e
serving woman comes she will tell us the latest news. I am afraid I
can't get to work until the light improves. Are you hungry? Shall I get
you something more solid to eat?"

"Well, old friend," rejoined the other gaily, "since you are so
hospitable...."

By eight o'clock he was once more ensconced on the sitter's platform,
dressed in a gorgeous doublet and sash, hat on head and hand on hip,
smiling at his friend's delight and eagerness in his work.

Hals in the meanwhile had heard further news of the great event which
apparently was already the talk of Haarlem even at this early hour of
the day.

"There seems no doubt," he said, "that the outrage is the work of those
vervloekte sea-wolves. They have carried Gilda Beresteyn away in the
hope of extorting a huge ransom out of her father."

"I hope," said Diogenes unctuously, "that he can afford to pay it."

"He is passing rich," replied the artist with a sigh. "A great patron of
the arts ... it was his son you saw here yesterday, and the portrait
which I then showed you was that of the unfortunate young lady who has
been so cruelly abducted."

"Indeed," remarked Diogenes ostentatiously smothering a yawn as if the
matter was not quite so interesting to him--a stranger to Haarlem--as it
was to his friend.

"The whole city is in a tumult," continued Hals, who was busily working
on his picture all the while that he talked, "and Mynheer Beresteyn and
his son Nicolaes are raising a private company of Waardgelders to pursue
the brigands. One guilder a day do they offer to these volunteers and
Nicholaes Beresteyn will himself command the expedition."

"Against the sea-wolves?" queried the other blandly.

"In person. Think of it, man! The girl is his own sister."

"It is unthinkable," agreed Diogenes solemnly.

All of which was, of course, vastly interesting to him, since what he
heard to-day would be a splendid guidance for him as to his future
progress southwards to Rotterdam. Nicolaes Beresteyn leading an
expedition of raw recruits in the pursuit of his sister was a subject
humorous enough to delight the young adventurer's sense of fun; moreover
it was passing lucky that suspicion had at once fallen on the
sea-wolves--a notorious band of ocean pirates whose acts of pillage and
abduction had long since roused the ire of all northern cities that
suffered from their impudent depredations. Diogenes congratulated
himself on the happy inspiration which had caused him