Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/81

Rh strong young legs, he accomplished the fifteen miles back to Leyden in four hours, and at nightfall reached once more the outskirts  of the Spanish camp. But his passage through the enemy’s midst was not destined  to be as uneventful as that of the morning.

The camp streets were bustling with life and activity. Soldiers promenaded up and down, women—the few who had chosen to  follow their husbands’ fortunes—called to  each other shrilly from the tent-doors, and  even some children ran hither and thither in  garments of startling untidiness. Gysbert hoped to escape notice in the general confusion, but in this he was mistaken. A sudden hand was laid in no gentle manner on his shoulder, and a voice from behind demanded:

“The password!”

“Requesens!” he replied confidently.

“In that thou art much in error!” answered the soldier. “Dost thou think that the password does not change from day to