6. Some of the merrymakers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm
the town; while Schenk hastily fortified his position, and took possession
of the square. But the burghers and garrison were soon on foot, and he was
driven back into the house.

7. Three times he recovered the square by main strength of his own arm,
seconded by the handful of men whom he had brought with him, and three
times he was beaten back by overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion.

8. The arrival of the greater part of his followers, with whose assistance
he could easily have mastered the city in the first moments of surprise,
was mysteriously delayed. He could not account for their prolonged
absence, and was meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with
him in the foremost barges.

9. The truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the
flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the Waal, then in
a state of freshet, had shot past the landing place, and had ever since
been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to
the necessary point.

10. Meantime Schenk and his followers fought desperately in the market
place, and desperately in the house which he had seized. But a whole
garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms proved too much for him, and
he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, and at last driven forth into
the streets.

11. By this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and
burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band
of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to be
found. Schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the musketeers,
in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat toward the
quay.

12. In vain Martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his own hand he struck
more than one of his soldiers dead. He was swept along with the
panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his teeth with
frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why his great
enterprise had failed.

13. The few empty barges of his own party were moored at the steps; the
rest were half a mile off, contending hopelessly against the swollen and
rapid Waal. Schenk, desperately wounded, was left almost alone upon the
wharf, for his routed followers had plunged helter-skelter into the boats,
several of which, overladen in the panic, sank at once, leaving the
soldiers to drown or str