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Page 17
"Stop!" he cried, "stop, and keep off from my horse, or I
shall give the word of command to advance."
"Here is the order!" a hundred insolent voices answered at
once.
He took it in amazement, cast a rapid glance on it, and said
quite aloud, --
"Those who have signed this order are the real murderers of
Cornelius de Witt. I would rather have my two hands cut off
than have written one single letter of this infamous order."
And, pushing back with the hilt of his sword the man who
wanted to take it from him, he added, --
"Wait a minute, papers like this are of importance, and are
to be kept."
Saying this, he folded up the document, and carefully put it
in the pocket of his coat.
Then, turning round towards his troop, he gave the word of
command, --
"Tilly's dragoons, wheel to the right!"
After this, he added, in an undertone, yet loud enough for
his words to be not altogether lost to those about him, --
"And now, ye butchers, do your work!"
A savage yell, in which all the keen hatred and ferocious
triumph rife in the precincts of the prison simultaneously
burst forth, and accompanied the departure of the dragoons,
as they were quietly filing off.
The Count tarried behind, facing to the last the infuriated
populace, which advanced at the same rate as the Count
retired.
John de Witt, therefore, had by no means exaggerated the
danger, when, assisting his brother in getting up, he
hurried his departure. Cornelius, leaning on the arm of the
Ex-Grand Pensionary, descended the stairs which led to the
courtyard. At the bottom of the staircase he found little
Rosa, trembling all over.
"Oh, Mynheer John," she said, "what a misfortune!"
"What is it, my child?" asked De Witt.
"They say that they are gone to the Town-hall to fetch the
order for Tilly's horse to withdraw."
"You do not say so!" replied John. "Indeed, my dear child,
if the dragoons are off, we shall be in a very sad plight."
"I have some advice to give you," Rosa said, trembling even
more violently than before.
"Well, let us hear what you have to say, my child. Why
should not God speak by your mouth?"
"Now, then, Mynheer John, if I were in your place, I should
not go out through the main street."
"And why so, as the dragoons of Tilly are still at their
post?"
"Yes, but their order, as long as it is not revoked, enjoins
them to stop before the prison."
"Undoubtedly."
"Have you got an order for them to accompany you out of the
town?"
"We have not?"
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