Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/51

Rh papers. You shall pass out unmolested, at the opening of the gate.” The man received  the papers, while the crowd looked on, muttering in contemptuous undertones.

“And I,” declared another who had shoved his way to the front, “will also receive the pardon, if you please.” Jacqueline grasped her brother’s arm convulsively.

“Dirk Willumhoog!” he whistled softly. “The city will be well rid of him, to be sure, but what a coward!”

When the two men had been furnished with the proper credentials, the burgomaster commanded them to proceed at once to the principal city gate, where they would be dismissed  to the Spanish army outside. But as they made their way down the wide Breede Straat,  the fury of the crowd broke loose.

“Shame! Shame!” hissed the following throng. “Shame on the cowards who desert their countrymen to join the despicable ranks  of Spain! Thrice shame on their accursed heads!” Straight to the walls of the city