This was more than could be borne.  It was obvious that the rebels were already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that probably Prince Maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of those very vessels, and were giving him the slip.  With great expedition it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment.  Those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than Zapena or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance.  And it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the States’ cavalry at Ostend to partially redeem their character, and to render very effective service.  Had four or five hundred resolute troopers hung upon the rear of the Spanish army now, as it moved toward Nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against such assaults.  But the terror was an enduring one.  Those horsemen remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the States, with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride even a half mile beyond the city gates.

While these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of Ostend, Maurice had not been idle at Nieuport.  No sooner had Ernest been despatched on his desperate errand than his brother Lewis Gunther was ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the quarters of the army.  On the previous afternoon there had been so little thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in all directions, and had not returned.  Lewis gave notice that a great battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the stragglers.  Maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was to bring his army across the haven.  The arrangements were soon completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water.  Soon after eight o’clock Count Lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in safety.  The advanced guard of infantry, under Sir Francis Vere—­consisting of two thousand six hundred Englishmen, and two thousand eight hundred Frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia under Solms, and the rearguard under Tempel—­then slowly and with difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads.  Had the archduke not been detained near the bridge of Leffingen by Ernest’s Scotchmen and Zeelanders during three or four precious hours that morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the States’ army—­horse, foot, and artillery—­was floundering through that treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the republic.  But the devotion of Ernest had at least prevented the attack of the archduke until Maurice and his men stood on dry land.