Rupert made no reply for a while, but thought the matter over.

“Well, Hugh, I wish it had not been so, for I hate quarrels and brawls, but I do not think that we need be uneasy, especially now that we are warned.  The boat carries but three men, and as we shall have our pistols and swords, I imagine that we are a match for these Dutch boatmen.  See that the pistols are loaded, and say naught to our kind friends here as to your suspicions.  I would not make them uncomfortable.”

Before taking leave of their friends, Rupert was drawn aside by Mynheer Von Duyk, who begged to know if he had any necessity for money, and assured him that then or at any other time he should be glad to honour any drafts that Rupert might draw upon him.

“I am not a man of many words,” he said, “but in saving my daughter from that ruffian you have laid me under an obligation which I should be glad to discharge with half my fortune.  I am, as you know, a rich man—­I may say a very rich man.  Had you been a few years older, I would gladly have given my daughter to you did your inclination and hers jump that way.  As it is, I can only regard you as a younger brother of hers, and view you as a sort of son by adoption.  Young men in cavalry regiments require horses and have many expenses, and you will really pain me much if you refuse to allow me to act as your banker.  I have, believing that you would not take it wrongly, paid in to your account with the paymaster of your regiment the sum of two hundred pounds, and have told him that the same sum would be paid to your account annually so long as the regiment might be in Flanders, and that he may further cash any order drawn by you upon my house.

“There now, my daughter is waiting, and the hour for sailing is at hand.  Do not let us say any more about it.”

So saying he hurried Rupert out into the hall where Maria Von Duyk was waiting, before he could have raised any objection, had he wished to do so.  But in truth Rupert felt that he could not refuse the kind offer without giving pain, and he knew moreover that this allowance, which to the rich merchant was a mere trifle, would add greatly to his comfort, and enable him to enter more freely than he had yet done in the plans and pursuits of his brother officers, who were for the most part young men of fortune.  With a word or two of sincere thanks therefore, he accompanied the worthy Dutchman, and twelve minutes later the party were on their way down to the quay.

“A surly looking knave is your captain,” Mynheer Von Duyk said as they stood by the boat while the men prepared for a start.  “I see he belongs not to this town, but to Bergen.  However, the voyage is not a long one, and as you know but little of our language it will matter but slightly whether his temper be good or bad.

“There, I see he is ready.  Goodbye, Master Holliday.  Goodbye, my good Hugh.  All fortune attend you, and God keep you both from harm.”