or, The Silver Skates III

“© You see,” explained Lambert to his companion, “the Y
and the Haarlem Lake, meeting here, make it rather trouble-
some. The river is five feet higher than the land; so we
must have everything strong in the way of dikes and sluice-
gates, or there would be wet work at once. ‘The sluice ar-
rangements’ here are supposed to be something extra. We
will walk over them, and you shall see enough to make you
open your eyes. The spring water of the lake, they say, has
the most wonderful bleaching powers of any in the world: all
the great Haarlem bleacheries use it. I can’t say much upon
that subject; but I can tell you oe thing from personal
experience.”

«© What is that?”

“Why, the lake is full of the biggest eels you ever saw.
I’ve caught them here, often — perfectly prodigious! I tell
you they ’re sometimes a match for a fellow: they ’d almost
wriggle your arm from the socket, if you were not on your
guard. But you’re not interested in eels, I perceive. The
castle ’s a big affair, isn’t it-? ”

“Yes. What do those swans mean? Anything?” asked
Ben, looking up at the stone gate-towers.

“ The swan is held almost in reverence by us Hollanders.
These give the building its name, Zwanenburg, — swan-castle.
That is all I know. This is a very important spot ; for it is
here that the wise ones hold council with regard to dike mat-
ters. The castle was once the residence of the celebrated
Christiaan Briinings.”

“ What about 4im ?” asked Ben.

“ Peter could answer you better than I,” said Lambert, “ if
you could only understand each other; or were not such
cowards about leaving your mother-tongues. But I have often