I know not whether the Director had really given orders to his secretary that I should be informed as to what was expected of me, but suppose such must have been the case, although no heed was given to so small an official as myself, from the time of setting sail until we were returned to New Amsterdam. [Illustration] So far as Master Stuyvesant was concerned, I might as well not have been there, but this overlooking me did not cause my heart to burn, for I was well content to be forgotten entirely by the gentleman who ruled over our city with an iron hand. The officers of the ship, whose acquaintance I had already made, gave me fairly comfortable quarters, apart from the Director's following, and although such expeditions were not to my mind, I drank in all of the enjoyment that could come to one who was embarked upon a venture which to him seemed wrongful. There is no need why I should tell you anything whatsoever concerning the journey from New Amsterdam to Trinity, save to say that we arrived off that fort at noon on the following Friday, when without delay our trumpeters were sent on shore to demand the surrender. DRIVING OUT THE SWEDES In the fort were forty-six men with a captain, and, as a matter of course, they could do no less than surrender when called upon so to do, for our force numbered upwards of seven hundred, and we had sent from the fort in New Amsterdam, on board the vessels, guns enough to tear the fort into splinters within an hour. The Swedish captain said all he could to soften the heart of Director Stuyvesant, who would listen neither to entreaties nor arguments, save that he permitted the garrison to march out with full honors of war, and immediately this had been done, a number of our men, sufficient to hold possession of the place, were sent on shore. Then nearly all the people of the fleet assembled on board the _De Waag_ to hear our preacher give thanks to God for the bloodless victory which had been won, and within four and twenty hours we were on our way to Christina, where, so we learned at Trinity, there was a force of only about thirty men. [Illustration] Here the trumpeters blew their shrill blasts again in front of the fort and surrender was demanded; but the governor of the colony was not minded to give in without at least a struggle of the tongue. From the second until the fifteenth day of September, we lay there at anchor while he protested against what he called high-handed proceedings, trying vainly to prove to Director Stuyvesant that he and his following had as much right in the wilderness of the New World, as had the Dutch. It was all in vain, however, and, as may be expected, the result was that we captured Christina as we had Trinity, thus putting an end to this colony of New Sweden.