After tiffin, they rested a while, and then—took another, which, for form sake, they called dinner. After dinner the boys sat warming themselves, at the inn; all but Peter, who occupied the time in another fruitless search for Dr. Boekman.
This over, the party once more prepared for skating. They were thirteen miles from the Hague and not as fresh as when they had left Broek early on the previous day; but they were in good spirits and the ice was excellent.
XXVI
THE PALACE AND THE WOOD
As the boys skated onward, they saw a number of fine country seats, all decorated and surrounded according to the Dutchest of Dutch taste, but impressive to look upon, with their great, formal houses, elaborate gardens, square hedges, and wide ditches—some crossed by a bridge, having a gate in the middle to be carefully locked at night. These ditches, everywhere traversing the landscape, had long ago lost their summer film, and now shone under the sunlight, like trailing ribbons of glass.
The boys traveled bravely, all the while performing the surprising feat of producing gingerbread from their pockets and causing it to vanish instantly.
Twelve miles were passed. A few more long strokes would take them to the Hague, when Van Mounen proposed that they should vary their course, by walking into the city through The Bosch.
"Agreed!" cried one and all—and their skates were off in a twinkling.