Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/279

Rh available did he see in all his journey. Presently, as he was watching over one side of the boat, he heard a hearty voice call out  from the opposite direction:

“Ship ahoy! Well, if that isn’t a pretty small fry commanding that bark!” and he  recognized the gruff voice of his former acquaintance on the road to Delft. Captain Fruytiers had lost no time in getting both  himself and his little boat aboard the big  lugger which he said he was taking to join the  fleet of Boisot at Zwieten. Gysbert quickly told the bluff captain his story and easily  persuaded him to turn back and rescue Jacqueline from her perilous position.

This was all, except that from some passing vessel they had picked up the news that the Fleet had made a most triumphant progress all day, scattering the Spaniards right  and left, as they poured from the captured  fortresses and fled along the road to the  Hague. But Boisot had now arrived before the strongest Spanish redoubt,—the fortress