CHAPTER XXXIII.
Peter felt animated with new life. A fresh store of courage andenthusiasm filled his breast, for he constantly received a new supplyfrom the stout-hearted woman by his side.
Under the pressure of the terrible responsibility he endured, and urgedby his fellow-magistrates, he had consented, at the meeting of thecouncil, to write to Valdez and ask him to give free passage toembassadors, who were to entreat the estates and the Prince of Orange torelease the tortured city from her oath.
Valdez made every effort to induce the burgomaster to enter into farthernegotiations, but the latter remained firm, and no petition for releasefrom the sacred duty of resistance left the city. The two Van der Does,Van Hout, Junker von Warmond, and other resolute men, who had already,in the great assembly, denounced any intercourse with the enemy, nowvaliantly supported him against his fellow-magistrates and the council,that with the exception of seven of its members, persistently andvehemently urged the commencement of negotiations.
Adrian rapidly recovered, but Doctor Bontius's prediction was terriblyfulfilled, for famine and pestilence vied with each other in horriblefury, and destroyed almost half of all the inhabitants of theflourishing city. Intense was the gloom, dark the sky, yet even amidstthe cruel woe there was many an hour in which bright sunshine illuminedsouls, and hope unfurled her green banner. The citizens of Leyden rosefrom their couches more joyously, than a bride roused by the singingof her companions on her wedding-day, when on the morning of Septembereleventh loud and long-continued cannonading was heard from thedistance, and the sky became suffused with a crimson glow. The villagessouthwest of the city were burning. Every house, every barn that sunkinto ashes, burying the property of honest men, was a bonfire to thedespairing citizens.
The Beggars were approaching!
Yonder, where the cannon thundered and the horizon glowed, lay theLand-scheiding, the bulwark which for centuries had guarded the plainssurrounding Leyden from the assaults of the waves, and now barred theway of the fleet bringing assistance.
"Fall, protecting walls, rise, tempest, swallow thy prey, raging sea,destroy the property of the husbandman, ruin our fields and meadows, butdrown the foe or drive him hence." So sang Janus Dousa, so rang a voicein Peter's soul, so prayed Maria, and with her thousands of men andwomen.
But the glow in the horizon died away, the firing ceased. A second dayelapsed, a third and fourth, but no messenger arrived, no Beggar shipappeared, and the sea seemed to be calm; but another terrible powerincreased, moving with mysterious, stealthy, irresistible might; Death,with his pale companions, Despair and Famine.
The dead were borne secretly to their graves under cover of the darknessof night, to save their scanty ration for the survivors, in the divisionof food. The angel of death flew from house to house, touched prettylittle Bessie's heart, and kissed her closed eyes while she slumbered inthe quiet night.
The faint-hearted and the Spanish sympathizers raised their headsand assembled in bands, one of which forced a passage into thecouncil-chamber and demanded bread. But not a crumb remained, and themagistrates had nothing more to distribute except a small portion of cowand horse-flesh, and boiled and salted hides.
During this period of the sorest distress, Van der Werff was passingdown the "broad street." He did not notice that a throng of desperatemen and women were pursuing him with threats; but as he turned to enterVan Hout's house, suddenly found himself surrounded. A pallid woman,with her dying child in her arms, threw herself before him, held outthe expiring infant, and cried in hollow tones: "Let this be enough,let this be enough--see here, see this; it is the third. Let this beenough!"
"Enough, enough! Bread, bread! Give us bread!" was shrieked and shoutedaround him, and threatening weapons and stones were raised; but acarpenter, whom he knew, and who had hitherto faithfully upheld the goodcause, advanced saying in measured accents, in his deep voice: "This cango on no longer. We have patiently borne hunger and distress in fightingagainst the Spaniards and for our Bible, but to struggle against certaindeath is madness."
Peter, pale and agitated, gazed at the mother, the child, the sturdyworkman and the threatening, shrieking mob. The common distress, whichafflicted them and so many starving people, oppressed his soul with athousand-fold greater power. He would fain have drawn them all to hisheart, as brothers in misfortune, companions of a future, worthierexistence. With deep emotion, he looked from one to the other, thenpressed his hand upon his breast and called to the crowd, which throngedaround him:
"Here I stand. I have sworn to faithfully endure to the end; and youdid so with me. I will not break my oath, but I can die. If my life willserve you, here I am! I have no bread, but here, here is my body. Takeit, lay hands on me, tear me to pieces. Here I stand, here I stand. Iwill keep my oath."
The carpenter bent his head, and said in a hollow tone: "Come, people,let God's will be done; we have sworn."
The burgomaster quietly entered his friend's house. Frau Van Hout hadseen and heard all this, and on the very same day told the story toMaria, her eyes sparkling brightly as she exclaimed: "Never did I seeany man so noble as he was in that hour! It is well for us, thathe rules within these walls. Never will our children and children'schildren forget this deed."
They have treasured it in their memories, and during the nightsucceeding the day on which the burgomaster acted so manly a part, aletter arrived from the Prince, full of joyous and encouraging news. Thenoble man had recovered, and was striving with all his power to rescuebrave Leyden. The Beggars had cut the Landscheiding, their vessels werepressing onward--help was approaching, and the faithful citizen whobrought the letter, had seen with his own eyes the fleet bringing reliefand the champions of freedom, glowing with martial ardor. The two Vander Does, by the same letter, were appointed the Prince's commissionersin place of the late Herr Van Bronkhorst. Van der Werff no longer stoodalone, and when the next morning "Father William's" letter was readaloud and the messenger's news spread abroad, the courage and confidenceof the tortured citizens rose like withering grass after a refreshingrain.
But they were still condemned to long weeks of anxiety and suffering.
During the last days of September they were forced to slaughter the cowshitherto spared for the infants and young mothers, and then, then?
Help was close at hand, for the sky often reddened, and the air wasshaken by the roar of distant cannon; but the east wind continued toprevail, driving back the water let in upon the land, and the vesselsneeded a rising flood to approach the city.
Not one of all the messengers, who had been sent out, returned; therewas nothing certain, save the cruelly increasing unendurable suffering.Even Barbara had succumbed, and complained of weakness and loathing ofthe ordinary food.
Maria thought of the roast-pigeon, which had agreed with Bessie so well,and went to the musician, to ask if he could sacrifice another of hispets for her sister-in-law.
Wilhelm's mother received the burgomaster's wife. The old lady wassitting wearily in an arm-chair; she could still walk, but amid heranxiety and distress a strange twitching had affected her hands. WhenMaria made her request, she shook her head, saying: "Ask him yourself.He's obliged to keep the little creatures shut up, for whenever theyappear, the poor starving people shoot at them. There are only threeleft. The messengers took the others, and they haven't returned.
"Thank God for it; the little food he still has, will do more good indishes, than in their crops. Would you believe it? A fortnight agohe paid fifty florins out of his savings for half a sack of peas, andHeaven knows where he found them. Ulrich, Ulrich! Take Frau Van derWerff up to Wilhelm. I'd willingly spare you the climb, but he'swatching for the carrier-pigeons that have been sent out, and won'teven come down to his meals. To be sure, they would hardly be worth thetrouble!"
It was a clear, sunny day. Wilhelm was standing in his look-out, gazingover the green, watery plain, that lay out-spread below him, towardsthe south. Behind him sat Andreas, the fencing-master's fatherless boy
;writing notes, but his attention was not fixed on his work; for as soonas he had finished a line he too gazed towards the horizon, watching forthe pigeon his teacher expected. He did not look particularly emaciated,for many a grain of the doves' food had been secretly added to hisscanty ration of meat.
Wilhelm showed that he felt both surprised and honored by Frau Van derWerff's visit, and even promised to grant her request, though it wasevident that the "saying yes" was by no means easy for him.
The young wife went out on the balcony with him, and he showed her inthe south, where usually nothing but a green plain met the eye, a wideexpanse over which a light mist was hovering. The noon sun seemed tosteep the white vapor with light, and lure it upward by its ardent rays.This was the water streaming through the broken dyke, and the blackoblong specks moving along its edges were the Spanish troops and herdsof cattle, that had retreated before the advancing flood from the outerfortifications, villages and hamlets. The Land-scheiding itself was notvisible, but the Beggars had already passed it. If the fleet succeededin reaching the Zoetermere Lake and from thence.
Wilhelm suddenly interrupted his explanation, for Andreas had suddenlystarted up, upsetting his stool, and exclaimed:
"It's coming! The dove! Roland, my fore man, there it comes!"
For the first time Wilhelm heard the boy's lips utter his father'sexclamation. Some great emotion must have stirred his heart, and intruth he was not mistaken; the speck piercing the air, which hiskeen eye had discovered, was no longer a mere spot, but an oblongsomething--a bird, the pigeon!
Wilhelm seized the flag on the balcony, and waved it as joyously asever conqueror unfurled his banner after a hard-won fight. The dove camenearer--alighted, slipped into the cote, and a few minutes after themusician appeared with a tiny letter.
"To the magistrates!" cried Wilhelm. "Take it to your husband at once.Oh! dear lady, dear lady, finish what the dove has begun. Thank God!thank God! they are already at North-Aa. This will save the poor peoplefrom despair! And now one thing more! You shall have the roasted bird,but take this grain too; a barley-porridge is the best medicine forBarbara's condition; I've tried it!"
When evening came, and the musician had told his parents the joyfulnews, he ordered the blue dove with the white breast to be caught. "Killit outside the house," said he, "I can't bear to see it."
Andreas soon came back with the beheaded pigeon.
His lips were bloody, Wilhelm knew from what, yet he did not reprove thehungry boy, but merely said:
"Fie, you pole-cat!"
Early the next morning a second dove returned. The letters thewinged messengers had brought were read aloud from the windows of thetown-hall, and the courage of the populace, pressed to the extremestlimits of endurance, flickered up anew and helped them bear theirmisery. One of the letters was addressed to the magistrates, the otherto Janus Dousa; they sounded confident and hopeful, and the Prince,the faithful shield of liberty, the friend and guide of the people, hadrecovered from his sickness and visited the vessels and troops intendedfor the relief of Leyden. Rescue was so near, but the north-east windwould not change, and the water did not rise. Great numbers of citizens,soldiers, magistrates and women stood on the citadel and other elevatedplaces, gazing into the distance.
A thousand hands were clasped in fervent prayer, and the eyes of allwere turned in feverish expectation and eager yearning towards thesouth, but the boundary line of the waves did not move; and the sun, asif in mockery, burst cheerily through the mists of the autumn morning,imparted a pleasant warmth to the keen air, and in the evening sanktowards the west in the midst of radiant light, diffusing its goldenrays far and wide. The cloudless blue sky arched pitilessly over thecity, and at night glittered with thousands of twinkling stars. Earlyon the morning of the twenty-ninth the mists grew denser, the grassremained dry, the fogs lifted, the cool air changed to a sultryatmosphere, the grey clouds piled in masses on each other, and grewblack and threatening. A light breeze rose, stirring the leaflessbranches of the trees, then a sudden gust of wind swept over theheads of the throngs watching the distant horizon. A second and thirdfollowed, then a howling tempest roared and hissed without cessationthrough the city, wrenching tiles from the roofs, twisting thefruit-trees in the gardens and the young elms and lindens in many astreet, tearing away the flags the boys had fastened on the walls indefiance of the Spaniards, lashing the still waters of the city moatand quiet canals, and--the Lord does not abandon His own--and the vanesturned, the storm came from the north-west. No one saw the result, butthe sailors shouted the tidings, and each individual caught up the wordsand bore them exultantly on--the hurricane drove the sea into the mouthof the Meuse, forcing back the waves of the river by its fierce assault,driving them over its banks through the gaps opened in the dykes, andthe gates of the sluices, and bearing forward on their towering creststhe vessels bringing deliverance.
Roar, roar, thou storm, stream, stream, rushing rain, rage, waves,and destroy the meadows, swallow up houses and villages! Thousandsand thousands of people on the walls and towers of Leyden hail yourapproach, behold in you the terrible armies of the avenging God, exultand shout a joyous welcome!
For two successive days the burgomaster, Maria and Adrian, the Van derDoes and Van Houts stood with brief intervals of rest among the throngon the citadel or the tower at the Cow-Gate; even Barbara, farmore strengthened by hope than by the barley-porridge or the leancarrier-pigeon, would not stay at home, but dragged herself to themusician's look-out, for every one wanted to see the rising water, theearth softening, the moisture creeping between the blades of grass, thenspreading into pools and ponds, until at last there was a wide expanseof water, on which bubbles rose, burst under the descending rain, andformed ever-widening circles. Every one wanted to watch the Spaniards,hurrying hither and thither like sheep pursued by a wolf. Every onewanted to hear the thunder of the Beggars' cannon, the rattle oftheir arquebuses and muskets; men and women thought the tempest thatthreatened to sweep them away, pleasanter than the softest breeze, andthe pouring rain, which drenched them, preferable to spring dew-dropsmirroring the sunshine.
Behind the strong fort of Lammen, defended by several hundred Spanishsoldiers, and the Castle of Cronenstein, a keen eye could distinguishthe Beggars' vessels.
During Thursday and Friday Wilhelm watched in vain for a dove, but onSaturday his best flier returned, bringing a letter from Admiral Boisot,who called upon the armed forces of the city to sally out on Friday andattack Lammen.
The storm had blown the pigeon away. It had reached the city too late,but on Saturday evening Janus Dousa and Captain Van der Laen wereactively engaged, summoning every one capable of bearing arms to appearearly Sunday morning. Poor, pale, emaciated troops were those who obeyedthe leaders' call, but not a man was absent and each stood ready to givehis life for the deliverance of the city and his family.
The tempest had moderated, the firing had ceased, and the night was darkand sultry. No eyes wished to sleep, and those whose slumber overpoweredfor a short time, were startled and terrified by strange, mysteriousnoises. Wilhelm sat in his look-out, gazing towards the south andlistening intently. Sometimes a light gust of wind whistled around thelofty house, sometimes a shout, a scream, or the blast of a trumpetechoed through the stillness of the night; then a crashing noise, as ifan earthquake had shaken part of the city to its foundations, arose nearthe Cow-Gate. Not a star was visible in the sky, but bright spots, likewill-o'-the-wisps, moved through the dense gloom in regular order nearLanimen. It was a horrible, anxious night.
Early next morning the citizens saw that a part of the city-wall nearthe Cow-Gate had fallen, and then unexampled rejoicing arose at thebreach, no longer dangerous; exultant cries echoed through every streetand alley, drawing from the houses men and women, grey-beards andchildren, the sick and the well, one after another thronging tothe Cow-Gate, where the Beggars' fleet was seen approaching. Thecity-carpenter, Thomassohn, and other men, tore out of the water theposts by which the Spaniards had
attempted to bar the vessels' advance,then the first ship, followed by a second and third, arrived at thewalls. Stern, bearded men, with fierce, scarred, weather-beaten faces,whose cheeks for years had been touched by no salt moisture, save thesea-spray, smiled kindly at the citizens, flung them one loaf of breadafter another, and many other good things of which they had long beendeprived, weeping and sobbing with emotion like children, while the poorpeople eat and eat, unable to utter a word of thanks. Then the leaderscame, Admiral Boisot embraced the Van der Does and Burgomaster Van derWerff, the Beggar captain Van Duijkenburg was clasped in the arms of hismother, Barbara, and many a Leyden man hugged a liberator, on whom hiseyes now rested for the first time. Many, many tears fell, thousands ofhearts overflowed, and the Sunday bells, sounding so much clearer andgayer than usual, summoned rescuers and rescued to the churches to pray.The spacious sanctuary was too small for the worshippers, and when thepastor, Corneliussohn, who filled the place of the good Verstroot, nowill from caring for so many sufferers, called upon the congregation togive thanks, his exhortation had long since been anticipated; from thefirst notes of the organ, the thousands who poured into the churchhad been filled with the same eager longing, to utter thanks, thanks,fervent thanks.
In the Grey Sisters' chapel Father Damianus also thanked the Lord, andwith him Nicolas Van Wibisma and other Catholics, who loved their nativeland and liberty.
After church Adrian, holding a piece of bread in one hand and his shoesin the other, waded at the head of his school-mates through the highermeadows to Leyderdorp, to see the Spaniards' deserted camp. There stoodthe superb tent of General Valdez, in which, over the bed, hung a map ofthe Rhine country, drawn by the Netherlander Beeldsnijder to injure hisown nation. The boys looked at it, and a Beggar, who had formerly beenin a writing-school and now looked like a sea-bear, said:
"Look here, my lads. There is the Land-scheiding.
"We first pierced that, but more was to be done. The green path had manyobstacles, and here at the third dyke--they call it the Front-way--therewere hard nuts to crack, and farther progress was impossible. We now 45returned, made a wide circuit across the Segwaertway, and through thiscanal here, where there was hard fighting, to North-Aa. The ZoetermeerLake now lay behind us, but the water became too shallow and we couldget no farther. Have you seen the great Ark of Delft? It's a hugevessel, moved by wheels, by which the water is thrust aside. You'llbe delighted with it. At last the Lord gave us the storm and thespring-tide. Then the vessels had the right depth of water. There waswarm work again at the Kirk-way, but the day before yesterday we reachedLammen. Many a brave man has fallen on both sides, but at Lammen everyone expected the worst struggle to take place. We were going to attackit early this morning, but when day dawned everything was unnaturallyquiet in the den, and moreover, a strange stillness prevailed. Then wethought: Leyden has surrendered; starvation conquered her. But it wasnothing of the sort! You are people of the right stamp, and soon after alad about as large as one of you, came to our vessel and told us he hadseen a long procession of lights move out of the fort during the nightand march away. At first we wouldn't believe him, but the boy was right.The water had grown too hot for the crabs, and the lights the lad sawwere the Spaniards' lunts. Look, children, there is Lammen--"
Adrian had gone close to the map with his companions and now interruptedthe Beggar by laughing loudly.
"What is it, curly-head?" asked the latter.
"Look, look!" cried the boy, "the great General Valdez has immortalizedhimself here, and there is his name too. Listen, listen! The rectorwould hang a placard with the word donkey round his neck, for he haswritten: 'Castelli parvi! Vale civitas, valete castelli parvi; relictiestis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!' Oh! the donkey 'Castelliparvi!'"
"What does it mean?" asked the Beggar.
"Farewell, Leyden, farewell, ye little 'Castelli;' ye are abandonedon account of the waves, and not of the power of the enemy. 'ParviCastelli!' I must tell mother that!"
On Monday, William of Orange entered Leyden, and went to Herr vonMontfort's house. The people received their Father William with joy, andthe unwearied champion of liberty, in the midst of the exultation andrejoicing that surrounded him, labored for the future prosperity of thecity. At a later period he rewarded the faithful endurance of the peoplewith a peerless memorial: the University of Leyden. This awakened andkept alive in the busy city and the country bleeding for years in severeconflicts, that lofty aspiration and effort, which is its own reward,and places eternal welfare far above mere temporal prosperity. The tree,whose seed was planted amid the deepest misery, conflict and calamity,has borne the noblest fruits for humanity, still bears them, and if itis the will of God will continue to bear them for centuries.
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On the twenty-sixth of July, 1581, seven years after the rescue ofLeyden, Holland and Zealand, whose political independence had alreadybeen established for six years, proclaimed themselves at the Haguefree from Spain. Hitherto, William of Orange had ruled as King Philip's"stadtholder," and even the war against the monarch had been carriedon in his name. Nay, the document establishing the University, a paper,which with all the earnestness that dictated it, deserves to be calledan unsurpassed masterpiece of the subtlest political irony, purported toissue from King Philip's mouth, and it sounds amusing enough to readin this paper, that the gloomy dunce in the Escurial, after maturedeliberation with his dear and faithful cousin, William of Orange, hasdetermined to found a free-school and university, from motives, whichcould not fail to seem abominable to the King.
On the twenty-fourth of July this game ceased, allegiance to Philip wasrenounced, and the Prince assumed sovereign authority.
Three days after, these joyful events were celebrated by a splendidbanquet at Herr Van der Werff's house. The windows of the dining-roomwere thrown wide open, and the fresh breeze of the summer night fannedthe brows of the guests, who had assembled around the burgomaster'stable. They were the most intimate friends of the family: Janus Dousa,Van Hout, the learned Doctor Grotius of Delft, who to Maria's delighthad been invited to Leyden as a professor, and this very year filledthe office of President of the new University, the learned tavern-keeperAquarius, Doctor Bontius, now professor of medicine at the University,and many others.
The musician Wilhelm was also present, but no longer alone; besidehim sat his beautiful, delicate wife, Anna d'Avila, with whom he hadrecently returned from Italy. He had borne for several years the nameof Van Duivenbode (messenger-dove), which the city had bestowed on him,together with a coat of arms bearing three blue doves on a silver fieldand two crossed keys.
With the Prince's consent the legacies bequeathed by old Fraulein VanHoogstraten to her relatives and servants, had been paid, and Wilhelmnow occupied with his wife a beautiful new house, that did not lacka dovecote, and where Maria, though her four children gave her littletime, took part in many a madrigal. The musician had much to say aboutRome and his beautiful sister-in-law Henrica, to Adrian, now a fineyoung man, who had graduated at the University and was soon to beadmitted to the council. Belotti, after the death of the young girl'sfather, who had seen and blessed Anna again, went to Italy with her,where she lived as superior of a secular institution, where music wascultivated with special devotion.
Barbara did not appear among the guests. She had plenty to do in thekitchen. Her white caps were now plaited with almost coquettish skilland care, and the firm, contented manner in which she ruled Trautchenand the two under maid-servants showed that everything was going on wellin Peter's house and business. It was worth while to do a great dealfor the guests upstairs. Junker von Warmond was among them, and hadbeen given the seat of honor between Doctor Grotius and Janus Dousa, thefirst trustee of the University, for he had become a great noblemanand influential statesman, who found much difficulty in getting time toleave the Hague and attend the banquet with his young assistant, NicolasVan Wibisma. He drank to Meister Aquanus as eagerly and gaily as ever,exclaimi
ng:
"To old times and our friend, Georg von Dornburg."
"With all my heart," replied the landlord. "We haven't heard of his bolddeeds and expeditions for a long time."
"Of course! The fermenting wine is now clear. Dornburg is in theEnglish service, and four weeks ago I met him as a member of her BritishMajesty's navy in London. His squadron is now on the way to Venice.He still cherishes an affectionate memory of Leyden, and sends kindremembrances to you, but you would never recognize in the dignifiedcommander and quiet, cheerful man, our favorite in former days. Howoften his enthusiastic temperament carried him far beyond us all, andhow it would make the heart ache to see him brooding mournfully over hissecret grief."
"I met the Junker in Delft," said Doctor Grotius. "Such enthusiasticnatures easily soar too high and then get a fall, but when they yokethemselves to the chariot of work and duty, their strength moves vastburdens, and with cheerful superiority conquers the hardest obstacles."
Meantime Adrian, at a sign from his father, had risen and filled theglasses with the best wine. The "hurrah," led by the Burgomaster, wasgiven to the Prince, and Janus Dousa followed it by a toast to theindependence and liberty of their native land.
Van Hout devoted a glass to the memory of the days of trouble, and thecity's marvellous deliverance. All joined in the toast, and after thecheers had died away, Aquanus said:
"Who would not gladly recall the exquisite Sunday of October third; butwhen I think of the misery that preceded it, my heart contracts, even atthe present day."
At these words Peter clasped Maria's hand, pressed it tenderly, andwhispered:
"And yet, on the saddest day of my life, I found my best treasure."
"So did I!" she replied, gazing gratefully into his faithful eyes.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
A blustering word often does good service Art ceases when ugliness begins Debts, but all anxiety concerning them is left to the creditors Despair and extravagant gayety ruled her nature by turns Drinking is also an art, and the Germans are masters of it Hat is the sign of liberty, and the free man keeps his hat on Held in too slight esteem to be able to offer an affront Here the new custom of tobacco-smoking was practised Must take care not to poison the fishes with it Repos ailleurs Standing still is retrograding The shirt is closer than the coat The best enjoyment in creating is had in anticipation Those two little words 'wish' and 'ought' To whom fortune gives once, it gives by bushels To whom the emotion of sorrow affords a mournful pleasure Wet inside, he can bear a great deal of moisture without Youth calls 'much,' what seems to older people 'little'
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