te at feasts, and this
company was no exception. Even Montalvo, his game being won and the
strain on his nerves relaxed, partook pretty freely, and began to talk
in proportion to his potations. Still, so clever was the man that in his
cups he yet showed a method, for his conversation revealed a sympathy
with Netherlander grievances and a tolerance of view in religious
matters rarely displayed by a Spaniard.

From such questions they drifted into a military discussion, and
Montalvo, challenged by Van de Werff, who, as it happened, had not
drunk too much wine, explained how, were he officer in command, he would
defend Leyden from attack by an overwhelming force. Very soon Van de
Werff saw that he was a capable soldier who had studied his profession,
and being himself a capable civilian with a thirst for knowledge pressed
the argument from point to point.

"And suppose," he asked at length, "that the city were starving and
still untaken, so that its inhabitants must either fall into the hands
of the enemy or burn the place over their heads, what would you do
then?"

"Then, Mynheer, if I were a small man I should yield to the clamour of
the starving folk and surrender----"

"And if you were a big man, captain?"

"If I were a big man--ah! if I were a big man, why then--I should cut
the dykes and let the sea beat once more against the walls of Leyden. An
army cannot live in salt water, Mynheer."

"That would drown out the farmers and ruin the land for twenty years."

"Quite so, Mynheer, but when the corn has to be saved, who thinks of
spoiling the straw?"

"I follow you, Senor, your proverb is good, although I have never heard
it."

"Many good things come from Spain, Mynheer, including this red wine. One
more glass with you, for, if you will allow me to say it, you are a man
worth meeting over a beaker--or a blade."

"I hope that you will always retain the same opinion of me," answered
Van de Werff as he drank, "at the trencher or in the trenches."

Then Pieter went home, and before he slept that night made careful notes
of all the Spaniard's suggested military dispositions, both of attackers
and attacked, writing underneath them the proverb about the corn and the
straw. There existed no real reason why he should have done so, as he
was only a civilian engaged in business, but Pieter van de Werff chanced
to be a provident young man who knew many things might happen which
could not precisely be foreseen. As it fe