by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIII
THE SIEGE OF HAARLEM
There was much shouting in the little fleet as the news spread thatthe sea was freezing. Boats were lowered and rowed from the shipto ship, for the ice was as yet no thicker than window glass. Nedwent from the Good Venture to the craft round which most of theboats were assembling to hear what was decided. He returned in afew minutes.
"They are all of opinion that it is hopeless for us to get out ofthis. We could tow the vessels a short distance, but every hourthe ice will thicken. They concluded that anchors shall be got up,and that the ships all lie together as close as they can pack."
"What will be the use of that?" Peters asked. "If we are to be frozenup it makes no difference that I can see, whether we are togetheror scattered as at present."
"The idea is," Ned said, "if we are packed together we can defendourselves better than if scattered about, and what is more importantstill, we can cut through the ice and keep a channel of open waterround us."
"So we could," Peters agreed. "Let us to work then. Which ship arewe to gather round?"
"The one I have just left, Peters; she is lying nearly in thecenter."
For the next two hours there was much bustle and hard work. Thinas the ice was it yet greatly hindered the operation of movingthe ships. At last they were all packed closely together; muchmore closely indeed than would be possible in these days, for thebowsprits, instead of running out nearly parallel with the waterlinestood up at a sharp angle, and the vessels could therefore be laidwith the bow of one touching the stern of that in advance. As therewas now no motive for concealment, lamps were shown and torchesburned. There were thirty craft in all, and they were arranged infive lines closely touching each other. When all was done the crewsretired to rest. There was no occasion to keep watch, for the icehad thickened so fast that boats could not now force their waythrough it, while it would not before morning be strong enough tobear the weight of armed men walking across it.
"This is a curious position," Ned said, as he went on deck nextmorning. "How long do you think we are likely to be kept here,Peters?"
"Maybe twenty-four hours, maybe three weeks, lad. These frosts whenthey set in like this seldom last less than a fortnight or threeweeks. What do you think of our chances of being attacked?"
"I should say they are sure to attack us. The whole Spanish armyis lying over there in Amsterdam, and as soon as the ice is strongenough to bear them you will see them coming out. How strong aforce can we muster?"
"There are thirty craft," Peters replied; "and I should think theyaverage fully fifteen men each--perhaps twenty. They carry strongcrews at all times, and stronger than usual now."
"That would give from five to six hundred men. I suppose all carryarms?"
"Oh, yes. I do not suppose that there is a man here who has notweapons of some kind, and most of them have arquebuses. It willtake a strong force to carry this wooden fort."
It was still freezing intensely, and the ice was strong enoughto bear men scattered here and there, although it would not havesustained them gathered together. Towards the afternoon the captainjudged that it had thickened sufficiently to begin work, and fiftyor sixty men provided with hatchets got upon the ice and proceededto break it away round the vessels. After a couple of hours a freshparty took their places, and by nightfall the ships were surroundedby a belt of open water, some fifteen yards wide.
A meeting of the captains had been held during the day, and themost experienced had been chosen as leader, with five lieutenantsunder him. Each lieutenant was to command the crews of six ships.When it became dark five boats were lowered. These were to rowround and round the ships all night so as to keep the water fromfreezing again. The crews were to be relieved once an hour, so thateach ship would furnish a set of rowers once in six hours. Numerousanchors had been lowered when the ships were first packed together,so as to prevent the mass from drifting when the tide flowed orebbed, as this would have brought them in contact with one sideor the other of the ice around them. The next morning the ice wasfound to be five inches thick, and the captains were of opinionthat the Spaniards might now attempt an attack upon them.
"Their first attack will certainly fail," Ned said, as they satat breakfast. "They will be baffled by this water belt round us.However, they will come next time with rafts ready to push acrossit, and then we shall have fighting in earnest."
The lieutenant under whom the crew of the Good Venture were placed,came down while they were at breakfast to inquire how many arquebusesthere were on board.
"We have ten," the captain said.
"As I suppose you have no men who skate on board, I should be gladif you will hand them over to me."
"What does he say?" the first mate asked in surprise upon thisbeing translated to him. "What does he mean by asking if we haveany men who skate, and why should we give up our guns if we canuse them ourselves?" Ned put the question to the lieutenant.
"We are going to attack them on the ice as they come out," hereplied. "Of course all our vessels have skates on board; in winterwe always carry them, as we may be frozen up at any time. And weshall send out as many men as can be armed with arquebuses; thosewho remain on board will fight the guns."
"That is a capital plan," Ned said; "and the Spanish, who areunaccustomed to ice, will be completely puzzled. It is lucky therewas not a breath of wind when it froze, and the surface is as smoothas glass. Well, there will be nine arquebuses for you, sir; for Ihave been out here two winters and have learnt to skate, so I willaccompany the party, the other nine arquebuses with ammunition wewill hand over to you."
A lookout at one of the mastheads now shouted that he could make outa black mass on the ice near Amsterdam, and believed that it wasa large body of troops. Every preparation had already been made onboard the ships for the fight. The Good Venture lay on the outsidetier facing Amsterdam, having been placed there because she carriedmore guns than any of the other vessels, which were for the mostpart small, and few carried more than four guns, while the armamentof the Good Venture had, after her fight with the Don Pedro, beenincreased to ten guns. The guns from the vessels in the inner tiershad all been shifted on to those lying outside, and the wooden fortliterally bristled with cannon.
A quarter of an hour after the news that the Spaniards were ontheir way had been given, three hundred men with arquebuses wereferried across the channel, and were disembarked on to the ice.They were divided into five companies of sixty men each, under thelieutenants; the captain remained to superintend the defence ofthe ships. The Dutch sailors were as much at home on their skatesas upon dry land, and in high spirits started to meet the enemy.It was a singular sight to see the five bodies of men glidingaway across the ice. There was no attempt at formation or order;all understood their business, for in winter it was one of theirfavourite sports to fire at a mark while skating at a rapid pace.
It was two miles from the spot where the ships lay frozen up toAmsterdam. The Spaniards, a thousand strong, had traversed abouta third of the distance when the skaters approached them. Keepingtheir feet with the utmost difficulty upon the slippery ice, theywere astonished at the rapid approach of the Dutchmen. Breakingup as they approached, their assailants came dashing along at arapid pace, discharged their arquebuses into the close mass of theSpaniards, and then wheeled away at the top of their speed, reloadedand again swept down to fire.
Against these tactics the Spaniards could do little. Unsteady as theywere on their feet the recoil of their heavy arquebuses frequentlythrew them over, and it was impossible to take anything like anaccurate aim at the flying figures that passed them at the speedof a galloping horse. Nevertheless they doggedly kept on their way,leaving the ice behind them dotted with killed and wounded. Not agun was discharged from on board the ships until the head of theSpanish column reached the edge of the water, and discovered theimpassable obstacle that lay between them and the vessels. Then theorder was give to fire, and the head of the column was literallyswept away by the dis
charge.
The commander of the Spaniards now gave the order for a retreat.As they fell back the guns of the ships swept their ranks, themusketeers harassed them on each flank, the ice, cracked and brokenby the artillery fire, gave way under their feet, and many fellthrough and were drowned, and of the thousand men who left Amsterdamless than half regained that city. The Spaniards were astonished atthis novel mode of fighting, and the despatches of their officers gaveelaborate descriptions of the strange appendages that had enabledthe Hollanders to glide so rapidly over the ice. The Spaniardswere, however, always ready to learn from a foe. Alva immediatelyordered eight thousand pairs of skates, and the soldiers were kepthard at work practicing until they were able to make their way withfair rapidity over the ice. The evening after the fight a strongwind suddenly sprang up from the southwest, and the rain descendedin torrents. By morning the ice was already broken up, the gunswere hastily shifted to the vessels to which they belonged, theships on the outside tiers cast off from the others, and beforenoon the whole were on their way back towards Enkhuizen, whichthey reached without pursuit by the Spanish vessels; for at ninein the morning the wind changed suddenly again, the frost set inas severely as before, and the Spaniards in the port of Amsterdamwere unable to get out. This event caused great rejoicing in Holland,and was regarded as a happy omen for the coming contest.
After remaining another day with his family, Ned mounted his horseand rode to Haarlem. The city lay at the narrowest point of thenarrow strip of land facing the German Ocean, and upon the shore ofthe shallow lake of the same name. Upon the opposite side of thislake, ten miles distant, stood the town of Amsterdam. The Lake ofHaarlem was separated from the long inlet of the Zuider Zee calledthe Y by a narrow strip of land, along which ran the causewayconnecting the two cities. Halfway along this neck of land therewas a cut, with sluice works, by which the surrounding country couldbe inundated. The port of Haarlem on the Y was at the village ofSparendam, where there was a fort for the protection of the shipping.
Haarlem was one of the largest cities of the Netherlands; butit was also one of the weakest. The walls were old, and had neverbeen formidable. The extent of the defences made a large garrisonnecessary; but the force available for the defence was small indeed.Upon his way towards Haarlem Ned learnt that on the night before,the 10th of December, Sparendam had been captured by the Spaniards.A secret passage across the flooded and frozen meadows had beenshown to them by a peasant, and they had stormed the fort, killedthree hundred men, and taken possession of the works and village.Thus Haarlem was at once cut off from all aid coming from the ZuiderZee.
Much disquieted by the news, Ned rode on rapidly and entered thetown by the gate upon the southern side; for, as he approached,he learned that the Spaniards had already appeared in great forcebefore the city. He rode at once to his aunt's house, hoping tofind that she had already left the town with the girls. Leapingfrom his horse he entered the door hurriedly, and was dismayed tofind his aunt seated before the fire knitting.
"My dear aunt!" he exclaimed, "do you know that the Spaniards arein front of the town? Surely to remain here with the two girls ismadness!"
"Every one else is remaining, why should not I, Ned?" his auntasked calmly.
"Other people have their houses and their businesses, aunt, butyou have nothing to keep you here. You know what has happened atZutphen and Naarden. How can you expose the girls, even if you areso obstinate yourself, to such horrors?"
"The burghers are determined to hold out until relief comes, nephew."
"Ay, if they can," Ned replied. "But who knows whether they can.This is madness, aunt. I beseech you come with me to your father,and let us talk over the matter with him; and in the morning, ifyou will not go, I will get two horses and mount the girls on them,and ride with them to Leyden--that is, if by the morning it isnot already too late. It would be best to proceed at once."
Dame Plomaert reluctantly yielded to the energy of her nephew,and accompanied him to the house of her father; but the weaver wasabsent on the walls, and did not return until late in the evening.Upon Ned's putting the case to him, he at once agreed that it wouldbe best both for her and the girls to leave.
"I have told her so twenty times already," he said; "but Elizabethwas always as obstinate as a mule. Over and over again she hassaid she would go; and having said that, has done nothing. She cando no good by stopping here; and there are only three more mouthsto feed. By all means, lad, get them away the first thing in themorning. If it be possible I would say start tonight, dark as itis; but the Spanish horse may be all round the city, and you mightride into their arms without seeing them."
Ned at once sallied out, and without much difficulty succeeded inbargaining for three horses; for few of the inhabitants had left, andhorses would not only be of no use during the siege, but it wouldbe impossible to feed them. Therefore their owners were glad topart with them for far less than their real value. When he reachedthe house he found that his aunt had made up three bundles withclothes and what jewelry she had, and that she was ready to startwith the girls in the morning.
Before daybreak Ned went out to the walls on the south side, butas the light broadened out discovered that it was too late. Duringthe night heavy reinforcements had arrived to Don Frederick fromAmsterdam, and a large force was already facing the west side ofthe city.
With a heavy heart he returned to his aunt's with the news that itwas too late, for that all means of exit was closed. Dame Plomaerttook the news philosophically. She was a woman of phlegmaticdisposition, and objected to sudden movement and changes, and toher it seemed far less terrible to await quietly the fortunes ofthe siege than to undergo the fatigues of a journey on horsebackand the uncertainty of an unknown future.
"Well, nephew," she said placidly, "if we cannot get away, we cannot;and it really saves a world of trouble. But what are you going todo yourself? for I suppose if we cannot get away, you cannot."
"The way is open across the lake," Ned replied, "and I shall travelalong the ice to the upper end and then over to Leyden, and obtainpermission from the prince to return here by the same way; orif not, to accompany the force he is raising there, for this willdoubtless march at once to the relief of the town. Even now, aunt,you might make your escape across the ice."
"I have not skated since I was fifteen years old," the good womansaid placidly; "and at my age and weight I am certainly not goingto try now, Ned. Just imagine me upon skates!"
Ned could not help smiling, vexed as he was. His aunt was stoutand portly, and he certainly could not imagine her exerting herselfsufficiently to undertake a journey on skates.
"But the girls can skate," he urged.
"The girls are girls," she said decidedly; "and I am not going tolet them run about the world by themselves. You say yourself thatreinforcements will soon start. You do not know our people, nephew.They will beat off the Spaniards. Whatever they do, the city willnever be taken. My father says so, and every one says so. Surelythey must know better than a lad like you!"
Ned shrugged his shoulders in despair, and went out to see what werethe preparations for defence. The garrison consisted only of somefifteen hundred German mercenaries and the burgher force. Ripperda,the commandant of the garrison, was an able and energetic officer.The townspeople were animated by a determination to resist to theend. A portion of the magistracy had, in the first place, beenanxious to treat, and had entered into secret negotiations with Alva,sending three of their number to treat with the duke at Amsterdam.One had remained there; the other two on their return were seized,tried, and executed, and Sainte Aldegonde, one of the prince'sministers, had been dispatched by him to make a complete change inthe magistracy.
The total force available for the defence of the town was not,at the commencement of the siege, more than 3000 men, while over30,000 Spaniards were gathering round its walls, a number equal tothe entire population of the city.
The Germans, under Count Overstein, finally took up their encampmentin the extensive g
rove of trees that spread between the southernwalls and the shore of the lake.
The Spaniards, under Don Frederick, faced the north walls, whilethe Walloons and other regiments closed it in on the east and west.But these arrangements occupied some days; and the mists whichfavoured their movements were not without advantage to the besieged.Under cover of the fog supplies of provisions and ammunition werebrought by men and women and even children, on their heads or insledges down the frozen lake, and in spite of the efforts of thebesiegers introduced into the city. Ned was away only two days.The prince approved of his desire to take part in the siege, andfurnished him with letters to the magistrates promising reinforcements,and to Ripperda recommending Ned as a young gentleman volunteerof great courage and quickness, who had already performed valuableservice for the cause. His cousins were delighted to see him back.Naturally they did not share in their mother's confidence as tothe result of the siege, and felt in Ned's presence a certain senseof security and comfort. The garrison, increased by arrivals fromwithout and by the enrollment of every man capable of bearing arms,now numbered a thousand pioneers, three thousand fighting men, andthree hundred fighting women.
The last were not the least efficient portion of the garrison. Allwere armed with sword, musket, and dagger, and were led by KanauHasselaer, a widow of distinguished family, who at the head of herfemale band took part in many of the fiercest fights of the siege,both upon and without the walls.
The siege commenced badly. In the middle of December the force ofsome 3500 men assembled at Leyden set out under the command of Dela Marck, the former admiral of the sea beggars. The troops wereattacked on their march by the Spaniards, and a thousand werekilled, a number taken prisoners, and the rest routed.
Among the captains was a brave officer named Van Trier, for whom Dela Marck offered two thousand crowns and nineteen Spanish prisoners.The offer was refused. Van Trier was hanged by one leg until hewas dead, upon one of the numerous gibbets erected in sight of thetown; in return for which De la Marck at once executed the nineteenSpaniards. On the 18th of December Don Frederick's batteries openedfire upon the northern side, and the fire was kept up withoutintermission for three days. As soon as the first shot was fired,a crier going round the town summoned all to assist in repairingthe damages as fast as they were made.
The whole population responded to the summons. Men, women, andchildren brought baskets of stones and earth, bags of sand andbeams of wood, and these they threw into the gaps as fast as theywere made. The churches were stripped of all their stone statues,and these too were piled in the breaches. The besiegers were greatlyhorrified at what they declared to be profanation; a complaint thatcame well from men who had been occupied in the wholesale murderof men, women, and children, and in the sacking of the churchesof their own religion. Don Frederick anticipated a quick and easysuccess. He deemed that this weakly fortified town might well becaptured in a week by an army of 30,000 men, and that after spendinga few days slaughtering its inhabitants, and pillaging and burningthe houses, the army would march on against the next town, untilere long the rebellion would be stamped out, and Holland transformedinto a desert.
At the end of three days' cannonade the breach, in spite of theefforts of the besieged, was practicable, and a strong stormingparty led by General Romero advanced against it. As the column wasseen approaching the church bells rang out the alarm, the citizenscaught up their arms, and men and women hurried to the threatenedpoint. As they approached the Spaniards were received with a heavyfire of musketry; but with their usual gallantry the veterans ofSpain pressed forward and began to mount the breach. Now they wereexposed not only to the fire of the garrison, but to the missilesthrown by the burghers and women. Heavy stones, boiling oil, andlive coals were hurled down upon them; small hoops smeared withpitch and set on fire were dexterously thrown over their heads,and after a vain struggle, in which many officers were killed andwounded, Romero, who had himself lost an eye in the fight, calledoff his troops and fell back from the breach, leaving from threeto four hundred dead behind him, while but a half dozen of thetownsmen lost their lives.
Upon the retreat of the Spaniards the delight in the city wasimmense; they had met the pikemen of Spain and hurled them backdiscomfited, and they felt that they could now trust themselves tomeet further assaults without flinching.
To Ned's surprise his aunt, when the alarm bells rung, had salliedout from her house accompanied by the two girls. She carried withher half a dozen balls of flax, each the size of her head. Thesehad been soaked in oil and turpentine, and to each a stout cordabout two feet long was attached. The girls had taken part in thework of the preceding day, but when she reached the breach shetold them to remain in shelter while she herself joined the crowdon the walls flanking the breach, while Ned took part in the frontrow of its defenders. Frau Plomaert was slow, but she was strongwhen she chose to exert herself, and when the conflict was at itsthickest she lighted the balls at the fires over which caldrons ofoil were seething, and whirling them round her head sent them oneby one into the midst of the Spanish column.
"Three of them hit men fairly in the face," she said to one of herneighbours, "so I think I have done: my share of today's work."
She then calmly descended the wall, joined her daughters and returnedhome, paying no attention to the din of the conflict at the breach,and contended that she had done all that could be expected of her.On reaching home she bade the girls take to their knitting as usual,while she set herself to work to prepare the midday meal.
A few days later the Prince of Orange sent from Sassenheim, a placeon the southern extremity of the lake, where he had now taken uphis headquarters, a force of 2000 men, with seven guns and a convoyof wagons with ammunition and food towards the town, under GeneralBatenburgh. This officer had replaced De la Marck, whose brutal andferocious conduct had long disgraced the Dutch cause, and whom theprince, finding that he was deaf alike to his orders and to thedictates of humanity, had now deprived of his commission. Batenburgh'sexpedition was no more fortunate than that of De la Marck had been.
On his approach to the city by night a thick mist set in, and thecolumn completely lost its way. The citizens had received news ofits coming, and the church bells were rung and cannon fired to guideit as to its direction; but the column was so helplessly lost, thatit at last wandered in among the Spaniards, who fell upon them,slew many and scattered the rest--a very few only succeeding inentering the town. Batenburgh brought off, under cover of the mist,a remnant of his troops, but all the provisions and ammunition werelost.
The second in command, De Koning, was among those captured. TheSpaniards cut off his head and threw it over the wall into thecity, with a paper fastened on it bearing the words: "This is thehead of Captain De Koning, who is on his way with reinforcementsfor the good city of Haarlem." But the people of Haarlem werenow strung up, both by their own peril and the knowledge of theatrocities committed by the Spaniards in other cities, to a pointof hatred and fury equal to that of the foes, and they retorted bychopping off the heads of eleven prisoners and throwing them intothe Spanish camp. There was a label on the barrel with these words,"Deliver these heads to Duke Alva in payment of his ten penny tax,with one additional head for interest."
The besieged were not content to remain shut up in the walls, butfrequently sallied out and engaged in skirmishes with the enemy.Prisoners were therefore often captured by one side or the other, andthe gibbets on the walls and in the camp were constantly occupied.
Ned as a volunteer was not attached to any special body of troops,Ripperda telling him to act for himself and join in whatever wasgoing on as he chose. Consequently he took part in many of theskirmishes outside the walls, and was surprised to find how fearlesslythe burghers met the tried soldiers of Spain, and especially atthe valour with which the corps of women battled with the enemy.
In strength and stature most of the women were fully a match forthe Walloon troops, and indeed for the majority of the Spaniards;and they never feared to en
gage any body of troops of equal numericalstrength.
"Look here, aunt," Ned said to Frau Plomaert upon the day afterthe failure of Batenburg's force to relieve the town, "you must seefor yourself now that the chances are that sooner or later the townwill be captured. We may beat off all the assaults of the Spaniards,but we shall ere long have to fight with an even more formidablefoe within the town. You know that our stock of provisions is small,and that in the end unless help comes we must yield to famine. Theprince may possibly throw five thousand armed men into the town,but it is absolutely impossible that he can throw in any greatstore of provision, unless he entirely defeats the Spaniards; andnowhere in Holland can he raise an army sufficient for that.
"I think, aunt, that while there is time we ought to set to work toconstruct a hiding place, where you and the girls can remain whilethe sack and atrocities that will assuredly follow the surrenderof the town are taking place."
"I shall certainly not hide myself from the Spaniards," Frau Plomaertsaid stoutly.
"Very well, aunt, if you choose to be killed on your own hearthstoneof course I cannot prevent it; but I do say that you ought to savethe girls from these horrors if you can."
"That I am ready to do," she said. "But how is it to be managed?"
"Well, aunt, there is your wood cellar below. We can surelyconstruct some place of concealment there. Of course I will do thework, though the girls might help by bringing up baskets of earthand scattering them in the streets." Having received a tacit permissionfrom his aunt, Ned went down into the wood cellar, which was somefive feet wide by eight feet long. Like every place about a Dutchhouse it was whitewashed, and was half full of wood. Ned climbedover the wood to the further end.
"This is where it must be," he said to the girls, who had followedhim. "Now, the first thing to do is to pile the wood so as toleave a passage by which we can pass along. I will get a pick andget out the bricks at this corner."
"We need only make a hole a foot wide, and it need not be more thana foot high," Lucette, the elder, said. "That will be sufficientfor us to squeeze through."
"It would, Lucette; but we shall want more space for working, soto begin with we will take away the bricks up to the top. We canclose it up as much as we like afterwards. There is plenty of time,for it will be weeks before the city is starved out. If we workfor an hour a day we can get it done in a week."
Accordingly the work began, the bricks were removed, and witha pick and shovel Ned dug into the ground beyond, while the girlscarried away the earth and scattered it in the road. In a fortnighta chamber five feet high, three feet wide, and six feet long hadbeen excavated. Slats of wood, supported by props along the sides,held up the roof. A quantity of straw was thrown in for the girlsto lie on. Frau Plomaert came down from time to time to inspectthe progress of the work, and expressed herself well pleased withit.
"How are you going to close the entrance, Ned?" she asked.
"I propose to brick it up again three feet high, aunt. Then whenthe girls and you have gone in--for I hope that you will changeyour mind at the last--I will brick up the rest of it, but usingmud instead of mortar, so that the bricks can be easily removedwhen the time comes, or one or two can be taken out to pass in food,and then replaced as before. After you are in I will whitewash thewhole cellar, and no one would then guess the wall had ever beendisturbed. I shall leave two bricks out in the bottom row of allto give air. They will be covered over by the wood. However hardup we get for fuel we can leave enough to cover the floor at thatend a few inches deep. If I can I will pierce a hole up under theboard in the room above this, so as to give a free passage of air."
"If the Spaniards take away the wood, as they may well do, theywill notice that the two bricks are gone," Mrs. Plomaert objected.
"We can provide for that, aunt, by leaving two bricks inside,whitewashed like the rest, to push into the holes if you hearanyone removing the wood. There is only the light that comes in atthe door, and it would never be noticed that the two bricks wereloose."
"That will do very well," Mrs. Plomaert said. "I thought at firstthat your idea was foolish, but I see that it will save the girlsif the place is taken. I suppose there will be plenty of time tobrick them up after they have taken refuge in it."
"Plenty of time, aunt. We shall know days before if the city surrendersto hunger. I shall certainly fight much more comfortably now thatI know that whatever comes Lucette and Annie are safe from thehorrors of the sack."