The unfortunate Johanna Klack, alarmed at what might be the consequences, sprang back to the other side of the boat, and, losing her balance, overboard she went, amid the jeers of the hard-hearted skipper and crew of the galiot Golden Hog. The hapless Vrouw, as she descended into the far from limpid water, screamed loudly for help, the waterman who had brought her off being too much astonished at first to render it.
“Shove off,” cried the skipper, “and hook the woman out of the water, but do not bring her alongside this vessel again, if you value your skull.”
The man obeyed, and, stretching out his boathook, got hold of the Vrouw’s garments and hauled her on board. The moment she had recovered her breath she insisted on being taken back to the galiot; but the old boatman was suddenly seized with a fit of deafness, and wisely pulled away in an opposite direction.
“Take me back! take me back!” cried Johanna Klack.
“I am rowing as hard as I can,” answered the boatman.
“Take me back to the vessel, on board which my honoured master is a prisoner,” shouted Johanna Klack.
“We shall soon be at the shore; you can then run home and change your wet garments,” answered the old boatman.
“I tell you I want to go back to that vessel,” cried the housekeeper, getting more and more angry and excited.
“Ja, ja, Vrouw; ja, ja, I will land you presently.”
All this time the boatman was observing the threatening gestures of Captain Jan Dunck and Baron Stilkin. At last he disappeared with his fare behind a crowd of vessels.