The Beleaguered Cities
"This open square before us," said Lambert, as he and Ben walked
on together, "is pretty in summer, with its shady trees. They
call it the Ruine. Years ago it was covered with houses, and the
Rapenburg Canal, here, ran through the street. Well, one day a
barge loaded with forty thousand pounds of gunpowder, bound for
Delft, was lying alongside, and the bargemen took a notion to
cook their dinner on the deck, and before anyone knew it, sir, the whole thing blew up, killing lots of persons and scattering about three hundred houses to the winds."
"What!" exclaimed Ben. "Did the explosion destroy three hundred
houses!"
"Yes, sir, my father was in Leyden at the time. He says it was
terrible. The explosion occurred just at noon and it was like a
volcano. All this part of the town was on fire in an instant, buildings tumbling down and men, women, and children groaning under the ruins. The king himself came to the city and acted nobly, Father says, staying out in the streets all night, encouraging the survivors in their efforts to arrest the fire and rescue as many as possible from under the heaps of stone and rubbish. Through his means a collection for the benefit of the sufferers was raised throughout the kingdom, besides a hundred thousand guilders paid out of the treasury. Father was only nineteen years old then. It was in 1807, I believe, but he remembers it perfectly. A friend of his, Professor Luzac, was among the killed. They have a tablet erected to his memory, in Saint Peter's Church, farther on--the queerest thing you ever saw, with an image of the professor carved upon it, representing him just as he looked when he was found after the explosion."
"What a strange idea! Isn't Boerhaave's monument in Saint
Peter's also?"
"I cannot remember. Perhaps Peter knows."
The captain delighted Ben by saying that the monument was there
and that he thought they might be able to see it during the day.
"Lambert," continued Peter, "ask Ben if he saw Van der Werf's
portrait at the town hall last night?"
"No," said Lambert, "I can answer for him. It was too late to go
in. I say, boys, it is really wonderful how much Ben knows. Why, he has told me a volume of Dutch history already. I'll wager he has the siege of Leyden at his tongue's end."
"His tongue must burn, then," interposed Ludwig, "for if
Bilderdyk's account is true, it was a pretty hot affair."
Ben was looking at them with an inquiring smile.
"We are speaking of the siege of Leyden," explained Lambert.
"Oh, yes," said Ben, eagerly, "I had forgotten all about it. This was the very place. Let's give old Van der Werf three cheers. Hur--"
Van Mounen uttered a hasty "Hush!" and explained that, patriotic
as the Dutch were, the police would soon have something to say if
a party of boys cheered in the street at midday.
"What? Not cheer Van der Werf?" cried Ben, indignantly. "One of
the greatest chaps in history? Only think! Didn't he hold out
against those murderous Spaniards for months and months? There
was the town, surrounded on all sides by the enemy; great black
forts sending fire and death into the very heart of the city--but
no surrender! Every man a hero--women and children, too, brave
and fierce as lions, provisions giving out, the very grass from
between the paving stones gone--till people were glad to eat
horses and cats and dogs and rats. Then came the
plague--hundreds dying in the streets--but no surrender! Then
when they could bear no more, when the people, brave as they
were, crowded about Van der Werf in the public square begging him
to give up, what did the noble old burgomaster say? 'I have
sworn to defend this city, and with God's help, I MEAN TO DO IT! If my body can satisfy your hunger, take it, and divide it among you, but expect no surrender so long as I am alive.' Hurrah! hur--"
Ben was getting uproarious; Lambert playfully clapped his hand
over his friend's mouth. The result was one of those quick
India-rubber scuffles fearful to behold but delightful to human
nature in its polliwog state.
"Vat wash te matter, Pen?" asked Jacob, hurrying forward.
"Oh! nothing at all," panted Ben, "except that Van Mounen was
afraid of starting an English riot in this orderly town. He
stopped my cheering for old Van der--"