On this, every one of the miscreants, emboldened by his fall, wanted to fire his gun at him, or strike him with blows of the sledge-hammer, or stab him with a knife or swords, every one wanted to draw a drop of blood from the fallen hero, and tear off a shred from his garments. And after having mangled, and torn, and completely stripped the two brothers, the mob dragged their naked and bloody bodies to an extemporised gibbet, where amateur executioners hung them up by the feet. Then came the most dastardly scoundrels of all, who not having dared to strike the living flesh, cut the dead in pieces, and then went about the town selling small slices of the bodies of John and Cornelius at ten sous a piece. We cannot take upon ourselves to say whether, through the almost imperceptible chink of the shutter, the young man witnessed the conclusion of this shocking scene; but at the very moment when they were hanging the two martyrs on the gibbet he passed through the terrible mob, which was too much absorbed in the task, so grateful to its taste, to take any notice of him, and thus he reached unobserved the Tol-Hek, which was still closed. “Ah! sir,” said the gatekeeper, “do you bring me the key?” “Yes, my man, here it is.” “It is most unfortunate that you did not bring me that key only one quarter of an hour sooner,” said the gatekeeper, with a sigh. “And why that?” asked the other. “Because I might have opened the gate to Mynheers de Witt; whereas, finding the gate locked, they were obliged to retrace their steps.” “Gate! gate!” cried a voice which seemed to be that of a man in a hurry. The Prince, turning round, observed Captain Van Deken. “Is that you, Captain?” he said. “You are not yet out of the Hague? This is executing my orders very slowly.” “Monseigneur,” replied the Captain, “this is the third gate at which I have presented myself; the other two were closed.” “Well, this good man will open this one for you; do it, my friend.” The last words were addressed to the gatekeeper, who stood quite thunderstruck on hearing Captain Van Deken addressing by the title of Monseigneur this pale young man, to whom he himself had spoken in such a familiar way. As it were to make up for his fault, he hastened to open the gate, which swung creaking on its hinges. “Will Monseigneur avail himself of my horse?” asked the Captain. “I thank you, Captain, I shall use my own steed, which is waiting for me close at hand.” And taking from his pocket a golden whistle, such as was generally used at that time for summoning the servants, he sounded it with a shrill and prolonged call, on which an equerry on horseback speedily made his appearance, leading another horse by the bridle. William, without touching the stirrup, vaulted into the saddle of the led horse, and, setting his spurs into its flanks, started off for the Leyden road. Having reached it, he turned round and beckoned to the Captain who was far behind, to ride by his side.