Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates

by Mary Mapes Dodge

  XXIV

  THE BELEAGUERED CITIES

  "This open square before us," said Lambert, as he and Ben walked ontogether, "is pretty in summer, with its shady trees. They call it theRuine. Years ago it was covered with houses, and the Rapenburg canal,here, ran through the street. Well, one day a barge loaded with fortythousand pounds of gunpowder, bound for Delft, was lying alongside, andthe bargemen took a notion to cook their dinner on the deck; and beforeany one knew it, sir, the whole thing blew up, killing lots of personsand scattering about three hundred houses to the winds."

  "What!" exclaimed Ben, "did the explosion destroy three hundred houses!"

  "Yes, sir, my father was in Leyden at the time. He says it was terrible.The explosion occurred just at noon, and was like a volcano. All thispart of the town was on fire in an instant, buildings tumbling down, andmen, women and children groaning under the ruins--The King himself cameto the city and acted nobly, father says, staying out in the streets allnight, encouraging the survivors in their efforts to arrest the fire,and rescue as many as possible from under the heaps of stone andrubbish. Through his means a collection for the benefit of the suffererswas raised throughout the kingdom, besides a hundred thousand guilderspaid out of the treasury. Father was only nineteen years old then; itwas in 1807, I believe, but he remembers it perfectly. A friend of his,Professor Luzac, was among the killed. They have a tablet erected to hismemory, in Saint Peter's Church, further on--the queerest thing you eversaw--with an image of the professor carved upon it representing him justas he looked when he was found after the explosion."

  "What a strange idea! Isn't Boerhaave's monument in Saint Peter's also?"

  "I cannot remember. Perhaps Peter knows."

  The captain delighted Ben by saying that the monument was there and thathe thought they might be able to see it during the day.

  "Lambert," continued Peter, "ask Ben if he saw Van der Werf's portraitat the Town Hall last night?"

  "No," said Lambert, "I can answer for him. It was too late to go in. Isay, boys, it is really wonderful how much Ben knows. Why, he has toldme a volume of Dutch history already. I'll wager he has the siege ofLeyden at his tongue's end."

  "His tongue must burn then," interposed Ludwig, "for if Bilderdyk'saccount is true it was a pretty hot affair."

  Ben was looking at them with an inquiring smile.

  "We are speaking of the siege of Leyden," explained Lambert.

  "Oh, yes," said Ben, eagerly, "I had forgotten all about it. This wasthe very place--Let's give old Van der Werf three cheers--Hur----"

  Van Mounen uttered a hasty "hush!" and explained that, patriotic as theDutch were, the police would soon have something to say if a party ofboys cheered in the street at midday.

  "What! not cheer Van der Werf?" cried Ben, indignantly. "One of thegreatest chaps in history? Only think! Didn't he hold out against thosemurderous Spaniards for months and months! There was the town,surrounded on all sides by the enemy; great black forts sending fire anddeath into the very heart of the city--but no surrender! Every man ahero--women, and children, too, brave and fierce as lions--provisionsgiving out, the very grass from between the paving-stones gone--tillpeople were glad to eat horses and cats and dogs and rats. Then came thePlague--hundreds dying in the streets--but no surrender! Then when theycould bear no more--when the people, brave as they were, crowded aboutVan der Werf in the public square begging him to give up; what did thenoble old burgomaster say:--'I have sworn to defend this city, and withGod's help, _I mean to do it_! If my body can satisfy your hunger, takeit, and divide it among you--but expect no surrender so long as I amalive'--Hurrah! hur----"

  Ben was getting uproarious; Lambert playfully clapped his hand over hisfriend's mouth. The result was one of those quick india-rubber scufflesfearful to behold, but delightful to human nature in its polliwog state.

  "Vat wash te matter, Pen?" asked Jacob, hurrying forward.

  "Oh! nothing at all," panted Ben, "except that Van Mounen was afraid ofstarting an English riot in this orderly town. He stopped my cheeringfor old Van der----"

  "Ya! ya--it ish no goot to sheer--to make te noise for dat--You villshee old Van der Does' likeness mit te Stadhuis."

  "See old Van der Does? I thought it was Van der Werf's picture they hadthere----"

  "Ya," responded Jacob, "Van der Werf--vell, vot of it! both ish just ashgoot----"

  "Yes, Van der Does was a noble old Dutchman, but he was not Van derWerf. I know he defended the city like a brick, and----"

  "Now vot for you shay dat, Penchamin? He no defend te citty mit breek,he fight like goot soltyer mit his guns. You like make te fun miteffrysinks Tutch."

  "No! no! no! I said he defended the city like a brick. That is very highpraise, I would have you understand. We English call even the Duke ofWellington a brick."

  Jacob looked puzzled; but his indignation was already on the ebb.

  "Vell, it ish no matter. I no tink, before, soltyer mean breek, but itish no matter."

  Ben laughed good-naturedly, and seeing that his cousin was tired oftalking in English, he turned to his friend of the two languages:

  "Van Mounen! they say the very carrier-pigeons that brought news ofrelief to the besieged city are somewhere here in Leyden. I reallyshould like to see them. Just think of it! At the very height of thetrouble if the wind didn't turn, and blow in the waters, and drownhundreds of the Spaniards, and enable the Dutch boats to sail in rightover the land with men and provisions to the very gates of the city. Thepigeons, you know, did great service, in bearing letters to and fro. Ihave read somewhere that they were reverently cared for from that day,and, when they died, they were stuffed, and placed for safe keeping inthe Town Hall. We must be sure to have a look at them."

  Van Mounen laughed. "On that principle, Ben, I suppose when you go toRome you'll expect to see the identical goose who saved the Capitol. Butit will be easy enough to see the pigeons. They are in the same buildingwith Van der Werf's portrait. Which was the greatest defence, Ben, thesiege of Leyden or the siege of Haarlem?"

  "Well," replied Ben, thoughtfully, "Van der Werf is one of my heroes; weall have our historical pets, you know, but I really think the siege ofHaarlem brought out a braver, more heroic resistance even, than theLeyden one; besides they set the Leyden sufferers an example of courageand fortitude, for their turn came first."

  "I don't know much about the Haarlem siege," said Lambert, "except thatit was in 1573. Who beat?"

  "The Spaniards," said Ben. "The Dutch had stood out for months. Not aman would yield nor a woman either for that matter. They shouldered armsand fought gallantly beside their husbands and fathers. Three hundred ofthem did duty under Kanau Hesselaer, a great woman, and brave as Joan ofArc. All this time the city was surrounded by the Spaniards underFrederic of Toledo, son of that beauty, the Duke of Alva. Cut off fromall possible help from without, there seemed to be no hope for theinhabitants, but they shouted defiance over the city walls. They eventhrew bread into the enemy's camps to show that they were not afraid ofstarvation. Up to the last they held out bravely, waiting for the helpthat never could come--growing bolder and bolder until their provisionswere exhausted. Then it was terrible. In time hundreds of famishedcreatures fell dead in the streets, and the living had scarcely strengthto bury them. At last, they made the desperate resolution, that ratherthan perish by lingering torture, the strongest would form in a square,placing the weakest in the centre, and rush in a body to their death,with the faint chance of being able to fight their way through theenemy. The Spaniards received a hint of this, and believing there wasnothing the Dutch would not dare to do, they concluded to offer terms."

  "High time, I should think."

  "Yes, with falsehood and treachery they soon obtained an entrance intothe city, promising protection and forgiveness to all except those whomthe citizens themselves would acknowledge as deserving of death."

  "You don't say so!" said Lambert, quite interested; "that ended thebusiness, I suppose."

/>   "Not a bit of it," returned Ben, "for the Duke of Alva had already givenhis son orders to show mercy to none."

  "Ah! there was where the great Haarlem massacre came in. I remember now.You can't wonder that the Hollanders dislike Spain when you read of theway they were butchered by Alva and his hosts, though I admit that ourside sometimes retaliated terribly. But as I have told you before, Ihave a very indistinct idea of historical matters. Everything is utterconfusion--from the Flood to the battle of Waterloo. One thing is plain,however, the Duke of Alva was about the worst specimen of a man thatever lived."

  "That gives only a faint idea of him," said Ben, "but I hate to think ofsuch a wretch. What if he _had_ brains, and military skill, and allthat sort of thing! Give me such men as Van der Werf, and--what now?"

  "Why," said Van Mounen, who was looking up and down the street, in abewildered way. "We've walked right past the Museum, and I don't see theboys. Let us go back."