n, and how she was
in the immediate charge of a man and a woman who could be no other than
Hague Simon and Black Meg. Also he told of her piteous appeal to the
boatmen in the names of their wives and daughters, and at the telling of
it Foy wept with fear and rage, and even Martha gnashed her teeth. Only
Martin cast off the boat and began to punt her out into deep water.

"Is that all?" asked Foy.

"That is all, Mynheer, I know nothing more, but I can explain to you
where the place is."

"You can show us, you mean," said Foy.

The man expostulated. The weather was bad, there would be a flood, his
wife was ill and expected him, and so forth. Then he tried to get out of
the boat, whereon, catching hold of him suddenly, Martin threw him into
the stern-sheets, saying:

"You could travel to this mill once taking with you a girl whom you
knew to be kidnapped, now you can travel there again to get her out. Sit
still and steer straight, or I will make you food for fishes."

Then Marsh Jan professed himself quite willing to sail to the Red Mill,
which he said they ought to reach by nightfall.

All that afternoon they sailed and rowed, till, with the darkness,
before ever the mill was in sight, the great flood came down upon them
and drove them hither and thither, such a flood as had not been seen in
those districts for a dozen years. But Marsh Jan knew his bearings well;
he had the instinct of locality that is bred in those whose forefathers
for generations have won a living from the fens, and through it all he
held upon a straight course.

Once Foy thought that he heard a voice calling for help in the darkness,
but it was not repeated and they went forward. At last the sky cleared
and the moon shone out upon such a waste of waters as Noah might have
beheld from the ark. Only there were things floating in them that Noah
would scarcely have seen; hayricks, dead and drowning cattle, household
furniture, and once even a coffin washed from some graveyard, while
beyond stretched the dreary outline of the sand dunes.

"The mill should be near," said Marsh Jan, "let us put about." So they
turned, rowing with weary arms, for the wind had fallen.

Let us go back a little. Elsa, on escaping from the scene of her mock
marriage, fled to her room and bolted its door. A few seconds later she
heard hands hammering at it, and the voices of Hague Simon and Black Meg
calling to her to open. She took no note, the hammering ceased, an