erges running and panting: a man has fallen up against the group of
soldiers who have just halted beside the gibbet.

"It is Lucas of Sparendam come back from Delft," they cry as soon as
they recognize the stained face, wet with the frost and the mist.

Already Jan--who with Piet's help was busy with the rope--has heard the
name. His wan, thin face has become the colour of ashes.

"Lucas of Sparendam back from Delft," he murmurs, "the Lord save us
all!"

Lucas of Sparendam was sent yesterday to Delft by the Lord of
Stoutenburg to spy and to find out all that was going on inside the
Prinzenhof where slept the Stadtholder and his bodyguard of one hundred
men-at-arms: and now he has come back running and panting: his clothes
torn, his face haggard and spent. He has run all the way from Delft--a
matter of a league and a half! Why should a man half kill himself by
endeavouring to cover a league and a half in one hour?

"A drop of hot wine for Lucas," cries one of the soldiers. "He is
faint."

The other men--there are close on forty all told--crowd round the gibbet
now, those in charge of the prisoner have much ado to keep the space
clear. They don't say anything just yet, but there is a strange,
restless look in their eyes and their lips tremble with all the unspoken
questions. Only two men remain calm and silent, Jan has never ceased in
his task of adjusting the ropes, and the prisoner stands quite still,
bound with cords, and neither looking on Lucas nor yet on the gibbet
above him. His eyes are half closed and there is a strained look on his
merry face as if he were trying to listen to something that was too far
off to hear.

But one man in the meanwhile is ready with the bottle of spiced wine,
the best cordial there is for a fainting man. The others make way for
him so that he can minister to Lucas. And Lucas drinks the wine eagerly,
then he opens his eyes.

"We are betrayed," he murmurs.

"Great God!" exclaims Jan dully.

"Betrayed!"

"What does it mean?"

No one heeds the prisoner now. They all crowd around Lucas. Jan calls
out his orders in vain: Piet the Red alone listens to what he says, the
others all want to know what Lucas means. They had been in the thick of
a plot of course, they all knew that: a guet-apens had been prepared by
the Lord of Stoutenburg for the Stadtholder whom he hates. The heavy
boxes of course--gunpowder ... to blow up the wooden bridge when the
Stadtholder and his escort are h