For a time they walked silently through the darkness.  Wilhelm knew the way and strode in front of Henrica; the Junker kept close at her side.

All was still, except from time to time they heard a word of command from the walls, the striking of a clock, or the barking of a dog.

Henrica had recognized Georg by the light of the lantern, and when Wilhelm stopped to ascertain whether there was any water in the ditch over which he intended to guide his companions, she said, under her breath: 

“I did not expect your escort, Junker.”

“I know it, but I, too, desired to leave the city.”

“And wish to avail yourself of our knowledge of the watchword.  Then stay with us.”

“Until I know you are safe, Fraulein.”

“The walls of Leyden already lie between you and the peril from which you fly.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“So much the better.”

Wilhelm turned and, in a muffled voice, requested his companions to keep silence.  They now walked noiselessly on, until just outside the camp they reached the broad road around which they had made a circuit.  A Spanish sentinel challenged them.

“Lepanto!” was the answer, and they passed on through the camp unmolested.  A coach drawn by four horses, a mere box hung between two tiny fore-wheels and a pair of gigantic hind-wheels, drove slowly past them.  It was conveying Magdalena Moons, the daughter of an aristocratic Holland family, distinguished among the magistracy, back to the Hague from a visit to her lover and future husband, Valdez.  No one noticed Henrica, for there were plenty of women in the camp.  Several poorly-clad ones sat before the tents, mending the soldiers’ clothes.  Some gaily-bedizened wenches were drinking wine and throwing dice with their male companions in front of an officer’s tent.  A brighter light glowed from behind the general’s quarters, where, under a sort of shed, several confessionals and an altar had been erected.  Upon this altar candles were burning, and over it hung a silver lamp; a dark, motionless stream pressed towards it; Castilian soldiers, among whom individuals could be recognized only when the candle-light flashed upon a helmet or coat of mail.

The loud singing of carousing German mercenaries, the neighing and stamping of the horses, and the laughter of the officers and girls, drowned the low chanting of the priests and the murmur of the penitents, but the shrill sounding of the bell calling to mass from time to time pierced, with its swift vibrations, through the noise of the camp.  Just outside the village the watch-word was again used, and they reached the first house unmolested.

“Here we are,” said Wilhelm, with a sigh of relief.  “Profit by the darkness, Junker, and keep on till you have the Spaniards behind you.”

“No, my friend; you will remain here.  I wish to share your danger.  I shall return with you to Leyden and from thence try to reach Delft; meantime I’ll keep watch and give you warning, if necessary.”