gled before being thrown into
the flames were to be placed. It was a fearful-looking spectacle--
fearful from its very simplicity. There was no parade nor decoration,
nothing to conceal the naked horror of the work.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA--PETER CHERISHES NEW HOPES--PETER IS SENT AS AN
ENVOY FROM THE ROVERS--THE EXECUTIONS ARE SUSPENDED, AND CASPAR SENT TO
TREAT WITH THE BEGGARS--CASPAR RESIGNS GRETCHEN TO DIEDRICH--THE BEGGARS
OF THE SEA ATTACK BRILL--DIEDRICH VISITS THE INQUISITION--FATHER QUIXADA
ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS PRISONERS, BUT IS DEFEATED--BRILL IS CAPTURED BY
THE PROTESTANTS--AND BECOMES THE CRADLE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.

Peter Kopplestock was in despair. He had in vain attempted to obtain an
interview with his young niece, or to send her any message. The
prisoners were so strictly watched that he was unable even to send her a
message. Her death and that of her worthy father seemed sealed. Peter
in despair returned to his post; it was time for him to be ready to
ferry passengers across the river. He had taken one party across, and
was returning once more to Brill, when down the river a fleet of several
large vessels was seen standing up towards the town. Peter watched them
with interest. That they were not merchant vessels, he was well aware.
They were not Spanish ships either. He came to the conclusion,
therefore, that they must be the Beggars of the Sea. Concealing his own
feelings, he informed his passengers, who wished to know his opinions.
They were the powerful fleet of those redoubted rovers, and there could
be little doubt that they had come up to attack Brill. By the time he
had fully worked upon the fears of his passengers, they arrived at the
landing-place on the side of the city. Instantly the whole party rushed
up towards the town, spreading the alarming information they had
received. He told them also that for their sakes he would venture down
the river, and try and ascertain more particulars. Some urged him not
to run so great a risk. He laughingly answered that it mattered little,
that they could but hang him if he was caught, and that many an honest
man was every day suffering a worse fate than that, thanks to the Duke
of Alva.

Peter rowed away down the river as hard as he could urge on his boat.
As he approached the fleet he was more convinced than ever that he was
right. The first vessel he hailed was commanded, he was told, by
William de Blois, Seign