202 Hans Brinker

brought news of relief to the besieged city are somewhere here
in Leyden. JI really should like to see them! Just think of
it. Atthe very height of the trouble, if the wind didn’t turn,
and blow in the waters, and drown hundreds of the Spaniards,
and enable the Dutch boats to sail in right over the land, with
men and provisions, to the very gates of the city! The
pigeons, you know, did great service in bearing letters to and
fro. I have read, somewhere, that they were reverently cared
for from that day; and, when they died, they were stuffed,
and placed for safe keeping in the Town Hall. We must be
sure to have a look at them.”

Van Mounen laughed. “On that principle, Ben, I sup-
pose, when you go to Rome, you ’ll expect to see the identical
goose that saved the Capitol. But it will be easy enough to
see the pigeons. “They are in the same building with Van
der Werf’s portrait. Which was the greater defence, Ben, —
the siege of Leyden, or the siege of Haarlem?”

“ Well,” replied Ben, thoughtfully, “Van der Werf is one
of my heroes. We all have our historical pets, you know;
but I really think the siege of Haarlem brought out a braver,
more heroic resistance even, than the Leyden one; besides,
they set the Leyden sufferers an example of courage and
fortitude, for their turn came first.”

“7 don’t know much about the Haarlem siege,” said
Lambert, “‘ except that it was in 1573. Who beat?”

“ The Spaniards,” said Ben. ‘The Dutch had stood out
for months. Not a man would yield, nor a woman, either,
for that matter. ‘They shouldered arms, and fought gallantly
beside their husbands and fathers. Three hundred of them
did duty under Kanau Hesselaer, a great woman, and brave
as Joan of Arc. All this time the city was surrounded by the