"Hullo!" he cried when he saw Harry. "I wondered when I should run up against you. I have heard all about your feat—rescuing beauty and all that. What in the world brought you to this country?" "’Twould be long in the telling. You shall know all in season. I am here on a very special errand. You remember Sherry Minshull?" "As well as I do you. Many’s the trout we’ve caught together. A right good fellow!" "At this moment he is lying under sentence of death in the town-house at Breda. Unknown to me, he had been a soldier, and deserted after thrashing an officer——" "D’ye know him, then?" interposed the other lieutenant. "He is my man." "Oh! Sorry for you both. I had heard about it from an officer of Coy’s—Cadogan’s, I should say; their name’s changed." "Do you know, sir, how he came to be smoked?" "’Twas an Englishman peached—a soldier of fortune, as it appears, who wished to be nameless. He met the men of Cadogan’s when they landed at Rotterdam, and arranged a trick by which they got him alone on the open road. ’Twas rather cleverly managed." "And a dirty mean thing to do," said Fanshawe warmly. "Can’t something be done for him?" asked Harry. "’Tis hopeless," was Lieutenant Tettefall’s reply. "Robins was very vindictive; he painted the man in the blackest colours in his evidence before the court-martial, and not one of the officers of the court knew your man. He has a double offence to answer for; ’tis certain he’ll be shot as soon as the forms are completed." Harry’s face was then the picture of blank despair. "On my life, ’tis a thousand pities!" said Fanshawe. "I fear there is not the ghost of a chance for him." His face gloomed for a moment; then his high spirits asserted themselves. "But come, Harry, ’tis no good taking on about it; come and forget it over a bottle. I want to hear your story." "No, I’m in no humour for racketing. Would to God I could do something for the poor fellow! Would the colonel intercede if we asked him?" "Not he. He would laugh and crack a joke. If Sherry were a Dutchman, now! The duke is very sweet to the Hollanders at this time, and a word from one of the States might turn him." "General van Santen!" exclaimed Harry. "I had not thought of him. ’Twas he I happened to be of use to, and Sherry did his share too. Yes, ’twould be no harm to try him. Do you know where he is?" "At Lillo," said Tettefall, "full thirty miles away." "I’ll ride there. Fanshawe, can you lend me a horse? Mine brought me from the Hague, forty miles and more, and is done up." "I’ll lend you mine. I’d like to save Sherry, but ’tis a poor chance. Leave your horse; I’ll send him and another to meet you on the way back, in case you have to ride for it." "’Tis good of you. Do you know the road?"