became quite red, and he was
not a little agitated. By the time he had finished both of them, the
first lieutenant had told all he knew in regard to the captain's
position. He was very candid in making his statement, and took no pains
to conceal the general disgust felt on board of the consort at the
conduct of Mr. Hamblin; and he took no pains to conceal the fact that he
shared the feelings of his shipmates.
"I should like to add something to my former statement, if you please,
Mr. Lowington," said Duncan, rising, with the Cologne letter in his
hand.
"What do you wish to add?" asked the principal.
"I know now who wrote the letter to Mr. Hamblin."
"Who?"
"Richard H. Linggold."
"Who is he?"
"He is an old schoolmate of mine, whom I met in Antwerp the afternoon we
first went ashore there," replied Duncan, who now appeared to be
considerably embarrassed.
"Was he a schoolmate of Mr. Kendall also?" demanded Mr. Hamblin, who was
more anxious to connect the letter with him than to promote the
discipline of the students.
"No, sir; I don't think Captain Kendall ever saw Linggold."
"We are to conclude, Duncan, that you put him up to this mischief,"
added Mr. Lowington.
"Yes, sir; I did," answered Duncan, candidly.
"Why did you virtually deny all knowledge of the letter when I appealed
to the ship's company before the suspension of Captain Kendall,"
continued Mr. Lowington, sternly.
"I will explain. I met Linggold in Antwerp, and spent an hour with him
at the Hotel St. Antoine, where he was staying with his uncle. He wanted
to know about the academy squadron, and I told him all about both
vessels. As the trouble we had had in the Josephine was uppermost in the
minds of all of us, I told him all about that."
"Did you, indeed?'? said Mr. Hamblin.
"I did, indeed. I am willing to acknowledge that I intended to join with
the rest of the fellows in hazing Mr. Hamblin."
"Are you, indeed?" sneered the professor, so wrathy that it was
impossible for him to keep his seat, and he began to stride up and down
the cabin.
"I am, indeed. About a dozen of us were going to write letters to Mr.
Hamblin from all the big bugs, including Louis Napoleon, the King of
Holland, the King of Belgium, and all the Ministers of State whose names
we could find out."
"Were you, indeed?" gasped the _savant_, passing before the witness.
"We were, indeed. I told Linggold what we were going to do, and he
promised to help me, being a first-rate French and German scholar; but I
told him we didn't want any help, and that he would get me into a scrape
if he meddled with the matter. I meant to have the letters mailed in
some place where none of us ever went. I told Linggold I wanted him to
take the letters and mail them at Cologne, and other places he went to
in his travels; and he promised to do so. I didn't think of such a thing
as his writing any letter after what I said. I left him then, and
haven't seen or heard from him since till now. He must have written the
letter right off, and mailed it at once, for it came on board the
Josephine that night."
"Do you mean to say that you didn't know this letter was to be written?"
demanded Mr. Hamblin, sharply.
"Yes, sir."
"When I asked you to give me a translation of it, were you not aware
that it was a forgery?"
"I supposed it was."
"You knew it was!"
"No, sir; I did not. I had no knowledge whatever in regard to the
writer. It did not occur to me, after what had passed between Linggold
and me, that he wrote the letter. I believed it was done by some fellow
on board. When the captain was arrested, all the fellows tried to find
out who had sent the letter, but no one would acknowledge it."
"Did you write any letters of this description, Duncan?" asked the
principal.
"No, sir. I had two conversations with the captain; and when he asked me
to do what I could to prevent any tricks being played upon the
professor, I determined not to have anything to do with the letters, or
any practical jokes of any kind. I can bring a dozen fellows to prove
that I said all I could to keep them from playing any tricks."
"What does your friend say in his letter?"
"He says the joke was so good he couldn't resist the temptation to send
the first letter to the professor himself, and wants to know why I
didn't send the letters to him that I promised?"
"Why didn't you?"
"After what the captain said, I persuaded the fellows not to write the
letters, and I did not write any myself. This letter is on the same kind
of paper as that," added Duncan, pointing to that which Paul had.
"Are you satisfied, Mr. Hamblin?" asked Mr. Lowington.
"No, sir, I am not," replied the professor, decidedly. "It appears that
there was an organized conspiracy against me in the consort."
"But it does not appear that Captain Kendall had anything to do with
it," added the principal, mildly.
"These boys are deceitful."
"Some of them are," replied Mr. Lowington, taking his pen and writing a
few lines. "Duncan, I am not satisfied with your conduct."
"I am not satisfied with it myself, sir," answered Duncan. "Perhaps I
ought to have known where that letter came from when Mr. Hamblin asked
me to translate it; but I supposed some of the fellows on board had done
it."
"Didn't you recognize the writing of your friend?"
"No, sir; it is very much like that of half a dozen fellows on board."
"It is very much like Mr. Kendall's," said Mr. Hamblin.
"Linggold, Captain Kendall, and myself, all learned to write in the same
school."
"Then Mr. Kendall knows this Linggold?"
"No, sir; he didn't go to the school till Captain Kendall left."
"I suppose not," added the incredulous professor. "I am still of the
opinion that Mr. Kendall wrote that letter."
"I am entirely satisfied that he did not write it. Duncan, you will
remain on board of the ship. Mr. Terrill, you will return to the
Josephine, pipe to muster, and read this order. Captain Kendall will
return with you."
"What is the order?" demanded Mr. Hamblin.
"'All charges against Captain Kendall being disproved, he is hereby
reinstated, and ordered to resume the command of the Josephine,'"
replied the principal, reading the order.
"Mr. Lowington, I protest--"
"I have heard you patiently, Mr. Hamblin, and have given my decision,"
interposed the principal, directing the students present to retire.
Paul bowed to Mr. Lowington, and left the cabin. The investigation had
ended as he had supposed from the beginning that it would end.
"Mr. Lowington, I protest against this decision," repeated Mr. Hamblin,
angrily. "I feel obliged to say that there has been a great lack of
judgment in managing this unpleasant business."
"And I feel obliged to remind you, Mr. Hamblin, that I am the principal
of this academy squadron. My decision is final," replied Mr. Lowington,
with dignity, as he rose from his chair and left the cabin.
"Snubbed by the boys, snubbed by the principal!" exclaimed the learned
gentleman. "Dr. Winstock, did you ever witness a more ridiculous farce
in your life?"
"Never, sir," replied the surgeon. "It seems to me that you insist upon
condemning Captain Kendall, guilty or innocent."
"I have no doubt whatever of his guilt. Those boys are all in league
with each other, Kendall included. There is a conspiracy to annoy me,
and to get rid of me; but they will find they have mistaken their man
in me, if they haven't in anybody else! Dr. Winstock, I tell you the
letter Duncan held in his hand was a fiction! I have been with students
all my life, and I know them."
"Why a fiction?"
"That Duncan, who is a very plausible young man, and a friend of
Kendall, mind, is at the bottom of all this mischief. He wrote the
Cologne letter himself. It was got up, and sent enclosed to the
postmaster at Cologne, who of course forwarded it to Rotterdam. It is a
trick to disprove the charge against Kendall."
Mr. Hamblin was very much excited, and developed his theory in full to
the surgeon, who quietly pointed out its discrepancies. He insisted that
the students of the Josephine had thorned and irritated him for the sole
purpose of getting rid of him, and that Paul was at the bottom of the
mischief.
"When Mr. Lowington has been among students as long as I have, he will
understand them better," he added, triumphantly, for he was satisfied
that he had established his position. "The Josephine is an utter
failure! The plan is absurd and ridiculous. The senior professor has no
authority; or it is divided with a boy who hates Greek!"
Dr. Winstock had heard quite enough on the subject, and it was a great
relief to him when the dinner-bell rang. At this moment three times
three rousing cheers came over the water from the Josephine. It was not
difficult to determine the occasion of this demonstration; but Mr.
Hamblin declared it was another evidence that the students in the
consort were all in league, and that the captain of her, instead of
being cheered, ought to be in the brig.
Before the dinner was finished, a Dutch steamer, which Mr. Fluxion had
engaged, came alongside the ship, and all hands were piped on board. She
then went to the Josephine, and received her company.
"This steamer does not seem to be much different from those we saw in
England," said Paul, as he seated himself with Dr. Winstock where they
could see the country on both sides of the river.
"Not very different, but it is very unlike an American boat," replied
the surgeon.
"The steering apparatus is not like anything I ever saw before," added
Paul. "The helmsman stands on a raised platform, and his wheel revolves
horizontally."
"All the Rhine steamers have that arrangement."
"I think a wheel-house forward is ever so much better. I see the cook is
a woman."
"Yes; all the Rhine steamers have female cooks. This boat, I believe,
belongs to the Moerdyk line. Passengers from Antwerp come by railroad to
Moerdyk, and there take the steamer to Rotterdam. This country is very
favorable to railroads in being level, but very unfavorable in the
number of rivers and cut-offs to be crossed, which it is impossible to
bridge."
The steamer stood up the Leck, and turned into the Merwe, which is a
branch five or six miles in length, connecting the Leck and the Waal. On
each side was a dike, of course; but the view from the steamer showed
only an ordinary bank. The top of it was broad, and occasionally there
was a neat cottage or a little inn upon the top of it. The roof or
chimney of a house beyond it was frequently observed, otherwise the
uninformed traveller would not have suspected the character of the
country. The embankment was studded with windmills, placed on the
highest ground, to give the sails the full benefit of the wind. Some of
them were used for grinding grain, some for sawing lumber, and others
for forcing the water up from the low ground into the river.
The steamer passed from the Merwe into the Waal, and stood up the river.
There was but little variation in the scenery. The wall of dikes on
either side was uninterrupted. Sometimes they were lined with rows of
trees, between which was the common road; at others they were bare and
naked. The captain of the steamer told them that a portion of the
country in the vicinity was lower than the bottom of the river. The
whole region seemed to be saturated with water, and the wonder is that
the people can go to bed at night with any assurance that they will not
be drowned out before morning.
"There is the Castle of Loevestein," said the captain of the boat, who
spoke good English, "and the fort below has the same name."
"Did you ever hear of it before?" asked Mr. Mapps, who was on the
lookout for places of historical interest, as he turned to a group of
seamen.
"You mentioned it this morning," replied one of the students.
"In what connection?"
"Some man had a wonderful escape from it," added another.
"Who was that man?"
"A Dutchman with a Latin name."
"Grotius, or De Groot," added Mr. Mapps. "The Stadtholder, Prince
Maurice, the boy general and ruler, wished to make himself hereditary
sovereign of the Netherlands, and was opposed by the judge, Barneveldt,
and Grotius. The prince carried the day; Barneveldt was executed, and
Grotius imprisoned in this castle, where he was kept nearly two years.
He was very strictly guarded at first; but his wife, finding that the
vigilance of the sentinels was relaxed, devised a scheme for effecting
his liberation. The books, papers, and linen of the prisoner were
conveyed to him in a large box, which the guards, having so often
searched in vain for contraband articles, at last neglected to examine.
The box, and the carelessness of the soldiers, suggested to the wife of
Grotius the means of getting her husband out of the castle.
"She prepared the chest by boring some holes in it, for the admission of
the air, and took her servant-girl into her confidence. The box was
conveyed to the apartment of Grotius, and the project explained to him.
He did not relish the idea of being shut up in a chest, and rolled about
in a boat; but his wife's entreaties prevailed over his scruples. It was
pretended that the box was filled with books which the learned man had
borrowed in Gorcum, the town which you see on the other side of the
river.
"The chest, containing the philosopher, was conveyed by the soldiers
down to the boat, in charge of the servant-girl. When one of them
complained of its weight, the man said it was the Arminian books which
were so heavy; for Grotius was an Arminian in his theology. The soldier
suggested that it was the Arminian himself; but this was intended as a
joke, and the box was tumbled into the boat. The servant made a signal
with her handkerchief to her mistress, who was looking out of the
window, to indicate that all was right.
"When the boat reached Gorcum, the box was conveyed to the house of a
friend of Grotius, of whom it was presumed that he had borrowed the
books. The servant-girl told him that her master was in the box, and
begged his assistance; but he was so terrified, in view of the
consequences, that he refused to have anything to do with the matter.
His wife, however, had more pluck in the service of a friend, and,
having sent all her domestics out of the house on various errands, she
opened the box, and released the philosopher from durance vile.
"Grotius, who had suffered no serious inconvenience from his confinement
in the box, which was only three and a half feet long, was disguised as
a mason, and, with a rule and trowel in his hand, was conducted to a
boat, and sent into Belgium, where he was safe from pursuit.
"The philosopher's wife remained in the room occupied by her husband in
the castle, and used every means to conceal his escape. She lighted the
lamp in his room at dark, by which the governor of the prison was
deceived. She was arrested and imprisoned for a short time; but when
discharged, she joined her husband in Paris, whither he had gone."
"There is a frigate in the Dutch navy called the Marie van
Reigersberch, named for the wife of Grotius," added the captain of the
steamer, who had been an attentive listener to the story.
The steamer went but a short distance farther up the Waal, and then came
about. She soon reached Dort, or Dordrecht, where she made a landing,
and the students wandered for an hour through the streets of this
ancient town.
"This is a musty old place," said Paul, as he walked up one of the
streets with a canal in the middle of it, in company with Mr. Fluxion
and the surgeon; "I shouldn't feel safe here unless I lived in a boat."
"Many of the people live in boats, as you perceive," added Mr. Fluxion,
as he pointed to a gayly-painted craft, on the deck of which was a group
of children.
At the little window in the stern sat a woman, sewing, while another was
knitting near the cabin door. There were white muslin curtains at the
stern ports, and what could be seen of the interior of the apartment
indicated that it was kept extremely neat.
"I think I should prefer to live in something that would float, in case
of accident," laughed the doctor, "especially in this part of Holland.
The operation of the water is wonderful. The channel in front of Dort
was formed by an inundation which separated the town from the main land,
leaving it deep enough to float the largest Indiaman."
"The Leck, on which we sailed for a time after leaving Rotterdam, was a
canal dug by the Romans to connect the Rhine and the Waal," added Mr.
Fluxion. "A freshet cleaned it out, and tore away its banks so as to
make the present broad river of it. In an inundation a few years later,
seventy-two villages were swept away, and one hundred thousand people
lost their lives. Thirty-five of these villages were never heard from
afterwards, and not even their ruins could be found."
"I should emigrate if I lived here," said Paul.
"The people of Holland are very much attached to their country," replied
Dr. Winstock.
"Well, they ought to be, on the principle that we like best what has
cost us the most trouble to procure," added Paul. "It seems to me a
great pity that people should struggle here to keep their heads above
water, when we have so much spare land in America. We could take them
all in without feeling it."
"Dutchmen would not feel at home on high ground."
"We could plant them down in Louisiana, and even treat them to an
occasional inundation."
"Certainly we should be very happy to accommodate them with a country.
We have a great many Dutchmen already, and they make thrifty,
industrious, and useful people," continued the doctor. "But I think, if
Holland were blotted out of existence, the world would miss it very
much."
"This is a great lumber port," said Mr. Fluxion. "Those great rafts
which float down the Rhine from Switzerland are mostly brought to this
place. I hope the boys will have a chance to see one of those rafts, for
they are stupendous affairs. One of them sometimes contains a hundred
and fifty thousand dollars' worth of lumber, and has a crew of four or
five hundred men."
"I think I heard Mr. Lowington say that we were to go down the Rhine,"
replied Paul.
"That is the Kloveniers Doelen," said Mr. Fluxion, as he led his
companions into a back street and pointed out an old Gothic building.
"It was here that the Protestant divines discussed the doctrines of the
reformed religion, whose 'miraculous labors made hell tremble,' to quote
the words of its presiding officer. The assembly is called in history
the Synod of Dort. The building, as you may see by reading the sign, is
now a low public house and dance-hall."
"Reading the sign!" exclaimed Paul, laughing; "a fellow would knock all
the teeth out of his head in attempting to speak some of these words."
"But many of them are very like English words. A dike is a _dijk_."
"Steamboats are _stoombooten_," said Paul; "and a street is a straat.
What are canals?"
"_Grachten_; the drawbridge is _ophaalbruggen_."
"Whew!" whistled Paul.
"But you can observe something like open-bridge in the sound. You see
that the _spiegels_ are very common here."
"I see they are; but I haven't the least idea what they are."
"The little mirrors placed outside the windows."
"I saw plenty of them in Antwerp."
"They are not as common there as in Holland, where they are to be seen
attached to almost every house. By this contrivance a Dutch dame can see
every person that passes in the street, without raising the blinds. But
I think the hour is nearly up, and we must return to the steamer," said
Mr. Fluxion.
The party went on board, and the steamer returned to Rotterdam by a
different route from that by which she had come. The next day was
Sunday. After the second service on board the ship, Mr. Fluxion, having
occasion to go on shore, invited Paul to accompany him.
"It will not seem much like Sunday to you in Rotterdam," said the
vice-principal, as they landed at the _quai_.
"I supposed the Dutch were very strict."
"Some of them are. Look down that street," said Mr. Fluxion, as he
pointed to the broad avenue which bordered the great river. "You observe
that the _quais_ are all lined with ships. In the houses opposite live
the merchants. They occupy the upper stories of the buildings, while the
lower are used as counting-rooms and storehouses. The ship-owner sits at
his parlor window and witnesses the unlading of his vessel."
They walked up to the Hotel des Pays-Bas, which the traveller is
informed by its card is situated in the _Korte Hoogstraat, wijk No.
287_, where Mr. Fluxion desired to see a gentleman who had engaged to
meet him there. In one of the public rooms a party were playing cards,
drinking, and smoking, and talking Dutch in the most vehement manner.
After a stay of an hour at the hotel, they returned to the _quai_,
passing through _Zandstraat_, which was filled with people, shouting,
singing, and skylarking. About every other shop appeared to be a
drinking saloon, in which a fiddle or a hurdy-gurdy was making wild
music, while the floor was crowded with men and women dancing.
In another street they encountered a mock procession of girls and boys,
singing in the most stormy manner as they marched along. It was not at
all like Sunday, and Paul was so shocked at the desecration of the day,
that he was glad to regain the silence of his cabin in the Josephine.