cried, "stop, and keep off from my horse, or I shall give the
word of command to advance."

"Here is the order!" a hundred insolent voices answered at once.

He took it in amazement, cast a rapid glance on it, and said quite
aloud,--

"Those who have signed this order are the real murderers of Cornelius
de Witt. I would rather have my two hands cut off than have written one
single letter of this infamous order."

And, pushing back with the hilt of his sword the man who wanted to take
it from him, he added,--

"Wait a minute, papers like this are of importance, and are to be kept."

Saying this, he folded up the document, and carefully put it in the
pocket of his coat.

Then, turning round towards his troop, he gave the word of command,--

"Tilly's dragoons, wheel to the right!"

After this, he added, in an undertone, yet loud enough for his words to
be not altogether lost to those about him,--

"And now, ye butchers, do your work!"

A savage yell, in which all the keen hatred and ferocious triumph
rife in the precincts of the prison simultaneously burst forth, and
accompanied the departure of the dragoons, as they were quietly filing
off.

The Count tarried behind, facing to the last the infuriated populace,
which advanced at the same rate as the Count retired.

John de Witt, therefore, had by no means exaggerated the danger,
when, assisting his brother in getting up, he hurried his departure.
Cornelius, leaning on the arm of the Ex-Grand Pensionary, descended the
stairs which led to the courtyard. At the bottom of the staircase he
found little Rosa, trembling all over.

"Oh, Mynheer John," she said, "what a misfortune!"

"What is it, my child?" asked De Witt.

"They say that they are gone to the Town-hall to fetch the order for
Tilly's horse to withdraw."

"You do not say so!" replied John. "Indeed, my dear child, if the
dragoons are off, we shall be in a very sad plight."

"I have some advice to give you," Rosa said, trembling even more
violently than before.

"Well, let us hear what you have to say, my child. Why should not God
speak by your mouth?"

"Now, then, Mynheer John, if I were in your place, I should not go out
through the main street."

"And why so, as the dragoons of Tilly are still at their post?"

"Yes, but their order, as long as it is not revoked, enjoins them to
stop before the prison."

"Undoubtedly."

"Have you got an order for them to accompany you out of the town?"