Peter obeyed mechanically. He even took off his hat and looked into it—then thrust his hand desperately into every pocket.
"It's gone, boys," he said at last, in a hopeless tone. "No tiffin for us, nor dinner neither. What is to be done? We can't get on without money. If we were in Amsterdam I could get as much as we want, but there is not a man in Haarlem from whom I can borrow a stiver. Don't one of you know any one here who would lend us a few guilders?"
Each boy looked into five blank faces. Then something like a smile passed around the circle, but it got sadly knotted up when it reached Carl.
"That wouldn't do," he said crossly. "I know some people here, rich ones, too, but father would flog me soundly, if I borrowed a cent from any one. He has 'An honest man need not borrow,' written over the gateway of his summer-house."
"Humph!" responded Peter, not particularly admiring the sentiment just at that moment.
The boys grew desperately hungry at once.
"It wash my fault," said Jacob, in a penitent tone, to Ben. "I say first, petter all de boys put zair pursh into Van Holp's monish."
"Nonsense, Jacob; you did it all for the best."
Ben said this in such a sprightly tone that the two Van Holps and Carl felt sure he had proposed a plan that would relieve the party at once.
"What? what? Tell us, Van Mounen," they cried.