down together in mass beneath the onset of their foes. The
overthrow was complete. Scarcely had the victors and vanquished
vanished, than the clear blue space where they had stood appeared
suddenly streaked with broad crimson streams flowing athwart the sky.
The five soldiers reported the next day what they had witnessed to the
magistrates of Utrecht, who examined them separately, and each swore to
what he had seen. My father said that he should not have been inclined
to believe the account had not the evidence been so strong in favour of
its truth."

"This is strange," observed the burgomaster. "Your father will
assuredly show me the letter, and I shall then the better be able to
judge how far I can give the account credence. We know that strange
portents have appeared in the sky before great events, at the same time
these men of the Burgher Guard may have allowed their imaginations to
run riot. They knew that a battle was likely ere long to take place
should the Spaniards attempt to impede the march of Count Louis, and
some passing clouds may have appeared to them to represent the scene
they have described. Grant that they beheld something extraordinary,
yet they may have been mistaken, and the south-eastern army--for from
that direction the Count must be advancing--may prove victorious."

"My father would fain hope as you do, Mynheer Van der Werf, but his
friend, one of the magistrates of Utrecht, fully believes in the
apparition, and has imbued him with his own desponding spirit."

"Bear to him my regards, and beg him to cheer up," said the burgomaster.
"He must not allow his brave spirit to be agitated by a tale which may
after all have originated in the heated imaginations of a few ignorant
men. Had the whole city witnessed the spectacle it might have been
different."

While the burgomaster and Jaqueline were looking out from the summit of
Hengist's tower, two gentlemen approached it from opposite directions;
the one was of good figure, handsomely dressed in silken doublet and
cloak, with a feather in his cap, and a rapier, apparently more for
ornament than use, by his side. He walked with no laggard step, looking
up ever and anon towards the top of the tower. The other came on at
still greater speed, his appearance contrasting greatly with that of the
first; a heavy sword hung by his side, and over his shoulders was an
orange sash, which partly covered a breastplate showing many a deep
dent, while