Ned left at once, before the man, who was almost stupefied by the misfortune that had befallen him, had time to utter his thanks. He then called on the other two men against whom he bore orders of arrest. As both received him with greater courtesy than that shown by the first he had visited, he broke the news more gently to them, and discussed with them the manner in which they had best make their escape. One he found had friends and business connections in Sluys, and doubted not that he could obtain a passage there to Holland or England, while the other had similar connections in Axel.
Ned handed over to them the orders for the arrest of burghers of those towns, and these they gave him their promise to deliver, and also either to see or to send letters warning all the persons who were mentioned in the list of suspected. As he was anxious to get on as soon as possible he also gave them the list of the suspected at St. Nicholas, and these they promised also to warn; both were profuse in their gratitude to him for having saved them from certain death. Having thus concluded his business, Ned again mounted his horse and rode for Bergen op Zoom, the port at which he intended, if possible, to embark for Zeeland.
Bergen op Zoom, an important town, lay half a mile distant from the Scheldt, and was connected with the river by a channel guarded by two forts. There had been a strong Spanish garrison here, but it had lately been weakened by the withdrawal of a large detachment to take part in the successful enterprise undertaken for the relief of Tergoes in the Island of Beveland, which was besieged by a force from Flushing. Ned had frequently been at Bergen op Zoom in the Good Venture, and knew that while the magistrates and wealthier citizens were devoted to the Spanish cause the greater portion of the inhabitants, especially the seafaring class, were patriots to a man.
He therefore went to a small inn by the waterside, where he had several times taken meals with his father when the ship was lying off from the river. Seeing his horse put up in the stable he entered the tap room. The sailors drinking there looked somewhat surprised at the entrance of one differing much in appearance from the ordinary customers of the place. The landlord, who was leaning against his counter, did not advance to meet him; for strangers were by no means popular, and a suspicion that the newcomer was a spy would speedily empty his house. As Ned approached him he suddenly started, and was about to speak when the lad quickly placed his finger on his lip. He feared that the landlord was about to utter his name, and there might, for aught he knew, be someone there who would report it.
"How are you, landlord?" he said. "It is some time since I was here last, and I think you had almost forgotten me." The landlord took the hint.
"Yes, indeed," he said. "And how is your father? I have not seen him lately, and heard that he was not well."
"No; he has been laid up for some time, but he is mending. You see I have taken service."
"Ah, I see," the landlord said. "Well, my good wife will be glad to see you and hear about your family." So saying he led the way into a private room.
"Why, what means this, Master Martin?" he asked. "We heard here of the brave fight your father's ship made some two months since with a Spaniard in the Zuider Zee, and that he was sorely wounded. But what means this masquerading? Surely you have not given up the sea?"
"Only for the present," Ned replied. "You know I am Dutch on my mother's side. All her family have been murdered by the Spaniards, and what with that and my father being attacked and wounded, I made up my mind to give up the sea for a time, and to help the good cause as much as I could. I have been carrying a message to Brussels and want now to get back to Rotterdam or some other sea port town. How had I best do it?"