ated.

"Will not you, Vrouw Margaret, have pity on me? Will you not interfere
to save me from this cruel indignity?" he exclaimed, but the Vrouw
Margaret calmly watched the proceedings of the sturdy Frieslander as if
she highly approved of them.

"Will you go along quietly?" asked the Frieslander, after he had
subjected the Baron for some minutes to this disagreeable treatment.
"Say `yes,' or `no;' for, if you say `no,' be prepared for another
mouthful of mud."

"Yes, yes; I will go!" cried the Baron, the conduct of the fair Vrouw
cutting him to the heart.

"Well, then, I will let you get up; but remember, the instant you
attempt to release yourself, down you go again, and perhaps in a less
pleasant place than the last." Saying this the sturdy Frieslander
placed the Baron on his legs.

"Come, you must wash the mud off your face in yonder pool," said the
Frieslander, "for you look more ridiculous than you can well imagine."

The Baron accepted his captor's offer, for not only his mouth and
nostrils, but his very eyes were filled with mud.

"Come, you look a little less ridiculous now," said the Frieslander with
a taunting laugh, as he led the Baron past the spot where, Vrouw
Margaret was standing. In vain the Baron stretched out his hands and
entreated her to plead for him, but she turned aside her head, and his
captor dragged him along till they met Mynheer Bunckum and the rest of
his men.

"I have got one of them!" cried the Frieslander. "What is to be done
with him? I have not yet examined his pockets, so cannot say whether
the stolen plate is in them."

"We will soon ascertain that," said Mynheer Bunckum.

The unfortunate Baron Stilkin was subjected to the indignity of being
searched. Only such ordinary things as a gentleman carries about with
him were discovered in the Baron's pockets, but certainly no silver
forks or spoons.

"And where is your companion?" asked Mynheer Bunckum in an authoritative
tone.

"I know no more than the man in the moon. I parted from him when we
read the notice that trespassers on this estate would be prosecuted;
till then we did not know that we were trespassing, but on discovering
that such was the case, we were retiring when, your shouts alarming us,
we proceeded farther than we should otherwise have done."

"Then you say you know nothing about the so-called Count Funnibos?"

"I know nothing about the real Count Funnibos, for real he is, as I am a
real Baron!"