Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/49

Rh forgotten. He has authorized General Valdez to say that if the city will surrender at once, that the citizens shall be shown every  mercy.” No sooner had the burgomaster ceased to speak, than old Jan Van Buskirk  raised his voice:

“It is a trap! Believe not in it!”

“Yes, yes! It is a trap!” stormed the multitude. “We will have none of it! We will die to the last man, before we will surrender!”

“What right has that wretch of a Spanish King to offer us pardon!” growled Gysbert  to his sister and Jan. “He forgive us, indeed! And it is he that has been doing all the wrong and committing all the crimes. Many thanks to him, truly!”

“But what message is it your pleasure that I shall send in answer to this?” asked  the burgomaster.

“Tell him,” roared Jan, who seemed to have constituted himself spokesman for the  people, “that the fowler plays sweet notes