, led her downstairs.

"She, however, made me undertake that you would carry the promised
reward to her house this afternoon, as soon as you had seen me in safety
on board."

I, of course, told Aveline that I felt myself bound at all risks to
fulfil my promise to the old woman, and that I should do well to hasten
back at once and pay her the money; I should be able to do so and to
overtake them by the time they reached the boats. A'Dale insisted on
accompanying me.

"I wish that some other means could be found for sending the old woman
her reward," said Captain Radford; "for I fear the risk to you will be
very great, should the part you have taken in liberating my dear
brother-in-law and daughter be discovered."

I answered that I considered that, duty should be first thought of, and
that a promise, to whomsoever made, was a promise still, and that
therefore, at all risks, I would willingly undertake the task.

Aveline was, I saw, very anxious on the subject; and I did my best to
console her by pointing out that I had passed through so many dangers,
that I had every reason to hope that I might be preserved as before.

With the purse of gold, promised to Dame Trond, under my cloak, I once
more, with A'Dale, entered the ill-fated city of Antwerp.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

A BRAVE DEFENCE.

As we approached the northern gate, by which we purposed entering
Antwerp, we met some straggling parties of persons who had come out of
the city, slowly proceeding towards the river. They none of them
carried anything, neither baskets nor bundles, nor visible property of
any description. Yet there was something in their looks which made me
fancy that they were anxious to escape from the place.

We hastened on to Dame Trond's house. As we passed through the streets,
loud salvos of artillery and the rattling sound of musketry reached our
ears, fired in honour of the ruler of the Netherlands or his statue; as
A'Dale remarked, it was hard to say which. On reaching the witch's
abode, I knocked as before at the door. We were speedily admitted.
People who come with gold in their purses are seldom denied. The old
dame was highly pleased, and promised us every possible good luck to the
end of our days.

"You are fortunate, young sir," she said, "in being able to make your
escape from this city; for, from all I have seen and heard, by the study
of my art I perceive that ere long even worse days than the miserable
ones at pre