The Laughing Cavalier, Baroness Orczy [the beginning after the end read novel TXT] 📗

“Bah! I have no time to waste waiting for his death,” retorted Stoutenburg roughly, “there is an opportunity closer at hand and more swift than the weary watching for the slow ravages of disease. The Stadtholder comes to Amsterdam next week; the burghers of his beloved city have begged of him to be present at the consecration of the Western Kerk, built by Mynheer van Keyser, as well as at the opening of the East India Company’s new hall. He plays up for popularity just now. The festivals in connection with the double event at Amsterdam have tempted him to undertake the long journey from the frontier, despite his failing health. His visit to this part of the country is a golden opportunity which I do not intend to miss.”

“You will find it very difficult to get near the Stadtholder on such an occasion,” remarked Beresteyn. “He no longer drives about unattended as he used to do.”

“All the escort in the world will not save him from my revenge,” said Stoutenburg firmly. “Our position now is stronger than it has ever been. I have adherents in every city of Holland and of Zealand, aye, and in the south too as far as Breda and in the east as far as Arnhem. I tell you, friends, that I have spread a net over this country out of which Maurice of Orange cannot escape. My organisation too is better than it was. I have spies within the camp at Sprang, a knot of determined men all along the line between Breda and Amsterdam, at Gouda, at Delft⁠ ⁠… especially at Delft.”

“Why specially there?” asked Beresteyn.

“Because I have it in my mind that mayhap we need not take the risks of accomplishing our coup in Amsterdam itself. As you say it might be very difficult and very dangerous to get at the Stadtholder on a public occasion⁠ ⁠… But Delft is on the way⁠ ⁠… Maurice of Orange is certain to halt at Delft, if only in order to make a pilgrimage to the spot where his father was murdered. He will, I am sure, sleep more than one night at the Prinsenhof.⁠ ⁠… And from Delft the way leads northwards past Ryswyk⁠—Ryswyk close to which I have had my headquarters three weeks past⁠—Ryswyk, my friends!” he continued, speaking very rapidly almost incoherently in his excitement, “where I have arms and ammunition, Ryswyk, which is the rallying point for all my friends⁠ ⁠… the molens! you remember?⁠ ⁠… close to the wooden bridge which spans the Schie⁠ ⁠… I have enough gunpowder stored at that molens to blow up twenty wooden bridges⁠ ⁠… and the Stadtholder with his escort must cross the wooden bridge which spans the Schie not far from the molens where I have my headquarters.⁠ ⁠… I have it all in my mind already.⁠ ⁠… I only wait to hear news of the actual day when the Stadtholder leaves his camp.⁠ ⁠… I can tell you more tomorrow, but in the meanwhile I want to know if there are a few men about here on whom I can rely at a moment’s notice⁠ ⁠… whom I can use as spies or messengers⁠ ⁠… or even to lend me a hand at Ryswyk in case of need⁠ ⁠… thirty or forty would be sufficient⁠ ⁠… if they are good fighting men.⁠ ⁠… I said something about this in my message to you all.”

“And I for one acted on your suggestion at once,” said one of the others. “I have recruited ten stout fellows: Germans and Swiss, who know not a word of our language. I pay them well and they ask no questions. They will fight for you, spy for you, run for you, do anything you choose, and can betray nothing, since they know nothing. They are at your disposal at any moment.”

“That is good, and I thank you, my dear Heemskerk.”

“I have half a dozen peasants on my own estate on whom I can rely,” said another of Stoutenburg’s friends. “They are good fighters, hardheaded and ready to go through fire and water for me. They are as safe as foreign mercenaries, for they will do anything I tell them and will do it without asking the reason why.”

“I have another eight or ten foreigners to offer you,” said a third, “they come from a part of Britain called Scotland so I understand. I picked them up a week ago when they landed at Scheveningen and engaged them in my service then and there.”

“And I can lay my hand at any moment on a dozen or so young apprentices in my father’s factory,” added a fourth, “they are always ready for a frolic or a fight and ready to follow me to hell if need be.”

“You see that you can easily count on three dozen men,” concluded Beresteyn.

“Three dozen men ready to hand,” said Stoutenburg, “for our present needs they should indeed suffice. Knowing that I can reckon on them I can strike the decisive blow when and how I think it best. It is the blow that counts,” he continued between set teeth, “after that everything is easy enough. The waverers hang back until success is assured. But our secret adherents in Holland can be counted by the score, in Zealand and Utrecht by the hundred. When Maurice of Orange has paid with his own blood the penalty which his crimes have incurred, when I can proclaim myself over his dead body Stadtholder of the Northern Provinces, Captain and Admiral General of the State, thousands will rally round us and flock to our banner. Thousands feel as we do, think as we do, and know what we know, that John of Barneveld will not rest in his grave till I, his last surviving son, have avenged him. Who made this Republic what she is? My father. Who gave the Stadtholder the might which he possesses? My father. My father whose name was revered and honoured throughout