Jacqueline of the Carrier Pigeons | Page 8

way around the walls and outside the
city as well and perhaps better than anyone in Leyden. And I want to do
something! I can't sit around idle while all are helping in one way or
another. Why dost thou look so white and frightened, Jacqueline?"
"Ah, Gysbert! thou must not do this! Thou wilt surely be captured and

killed. Ah! I cannot allow it, nor will Vrouw Voorhaas!"
"Vrouw Voorhaas must not know of it, - at least at first. And thou must
not interfere with me, dear sister. I know that our father, were he alive,
would approve of my decision. Did he not always tell us to be
courageous, and would he not wish us to serve our city in this great
distress?" This argument silenced Jacqueline's remonstrances.
"Do what thou wilt, Gysbert, since thou thinkest that our father would
approve, only be not rash, and have a care for thy life. What would I do
if thou wert taken from me, brother?"
"I will be most cautious, sister, never fear for that!"
"But how shall we keep it from Vrouw Voorhaas? She would lock thee
in a room and never let thee out, did she but dream of thy decision!"
"Thou mayst tell her that I am out helping with the defence of the city,
if I fail to come back for too long a period. That will be the strict truth,
yet not enough to alarm her seriously," answered Gysbert.
"How absurdly worried and careful she has been about us, since the day
we told her of the King's Pardon and Dirk Willumhoog! She turned
deathly white at the mention of his name, and I thought she was going
to faint when we told her what he said before he left the gate. Dost thou
remember, Gysbert?"
"Aye but let me tell thee something else, Jacqueline. What dost thou
think of this? I saw Dirk Willumhoog in the city this morning!"
"Gysbert! thou art surely joking! That cannot be possible. Since he was
expelled from the city, how could he get back?"
"Ask me not how he got back, for I do not know. But the best of it is
that he did not see me, and he was so disguised that had it not been for
certain circumstances, I should never have known him. I had strolled up
Hengist Hill after leaving the Breede Straat, and had climbed into a tree
to get a better view of the Spanish army outside the walls. I was sitting

in the branches very quietly, when a man in a long cloak and big
slouching hat came out of the grove and sat down right under my tree.
Thinking himself alone, he took off his hat, threw aside his cloak, and
then to my great surprise, pulled off the thick beard that covered his
face!
"'Ah, but it is hot!' I heard him mutter. Then he stood up and stretched
his arms, and I all but lost my hold and fell out of the tree when I
recognized who it was! He sat down again and rested for half an hour,
and I thought he would never go. Fortunately he did not once think of
looking up or he would have certainly seen me. At last he donned his
beard, hat and cloak, and sneaked off never dreaming who had watched
his every movement! I would give a good round florin to know what he
is after!"
"Ah, I am sure it is some harm to us, he is plotting!" shuddered
Jacqueline. "Dost thou recall his look of hate on that dreadful day,
Gysbert? He has some reason for wishing us evil."
"That may or may not be," answered Gysbert. "At any rate, I think he
can do us but little harm. However, thou shouldst be careful about
going abroad in the city alone, Jacqueline. Thou art not as strong as I."
"I go nowhere except to purchase our small allowance of food - thou
knowst Vrouw Voorhaas never goes out at all now - and to visit poor
Jan Van Buskirk once a day, and take him some soothing medicine. He
says that nothing helps him like the decoction of my herbs, and nothing
charms away his pain like the touch of my hands. Dost thou know,
Gysbert, that he has been obliged to kill and eat most of his pigeons
since food has been so short? I know not what he will do when they are
gone!"
"We will share our food with him, Jacqueline. He has always been so
kind to us, and taught us how to raise and train our pigeons. But now,
let us to rest! It is late, and I must see Burgomaster Van der Werf early
to-morrow."
Poor Jacqueline's sleep that night was