"Play fair, you two!" cried Piet the Red, who was in command, "or we'll tie you both to the nearest beams and await my lord's commands." "Easy, easy, friend," quoth Diogenes with a pleasant laugh, "my nose was itching and my compeer held on to my arm while he tried to reach my nose in order to scratch it." "Then if it itch again," retorted the man with an equally jovial laugh, "call for my services, friend. And now, you two scarecrows! the five minutes are over. Jan will be here in a moment." But they formed up the circle once more, kind and compassionate. Jan was not yet here, and the rogues had had a warning: they were not like to be at their tricks again. "Never mind about me," whispered Diogenes hurriedly as Pythagoras and Socrates, baffled and furious, were giving forth samples of their choicest vocabularies. "You see that Chance alone can favour me an she choose, if not ... 'tis no matter. What you can do for me is far more important than cheating the gallows of my carcase." "What is it?" they asked simply. "The jongejuffrouw," he said, "you know where she is?" "In the hut--close by," replied Socrates, "we saw the sledge draw up there...." "But the house is well guarded," murmured Pythagoras. "Nor would I ask you to run your heads in the same noose wherein mine will swing to-morrow. But keep the hut well in sight. At any hour--any moment now there may be a call of _sauve qui peut_. Every man for himself and the greatest luck to the swiftest runner." "But why?" "Never mind why. It is sure to happen. Any minute you may hear the cry ... confusion, terror ... a scramble and a rush for the open." "And our opportunity," came in a hoarse whisper from Socrates. "I think that I begin to understand." "We lie low for the present and when _sauve qui peut_ is called we come straight back here and free you ... in the confusion they will have forgotten you." "If the confusion occurs in time," quoth Diogenes with his habitual carelessness, "you may still find me here trussed like a fowl to this verdommte beam. But I have an idea that the Lord of Stoutenburg will presently be consumed with impatience to see me hang ... he has just finished some important work by the bridge on the Schie ... he won't be able to sleep and the devil will be suggesting some mischief for his idle hands to do. There will be many hours to kill before daylight, one of them might be well employed in hanging me." "Then we'll not leave you an instant," asserted Pythagoras firmly. "What can you do, you two old scarecrows, against the Lord of Stoutenburg who has thirty men here paid to do his bidding?" "We are not going to lie low and play the part of cowards while you are being slaughtered."