on that we should have to
encounter so rough, ill-mannered, and boisterous a sea, and such howling
winds," answered the Count. "I had bargained to find the water as
smooth as the Scheldt, and I still should have no hesitation about going
round the world, providing you can guarantee that the ocean will keep
perfectly quiet till we come back again."

"As to that, I will guarantee that as far as my influence extends it
shall remain as calm as a mill-pond," said the Baron, in a confident
tone. "Will that satisfy you, Count? If so, notwithstanding your
unjust complaints, we will continue our travels."

"Perfectly, perfectly," said the Count. "I always take your word for
what it is worth."

"Ho! ho!" laughed the skipper, who overheard the conversation. "Look
out there, Pieter. Are you keeping your weather eye open?" he shouted
to the one-eyed mariner who was forward.

"Ja, ja, Captain; there's a fleet of fishing boats ahead, we must keep
to the eastward of them. Port the helm a little."

Presently the Count and the Baron heard the tinkling of bells, and as
they looked over the side of the vessel the Count exclaimed, "What are
those Will-o'-the-Wisps dancing away there?"

"Ho! ho! ho!" laughed the skipper. "Those are the lights from fishing
boats. We shall see them more clearly presently."

As the galiot sailed on, the Count and Baron observed that the lights
proceeded from lanterns hung up in the rigging, and that some vessels
had huge beams with black nets attached to them which they had just
hoisted up out of the water, and that the crews were turning out the
fish caught in the pockets of the nets. Others, under easy sail, were
gliding on slowly with stout ropes towing astern.

"They are trawlers catching turbot, brill, plaice, and other flat fish,"
observed the skipper. "Our country has numberless advantages; we make
as much use of the sea as many other nations do of the land, though, as
I before said, we are carrying on a constant warfare with it, trying to
turn it away from its ancient boundaries, and doing our best to keep it
from encroaching on the soil we have once gained. Holland would never
have become what she is, unless Dutchmen had been imbued with a large
quantity of those valuable qualities, patience and perseverance."

"Ah, you Dutchmen are indeed a wonderful people," exclaimed the Count.
"I am very glad that we thought of visiting your country before
proceeding to other parts of the worl