lace where the barrels are buried, knowing well
that otherwise we shall be off with them. Yes, I tell you that by dawn,
or within an hour of it, he will be there," and she stopped.

"You mean," said Foy, "that we ought to be there before him."

Martha nodded and answered, "If we can, but I think that at best there
must be a fight for it."

"Yes," said Martin, "a fight. Well, I should like another fight with
Ramiro. That fork-tongued adder has got my sword, and I want to get it
back again."

"Oh!" broke in Elsa, "is there to be more fighting? I hoped that at last
we were safe, and going straight to Leyden, where the Prince is. I hate
this bloodshed; I tell you, Foy, it frightens me to death; I believe
that I shall die of it."

"You hear what she says?" asked Foy.

"We hear," answered Martha. "Take no heed of her, the child has suffered
much, she is weak and squeamish. Now I, although I believe that my death
lies before me, I say, go on and fear not."

"But I do take heed," said Foy. "Not for all the treasures in the world
shall Elsa be put in danger again if she does not wish it; she shall
decide, and she alone."

"How good you are to me," she murmured, then she mused a moment. "Foy,"
she said, "will you promise something to me?"

"After your experience of Ramiro's oaths I wonder that you ask," he
answered, trying to be cheerful.

"Will you promise," she went on, taking no note, "that if I say yes and
we go, not to Leyden, but to seek the treasure, and live through it,
that you will take me away from this land of bloodshed and murder and
torments, to some country where folk may live at peace, and see no one
killed, except it be now and again an evil-doer? It is much to ask, but
oh! Foy, will you promise?"

"Yes, I promise," said Foy, for he, too, was weary of this daily terror.
Who would not have been that had passed through the siege of Haarlem?

Foy was steering, but now Martha slipped aft and took the tiller from
his hand. For a moment she studied the stars that grew clearer in the
light of the sinking moon, then shifted the helm a point or two to port
and sat still.

"I am hungry again," said Martin presently; "I feel as though I could
eat for a week without stopping."

Adrian looked up from over his oar, at which he was labouring
dejectedly, and said:

"There are food and wine in the locker. I hid them there. Perhaps Elsa
could serve them to those who wish to eat."

So Elsa, who was doing nothin