o's not afraid----"

"I'm not afraid!"

All but Juffrouw Laps were surprised. She was a good psychologist,
and had not expected anything else. It was her part, however, to
pretend to be as much surprised as any of the rest.

"You?"

"You, Walter?"

"Boy, are you crazy? You?"

"Yes, I. I'm not afraid; not if there were ten in the closet and a
hundred under the bed!"

A little Luther! But with a difference. Luther had a God in whom
he felt he could trust--reinforced by a few grand-dukes. Walter,
without any grand-dukes, was ready to enter the field against a God
who was allowing any number of murderers to take shelter under the
roof and bed of Juffrouw Laps.

"Boy!"

"I'll risk it."

"Let him go, Juffrouw Pieterse. You understand--it's company for me
to have such a child with me. Then I'm not frightened so badly, if a
murderer is in the closet. Nobody wants to be entirely alone. Isn't
that so?"

Juffrouw Laps gained her point: Walter was permitted to go with her.

It was principally their vanity that caused the Pieterses to consent
so readily to Juffrouw Laps's request and allow her to take Walter
away to act as her castellan. Not one of them felt that it was a
good thing for Walter to go with the Juffrouw; but they were all
proud of his courage. The story would get noised abroad, and people
would pass it on to their friends. Juffrouw Pieterse would see to
it that the people knew it was "the same young gentlemen, you know,
that went home with Dr. Holsma."

Yes, and then people would say: "There's something in those Pieterse
children."

Mothers like to hear such things.

With his package under his arm Walter marched away with Juffrouw
Laps to do battle for that pious lady. That prehistoric weapon he
left behind, on her assuring him that she had a well-filled store
of weapons and ammunition enough to kill all the murderers that he
would have occasion to contend with.

CHAPTER XXVII

Walter shuddered as he crossed Juffrouw Laps's threshold. He reflected,
and wondered how he could have entered upon this knightly expedition
without considering certain details connected with it and inseparable
from it.

The first thing she offered him, of course, was the fried potatoes,
that dainty dish which the murderers had greedily made away with!

Walter was beginning to feel that the game wasn't worth the candle. The
adventure didn't offer sufficient outlet for his chivalry. In fact,
he thought somethi