or, The Silver Skates 183

window during their walk. It was a poorly painted thing,
representing two men, tied back to back, standing on ship-
board, surrounded by a group of seamen, who were preparing
to cast them together into the sea. This mode of putting
prisoners to death was called voetspoelen, or feet-washing, and
was practised by the Dutch upon the pirates of Dunkirk in
1605, and again by the
Spaniards upon the Dutch,
in the horrible massacre
that followed the siege of
Haarlem. Bad as_ the
painting was, the expres-

 

A WARMING-PAN.

sion upon the pirates’ faces was well given.  Sullen and
despairing as they seemed, they wore such a cruel, malignant
aspect, that Ludwig had felt a secret satisfaction in contem-
plating their helpless condition. He might have forgotten the
scene by this time, but for that ill-looking man by the fire.
Now while he capered about, boy-like, and threw himself with
an antic into his bed, he inwardly hoped that the voetspoelen
would not haunt his dreams.

It was a cold, cheerless room. A fire had been newly
kindled in the burnished stove, and seemed to shiver even
while it was trying to burn. The windows, with their funny
little panes, were bare and shiny; and the cold, waxed floor
looked like a sheet of yellow ice. Three rush-bottomed chairs
stood stiffy against the wall, alternating with three narrow
wooden bedsteads, that made the room look like the deserted
ward of a hospital. At any other time the boys would have
found it quite impossible to sleep in pairs, especially in such
narrow quarters; but to-night they lost all fear of being
crowded, and longed only to lay their weary bodies upon the