*IV*
On the afternoon of that day, the Spaniards made a very hot assault at abreach in the wall hard by the north gate of the city. From thecommencement of the siege this had been the chief mark of theirordnance, the which had cast upon it as many as a thousand shot a day.But the burghers had diligently repaired by night the mischief wroughtin daytime, so that the damage was but small; and the assaults which thebesiegers had already made upon the breach had been repelled with nogreat difficulty.
Nevertheless, on this day the attack was exceeding fierce. TheSpaniards swarmed into the breach, and endeavoured mightily at push ofpike to bear down our defences. Our burghers met them with heroicalcourage, and quit themselves well in the close fighting upon the wall. Iwas not sorry that the assault had been delivered so soon after myentrance into the city, for I had thereby occasion to win the goodfavour of the burghers by lending them aid, thereby getting me a shrewdknock or two. There was no question of generalship or high strategy; itwas sheer journeyman fighting. In this I observed that the Captain ofthe Guard played a right valiant part, and I saw with a good deal ofsatisfaction that young Jan Verhoeff pressed ever into the thickest ofthe fray, and plied his pike with commendable spirit. The tide ofbattle carried me more than once to his side, and I marked his face alitwith the joy of the true warrior. We beat back the invaders, though notwithout losing many of our ripest pikemen and calivermen, a heavy tollupon our success.
It had not escaped my observation that the city fathers were scarce soforward at this critical moment as loyalty and good example required. Isaw neither the Burgomaster nor Mynheer Volmar, but I learnt thatcertain of the council had posted themselves very valiantly at suchparts of the defences as were not at that time threatened. As Ireturned with Jan Verhoeff to his mother's house I overheard twoburghers speaking together of this witness to their rulers' valiancy,and Jan shot a look at me that seemed to question whether I nourisheddoubts of the worthy fathers. I said nothing on that head, but spoke ofthe tough work we had been through, the which I hoped would discouragethe enemy from attempting another assault for some time. I said too thatsince he must be very weary, he would be loth to serve among the nightwatch, whereupon he told me that he was free for that night, his turn ofduty coming upon every second day.
I mention this because, in the middle of the night, as I lay cogitatinga scheme I purposed to put next day before the Captain of the Guard, Iheard the young man, whose room was beside mine, descend the stairs andgo forth of the house. This circumstance caused me to wonder somewhatwhat his errand might be, for after the fatigue of the day it must be athing of moment that could draw him from his bed. But being deeplyconcerned with matters of my own, I gave over thinking of him, and onlyremembered his going forth when I saw him pale and hard of eye at ourbreakfast in the morning. The good lady his mother asked if he had notslept well. "Passably," he answered, and said no more, whereby I knewthat, whatsoever his errand had been, it was to be kept secret from hismother.
I lost no time in seeking out the Captain of the Guard, to acquaint himwith the fruit of my cogitations in the night. He had already confessedto me that he had but small training in the arts of war; wherefore,being already assured of his fidelity and of his doughtiness in fight, Ihad no squeamishness in offering him my counsel, which a more triedwarrior might have taken amiss.
I first pointed out to him certain weak places in the defences of thecity; to wit, the neighbourhood of a mill, where the city wall had notbeen strengthened because of some fancied assurance that the mill racewas protection enough; and also the rampart by the church, where a thickclump of trees without the wall offered good cover to the enemyresolutely assaulting. The Captain was very quick to see thesedeficiencies when I had mentioned them, and perfectly ready to make themgood.
From this I proceeded to a further matter.
"Sir," I said to him, "your men did right nobly yesterday; yet methinkswe should not be content merely with having beat back the Spaniards. Toendue them with a true respect for us, and our men with a true respectfor themselves, it needs to repay them in their own coin: I mean, tosally out and fall upon them unawares, at some convenient spot of theircamp."
He turned upon me a troubled countenance, and said--
"Sir, I doubt not of the soundness of your reasoning, nor of the goodthat would spring from a successful sally; but I question if we shouldprosper. My men are stout of heart, and behind their walls fight withsturdy resolution; but they are not bred to war, being in the mainsimple burghers that have taken up arms by mere necessity: and beyondthe walls I fear lest their skill should not match with their courage."
Whereupon I set myself with patience to overcome his diffidence,confirming my arguments with instances from the wars of King Henry ofNavarre. Having brought him to my mind, we repaired together to thecouncil chamber, where the council met every morning, and I laid myscheme before the assembled fathers, employing a rhetorical manner ofexposition for which I was beholden to my study of Cicero his orations.The little Burgomaster took fire from my rhetoric, and, to my secretamusement, began to deliver himself of sundry fine sentiments in tune.He swore that, were he captain, he would do this and that, force afooting here and seize a place of vantage there, and smite thoseAmalekites (so he termed the Spaniards), even as Joshua, the son of Nun.
This was my opportunity. While his face was still red with warlikeardour, and the fumes of his valiance filled the air, I addressed him inwords wherein I sought to infuse deference mingled with admiration.
"Worshipful sir," said I, "happy is the city whose head is of sovalorous and undauntable a spirit. With joy I hail you as leader of ourforay, whom to follow will make me proud, as I doubt not it will makealso the Captain of the Guard and every man of this devoted garrison."
At this the Burgomaster bridled and looked round upon the councillorswith an assured and dauntless mien. The eyes of the Captain of theGuard twinkled, but for me alone; and on the dark countenance of MynheerVolmar I observed a sneer.
My plan was devised, in fact, to procure, if we could, a quantity offood from the Spaniards' camp, such as, in our present dearth, would beexceeding acceptable. I advised that our attack should be made at dusk,when the enemy were cooking their evening meal, and upon that part oftheir camp where the cooking was chiefly done, if we might judge by thenumber of the fires in that quarter. It was also, as I had perceived,the quarter least amply defended, and most easily assailable from ourside. By my scheme, a strong muster of the burghers should engage theattention of the Spaniards on the ramparts near the church, while anelect body of two hundred and fifty, with a support of equal number,should sally forth at the mill, fall swiftly upon the camp, lay hands onall that we could, and retire into the city under cover of the support.
I will not try your patience with relating in gross the history of thisenterprise or of the many others, small and great, wherein I had a partwhile I sojourned in Bargen. I mention it for no other reason thanbecause it was the first of those that I devised, of which some came toless happy issues, when the Spaniards grew more wary. In truth, myremembrance of the most of these is but dim, and this the first wouldhardly be so clear in my mind were it not close inmeshed with thebehaviour of Mynheer Warmond the Burgomaster, who from that timeestablished for himself a name for valour which his less courageousdoings thereafter could not wholly dim.
For all his brave words at the council, when it came to the point thelittle man set forth sundry doubts in respect of his fitness to lead oursally. Being a man of full habit, and one that went heavily upon hispins, he feared lest his tardiness of gait should put a check upon usmore nimble footers. Whereto I answered that, stayed up and furtheredby two sturdy burghers of proved celerity, one on either side, and firedwith his own lusty spirit, he would out of question not lag a yardlength behind the nimblest of us. Whereupon he confessed that he wasnever equal to himself in the dark, and my answer was that he had but tokeep his eyes steadfastly fixed on th
e lights in the Spaniards' campbefore him. In short, to every objection of this nature I had my answerready, nor would I allow that we could have any assurance of successunless he were our leader.
'Twas falling dusk, and mirky, when, all things being ready, we issuedforth of the gate in utter silence, the Burgomaster toddling with scantbreath at my side. We made such haste as that we were nigh upon theSpanish trenches ere we were discovered. Having swiftly dispatched thefew sentinels that held watch at this quarter, we sped over the trenchand ran, as though 'twas a race for a prize, across the space of openground that sundered it from the camp. Here there were but few of theenemy afoot, and they busied for the most part with cooking, the main ofthe force being gathered in front of the gate by the church, where theburghers had been mustered with blare of trumpet and tuck of drum todeceive them. These busy cooks, as soon as they espied us, tookincontinently to their heels, sending up a great cry and clamour forhelp; whereupon some companies of the enemy, which had been standing toarms at no greater distance than two or three furlongs, came towards usat full stretch of legs, kindling their matches as they ran. I postedfourscore of our party to deal with them, while the rest of us madediligent perquisition in the enemy's pantry. Thus we gained time enoughto seize as much victual as we could carry, which done, at a blast of mywhistle we turned our backs upon the camp and made all convenient speedtowards our own walls.
Being cumbered with divers big and unwieldy burdens, even with makingthe utmost expedition we were not able to compass our safety before thevanward of the enemy burst upon us. With the fourscore men aforesaid,some pikemen, some arquebusiers, I held our rearward, having by me theworshipful Burgomaster, whom indeed I had been at pains to hold withinreach. At our first coming to the camp, when the cookmen fled, thelittle Burgomaster was like to split with his heroical valiance anduntameable fury. Crying havoc upon the Castilian dogs he brandished histuck with no small peril to his own party. But when it came toplundering, his warlike ardour was assuaged in admiration of theflesh-pots. He caught up a long chain of bag-puddings, such as had notbeen seen in Bargen for many a day, and cast it in a merry sport abouthis neck, as it were insignia of his office. Then, still holding histuck bare with his right hand, he seized with his left a monstrous hog'sham, and so laden was ready to decamp with his booty.
The Spaniards hotly pursuing us, I perceived that the Burgomaster'svalour was now all melted away, and that he was beset by a shaking fearand trepidation. The ground over which we ran was exceeding rugged, andthe little round man puffed and gurgled as he tripped upon hindrances,striving to keep pace with our covering party, but perilously encumberedby the dangling puddings and the massy ham. Beholding his plight, oneof the burghers in mere kindness, or peradventure out of a licorousappetite, sought to aid him by relieving him of this part of his load;but the Burgomaster clung to it the more closely, protesting vehementlythat he would not be robbed, and beseeching us to succour and sustainhim.
Running thus in the twilight, he struck his foot upon a tussock ofgrass, and fell headlong, and lay groaning and shrieking for help,unable to rise by reason of his hands being engaged, the one with hissword, the other with the ham; for even in this extremity he clavemanfully to his weapon, and covetously to his provender. I stayed mysteps to lift him up, and by this delay saw myself overtaken by four orfive of the Spaniards, who came about to overwhelm us. Summoning to metwo of our pikemen that were happily within call, I faced about withthem to beat off this attack upon our rear, knowing well that if wecould not scatter them we must needs fly immediately for our lives,since we could hear the shouts of a numerous body hasting towards usfrom the camp.
At this pass did the Burgomaster achieve high and imperishable renown.The foremost of the Spaniards, charging full upon us, thrust out hissword towards the breast of Mynheer Warmond, and had surely then let outhis life but that by good hap I interposed my own blade, and struck theSpaniard's weapon from his hand. But the fury of his onset threw himclean upon the Burgomaster, who, letting his sword fall, but cleavingvalorously to the ham, flung his arms about the Spaniard's neck andbrought him heavily to the ground. Behold then a spectacle whereat thegods might laugh; upon the ground a marvellous medley of legs, arms,bag-puddings and ham, out of which issued a most admirable discordanceof Spanish and Low Dutch.
Being joined at this time by others of our party, we were able to holdthe pursuers at bay while I sought to disentangle the Burgomaster fromhis adversary. This was no light achievement, for the little man,clasping his foe in strength of malice and with the tight embrace of onedrowning, yet never loosing the ham, could scarce be persuaded that hewas not in the article of death. Being at length put asunder, they wereboth got upon their feet, and we hurried them at a good round pacetowards the wall. Here our supporting party was drawn up, the whichdirected a volley of bullets over our heads at the pursuers; and thesebeing further discomfited by the shot from sundry culverins parkedwithin the ramparts, the pursuit was checked, and we got safe within thecity, having lost but two or three.
Right merry were the citizens at the success of our enterprise. Someran to the church tower and set the bells a-ringing; others fired offcannon until the Captain of the Guard peremptorily forbade that wastageof powder. Our plunder was carried to the market square, and given incharge of an officer appointed to dispense it for the benefit of all.From this ordinance the Burgomaster's ham and bag-puddings were exempt,they being considered meet and convenient rewards of his prowess;moreover, he straitly refused to give them up, and marched through thestreet in a glow of triumph, bearing proudly his spoils.
RIGHT MERRY WERE THE CITIZENS AT THE SUCCESS OF OURENTERPRISE]
The Spaniard who had fallen victim to Mynheer Warmond's puddings and hamwas proved to be a captain of some note; and none having seen the mannerof his capture save myself, who held my peace thereupon, the Burgomasterwon great praise for that he had taken with his own hand, on the fieldof battle, one of the enemy's captains. He showed himself a veryglutton for applause, and I was careful to feed his appetite to thefull, because I saw that, having this large conceit of himself, and areputation to maintain, he was the less likely to become subject to thetimorous and faint-hearted members of the council. A hero in his owndespite, he vexed me often with his thrasonical airs and vainglorioustrumpetings of his own virtue; but I bore with him, believing that in sodoing I should best serve my cause.