ach man for his obedience to orders, his circumspection at all times
and his valour if necessity arose. From this hour onwards and throughout
the journey friend Diogenes would provide for everything and see that
his faithful compeers lacked in nothing. Temperance and sober conduct
would be the order paramount, but with that exception the adventure
promised to be as exciting as it was lucrative.

It was good to hear the guilders jingling in Diogenes' wallet, and
though he was sparing of them in the matter of heady ale or strong
wines, he scattered them liberally enough on smoked sausage, fried
livers and the many other delicacies for which his brother philosophers
had a fancy and for which the kitchen of the "Lame Cow" was famous.

When they had all eaten enough and made merry on a little good ale and
the prospects of the adventure, they parted on the doorstep of the
tavern, Diogenes to attend to business, the other two to see to the
horses and the sleigh for this night. These were to be in readiness at
the point where the street of the Holy Cross abuts on the left bank of
the Oude Gracht. Three good saddle horses were wanted--thick-set
Flanders mares, rough shod against the slippery roads; also a covered
sledge, with two equally reliable horses harnessed there to and a
coachman of sober appearance on the box. Socrates and Pythagoras were
required to scour the city for these, and to bespeak them for seven
o'clock this evening, Diogenes undertaking to make payment for them in
advance. There were also some warm rugs and wraps to be bought, for the
night would be bitterly cold and the lady not prepared mayhap with a
cloak sufficiently heavy for a lengthy journey.

All these matters having been agreed upon, Socrates and Pythagoras
started to walk toward the eastern portion of the city where several
posting inns were situated and where they hoped to find the conveyance
which they required as well as the necessary horses. Diogenes on the
other hand turned his steps deliberately southwards.

After a few minutes brisk walking he found himself at the further end of
the Kleine Hout Straat, there where stood the ricketty, half-mildewed
and wholly insalubrious house which had previously sheltered him. The
door as usual was loose upon its hinges and swinging backwards and
forwards in the draught with a squeaking, melancholy sound. Diogenes
pushed it further open and went in. The same fetid smells, peculiar to
all the houses in thi