Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/250

 could leave her under the protection of friends, and from there he could make his plans to join the Prince of Orange. He took leave of his humble friends with profound emotion. He bade Conrad a brief farewell, as he fully expected his early arrival in Leyden.

After a hurried repast, the fugitives followed their guide through the deserted streets of the city, and successfully avoided the night-watchmen who were on duty. At last they reached one of the canals, and rousing a sleepy ferryman, with whom Peter was acquainted, they entered one of those brown slipper-like boats, which glide picturesquely about the Ouderhaven. A slight haziness, which was not exactly a mist, hung around the old houses and half veiled the bridges. The water lapped lazily about the tall gray posts. They drifted, rather than rowed, past timber rafts, huge canal boats, under bridges, past gloomy archways and the reflected shadows of tall houses, until they reached the harbor. Here they were obliged to land, as the ferryman refused to carry them farther.

Peter took the matter in hand. Finding the owner of a rowboat, he tried to hire him to row the party to the suspicious looking craft, which for several days had been lurking in the neighborhood. The boatman was timid, and did not dare to evade the law. Peter finally persuaded the man to loan him the use of the boat for a couple of hours, and