carry out such commissions for Admiral
Hollway?"

"So help me God, the first time!"

"But Penurot was not meant to keep these peculiar loaves for himself?
He, like yourself, is only an agent? If you want me to speak for you,
you must tell me unreservedly everything you know about it."

"Penurot has a business friend in Antwerp, as the Herr major has rightly
guessed."

"His name?"

"Eberhard Amelungen."

"What is he?"

"A wholesale merchant. My cargo is intended for him."

"And how is he connected with Penurot?"

"I don't know. Penurot is an agent who does all kinds of business."

"Oh! and what does the owner, Mynheer van Spranekhuizen, say to your
having anything to do with such things as the conveyance of these
loaves?"

"Mynheer van Spranekhuizen and Mynheer Amelungen are near relations."

"In other words, these two gentlemen have agreed to send the Bressay
from the Shetlands to Dover, and from Dover to Antwerp."

"I know nothing about that, Herr major. I have told you everything I
know. No vessel can go further up the Schelde than Ternenzen, and I can
unload at Breskens just as well as at Ternenzen and send the goods by
rail to Antwerp."

"Now, Brandelaar, go upstairs again and send M. Penurot down to me."

With heavy tread the skipper mounted the narrow ladder, and almost at
once Penurot entered. Heideck, with a wave of his hand, invited him to
sit down opposite and began to speak.

"From what I have seen of Brandelaar I am convinced that he is an arrant
rascal. It was very imprudent on your part to have anything to do with
a man like that. If you are brought before a court-martial, you have him
to thank for it."

"For God's sake, Herr major--my life isn't in danger? I implore you,
have pity on me!"

"It will matter little whether personally I have pity on you. You
will go with me to the Gefion and be brought before a court-martial at
Flushing. The fact that you have been Brandelaar's accomplice cannot be
got rid of. He has just now declared definitely that the two loaves were
intended for you."

"For me? That is a vile lie. I have never received a penny from the
English."

"Well--but, without special reasons, a man doesn't amuse himself by
paying a visit to a herring-smack at night. The cargo could have been
delivered to Herr Eberhard Amelungen without your inspection."

"Eberhard Amelungen?"

"Don't pretend to be so ignorant. Brandelaar has already confessed
so much, that you can eas