rved a barge with her bows run into the bank. Having left his
knapsack and gun on the bank, he stepped on board, thinking that some of
the crew might appear. Seeing no one, he was again going on shore, when
the after hatch was flung open and three huge heads adorned by
nightcaps, with big staring eyes expressive of wonder, popped up, each
face being more ugly than the other.

"Who are you?" asked the first.

"What business have you on board here?" inquired a second.

"Where do you come from, where do you want to go?" asked a third, the
ugliest of all three.

"Really, gentlemen," said the Count, bowing, for he was always polite,
"you overwhelm me with questions. My object is to cross the Meer, or to
get to some inn or farmhouse where I may pass the night in comfort."

"Ho, ho, ho!" exclaimed the last speaker. "You will not find any inn or
farmhouse where you can pass the night on the borders of this Meer, but
we'll give you a passage to the other end, for which we are bound when
we have had our suppers, always provided you are willing to pay for it."

"Certainly," replied the Count. "I am willing to pay for everything I
obtain. Your barge looks like a very safe one, and I will therefore
engage a passage."

"Safe! I should think she was safe," answered the ugly individual. "It
would require a gale to upset her with all sail hoisted. Trust Captain
Jan Dunck for that."

Upon this the Count looked harder than before at the ugly man's
countenance. "What, are you Captain Jan Dunck?" he inquired.

"No doubt about that, though I do not command so large a craft as
formerly," said the ugly man. "If I mistake not, you are Count
Funnibos, whom I, once upon a time, brought round from Antwerp, and
landed at Amsterdam."

"No, you did not land me at Amsterdam," answered the Count; "you landed
me on the island of Marken, when you played that scurvy trick upon poor
Pieter. I thought that you had been lost."

"So I nearly was, for the _Golden Hog_ went down, but my mate and small
ship's boy were saved. Here is one of them."

The mate gave a wink of recognition.

"So you want me to carry you across the lake--is that it?" continued the
skipper.

"Such is my wish," said the Count, though, at the same time, he felt
very doubtful about trusting himself and his fortunes to Captain Jan
Dunck.

"Well, we'll get under weigh immediately," said the skipper. "Though
there is no wind, we can pole the barge a considerabl