ired of the saddle. The day drew to a
close. The populace pushed and crowded and sang and hurrahed and
drank. Fireworks were discharged, to express, so the newspapers said,
the inexpressible love of the people for princes and princesses.

Oh, those firecrackers, and the danger in them! Quick, quick--throw
it--a second longer and it will burst in your hand--hurrah!

It was magnificent--the danger and thrilling anxiety. There was
a tradition that somebody had once held a firecracker in his hand
too long and had been badly hurt by it. This traditional "somebody"
was now inspiring the revelers with fresh enthusiasm.

So it was on that evening, before the city authorities had prohibited
the use of fireworks. After the houses had been covered with slate,
it was thought that there was too much danger of fire in firecrackers,
but on that evening, when the houses still had thatch roofs, the
dangerous pleasure of Amsterdam youth was unrestrained.

And the other dangerous pleasures! How many lasses went home with their
skirts singed, some of them hardly getting home at all. Interesting
adventures! And a boy--"those boys have to have their noses in
everything"--yes, a youth came very near getting a load in his
face. Thrilling delight!

The crowd was now in the street where Juffrouw Laps resided. The
reader will recall that Walter was spending the night with her.

Boom! went a gun, or a cannon-cracker; and Walter awoke just as his
affectionate hostess and religious adviser was going to give him
a kiss.

Juffrouw Laps had burned her sinful lips. "Lord have mercy on us,
what is that!" she cried.

Both ran to the open window. Ordinarily a respectable Hollandish girl
never leaves her window open at night; but the extreme heat of the
evening must be urged in Juffrouw Laps's favor.

It was clear to them at once that they had not been fired upon by
those "murderers," for nobody paid any attention to them or showed any
interest in them. Other windows were open, as well; and on all sides
people were looking out. Right and left a cannonade of firecrackers
was going on.

In the interest of privacy Juffrouw Laps took the precaution to blow
out the light as quickly as possible. Another might have neglected
this.

Walter looked down on it all with the delight of a child. He forgot
the insistent kindness of his hostess; he thought of nothing but
the crowd below and their antics. The noise and tumult sobered him;
and it even had a qu