Let us push on, Captain, that we may arrive at
Alphen before the message which the States-General are sure to send to
me to the camp."

The Captain bowed, allowed the Prince to ride ahead and, for the
remainder of the journey, kept at the same respectful distance as he had
done before his Highness called him to his side.

"How I should wish," William of Orange malignantly muttered to himself,
with a dark frown and setting the spurs to his horse, "to see the figure
which Louis will cut when he is apprised of the manner in which his dear
friends De Witt have been served! Oh thou Sun! thou Sun! as truly as
I am called William the Silent, thou Sun, thou hadst best look to thy
rays!"

And the young Prince, the relentless rival of the Great King, sped away
upon his fiery steed,--this future Stadtholder who had been but the day
before very uncertainly established in his new power, but for whom the
burghers of the Hague had built a staircase with the bodies of John and
Cornelius, two princes as noble as he in the eyes of God and man.

Chapter 5. The Tulip-fancier and his Neighbour

Whilst the burghers of the Hague were tearing in pieces the bodies of
John and Cornelius de Witt, and whilst William of Orange, after having
made sure that his two antagonists were really dead, was galloping over
the Leyden road, followed by Captain van Deken, whom he found a little
too compassionate to honour him any longer with his confidence, Craeke,
the faithful servant, mounted on a good horse, and little suspecting
what terrible events had taken place since his departure, proceeded
along the high road lined with trees, until he was clear of the town and
the neighbouring villages.

Being once safe, he left his horse at a livery stable in order not
to arouse suspicion, and tranquilly continued his journey on the
canal-boats, which conveyed him by easy stages to Dort, pursuing their
way under skilful guidance by the shortest possible routes through
the windings of the river, which held in its watery embrace so many
enchanting little islands, edged with willows and rushes, and abounding
in luxurious vegetation, whereon flocks of fat sheep browsed in peaceful
sleepiness. Craeke from afar off recognised Dort, the smiling city,
at the foot of a hill dotted with windmills. He saw the fine red brick
houses, mortared in white lines, standing on the edge of the water, and
their balconies, open towards the river, decked out with silk tapestr