"They are the highest point of the Dunes. You have a grand view of the
ocean from there, besides a fine chance to see how wonderful these dunes
are. One can hardly believe that the wind could ever heap up sand in so
remarkable a way. But we have to go through Bloemendal to get there, not
a very pretty village, and some distance from here. What do you say?"

"Oh, I am ready for anything. For my part, I would rather steer direct
for Leyden, but we'll do as the captain says--hey, Jacob?"

"Ya, dat ish goot," said Jacob, who felt decidedly more like taking a
nap than ascending the Blue Stairs.

The captain was in favor of going to Leyden.

"It's four long miles from here. Full sixteen of your English miles,
Benjamin. We have no time to lose if you wish to reach there before
midnight. Decide quickly, boys--Blue Stairs or Leyden?"

"Leyden," they answered, and were out of Haarlem in a twinkling,
admiring the lofty, towerlike windmills and pretty country seats as they
left the city behind them.

"If you really wish to see Haarlem," said Lambert to Ben, after they
had skated awhile in silence, "you should visit it in summer. It is the
greatest place in the world for beautiful flowers. The walks around the
city are superb; and the 'wood' with its miles of noble elms, all in
full feather, is something to remember. You need not smile, old fellow,
at my saying 'full feather.' I was thinking of waving plumes and got
my words mixed up a little. But a Dutch elm beats everything; it is the
noblest tree on earth, Ben--if you except the English oak."

"Aye," said Ben solemnly, "IF you except the English oak." And for some
moments he could scarcely see the canal because Robby and Jenny kept
bobbing in the air before his eyes.

Friends in Need

In the meantime, the other boys were listening to Peter's account of an
incident which had occurred long ago *{Sir Thomas Carr's tour through
Holland.} in a part of the city where stood an ancient castle, whose
lord had tyrannized over the burghers of the town to such an extent
that they surrounded his castle and laid siege to it. Just at the last
extremity, when the haughty lord felt that he could hold out no longer
and was prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible, his lady
appeared on the ramparts and offered to surrender everything, provided
she was permitted to bring out, and retain, as much of her most precious
household goods as she could carry upon her back. The p