had been going on for some time when Pieter said this.
Not only had the wind risen, but the rain had begun to fall, and the
Count and Baron were preparing to put up their umbrellas.

"It is very fortunate we brought them," observed the Count. "Baron,
your advice was sound when you suggested that we should do so."

Meantime the skipper had been getting his boat ready; he had stepped the
mast, and hoisted the sail.

"Pieter!" he exclaimed, "I want to say something to you."

"What is it, Captain?" asked the one-eyed mariner, cautiously drawing
near.

"Why, this!" cried the skipper. "That you are a treacherous old rascal,
and that I intend to pay you off."

As he spoke he hove a noose at the end of a rope over Pieter's body, and
before the one-eyed mariner was aware of what was going to happen, he
was dragged off his feet into the water, while the skipper, hauling aft
the main-sheet, sailed away, dragging poor Pieter through the foaming
waters astern. In his struggles Pieter had moved the rope up to his
neck, and was now in danger of being throttled.

"Stop, stop!" shouted the Count and the Baron in chorus. "Let that man
go! What are you about to do with him? You'll throttle him, or drag
off his head, or drown him--you'll be guilty of murder. We'll report
your conduct to the Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and all the other
authorities of Holland. Release him, let him go!"

Captain Jan Dunck, who never looked back towards his victim,
disregarding their threats and their cries sailed on, till he and his
boat and the hapless Pieter disappeared amid the thick sheets of rain
and the driving spray which surrounded them.

CHAPTER FIVE.

"Is there no chance for poor Pieter?" asked the Count, looking in the
direction Captain Jan Dunck, his boat, and his unfortunate victim had
gone.

"None, unless the skipper relents and drags him on board; and then I
don't think it likely that they will be on the best of terms," answered
the Baron.

"Do Dutch skippers generally treat their crews in the way Captain Jan
Dunck has treated poor Pieter?" asked the Count of the ancient
fisherman.

"It depends very much on the amount of schiedam they have taken aboard,"
answered the ancient fisherman. "We of Marken do not behave in that
fashion."

"I am very glad to hear it," said the Count, "as there seems a
probability, till the storm is over, of our having to spend some time
with you; if you were to do anything of the sort, w