I see no better way than to go back hungry."

"I see a better plan than that," said the captain.

"What is it?" cried all the boys.

"Why, to make the best of a bad business and go back pleasantly and like
men," said Peter, looking so gallant and handsome as he turned his frank
face and clear blue eyes upon them that they caught his spirit.

"Ho for the captain!" they shouted.

"Now, boys, we may as well make up our minds, there's no place like
Broek, after all--and that we mean to be there in two hours. Is that
agreed to?"

"Agreed!" cried all as they ran to the canal.

"On with your skates! Are you ready? Here, Jacob, let me help you."

"Now. One, two, three, start!"

And the boyish faces that left Haarlem at that signal were nearly as
bright as those that had entered it with Captain Peter half an hour
before.

Hans

"Donder and Blixin!" cried Carl angrily, before the party had skated
twenty yards from the city gates, "if here isn't that wooden-skate
ragamuffin in the patched leather breeches. That fellow is everywhere,
confound him! We'll be lucky," he added, in as sneering a tone as he
dared to assume, "if our captain doesn't order us to halt and shake
hands with him."

"Your captain is a terrible fellow," said Peter pleasantly, "but this
is a false alarm, Carl. I cannot spy your bugbear anywhere among the
skaters. Ah, there he is! Why, what is the matter with the lad?"

Poor Hans! His face was pale, his lips compressed. He skated like one
under the effects of a fearful dream. Just as he was passing, Peter
hailed him:

"Good day, Hans Brinker!"

Hans's countenance brightened at once. "Ah, mynheer, is that you? It is
well we meet!"

"Just like his impertinence," hissed Carl Schummel, darting scornfully
past his companions, who seemed inclined to linger with their captain.

"I am glad to see you, Hans," responded Peter cheerfully, "but you look
troubled. Can I serve you?"

"I have a trouble, mynheer," answered Hans, casting down his eyes. Then,
lifting them again with almost a happy expression, he added, "But it is
Hans who can help Mynheer van Holp THIS time."

"How?" asked Peter, making, in his blunt Dutch way, no attempt to
conceal his surprise.

"By giving you THIS, mynheer." And Hans held forth the missing purse.

"Hurrah!" shouted the boys, taking their cold hands from their pockets
to wave them joyfully in the air. But Peter said "Thank you, Hans
Brinker" in a tone that mad