made but one mistake, and that
sprang from what he was wont to consider the weakness of his nature.
Needless to say, it was that he had winked at the escape of Brant's
daughter, Elsa. It may have been superstition that prompted him, or it
may have been pity, or perhaps it was a certain oath of mercy which he
had taken in an hour of need; at any rate, he was content that the girl
should not share the doom which overshadowed her father. He did not
think it at all likely that she would take with her any documents of
importance, and the treasure, of course, she could not take; still, to
provide against accidents he arranged for her to be searched upon the
road.

As we know this search was a failure, and when on the morrow Black Meg
arrived to make report and to warn him that Dirk van Goorl's son and his
great serving-man, whose strength was known throughout the Netherlands,
were on their road to The Hague, he was sure that after all the girl had
carried with her some paper or message.

By this time the whereabouts of Brant's treasure had been practically
solved. It was believed to lie in the string of vessels, although it was
not known that one of these was laden with powder as well as gold. The
plan of the Government agents was to search the vessels as they passed
out to sea and seize the treasure as contraband, which would save much
legal trouble, since under the law or the edicts wealth might not be
shipped abroad by heretics. The plan of Ramiro and his friends was
to facilitate the escape of the treasure to the open sea, where they
proposed to swoop down upon it and convey it to more peaceful shores.

When Foy and his party started down the canal in the boat Ramiro knew
that his opportunity had come, and at once unmoored the big ship and
followed. The attempted stabbing of Foy was not done by his orders, as
he wished the party to go unmolested and to be kept in sight. That was a
piece of private malice on the part of Black Meg, for it was she who was
dressed as a man. On various occasions in Leyden Foy had made remarks
upon Meg's character which she resented, and about her personal
appearance, which she resented much more, and this was an attempt to pay
off old scores that in the issue cost her a finger, a good knife, and a
gold ring which had associations connected with her youth.

At first everything had gone well. By one of the most daring and
masterly manoeuvres that Ramiro had ever seen in his long and varied
e