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"Please don't," said Ben with mock humility, then seeing how pale Lambert's lips were, he added in a low tone, "I do believe I THOUGHT more in that one moment, Van Mounen, than in all the rest of my past life." There was no reply, and, for a while, the two boys skated on in silence. Soon a faint sound of distant bells reached their ears. "Hark!" said Ben. "What is that?"
Excuse me, Van Mounen, but I shall never learn to admire Dutch taste." "It will take time," answered Lambert condescendingly, "but you are sure to agree with it at last. I saw much to admire in England, and I hope I shall be sent back with you to study at Oxford, but, take everything together, I like Holland best." "Of course you do," said Ben in a tone of hearty approval.
Help me to count all those we can see, Van Mounen. I want a big item for my notebook." And after a careful reckoning, superintended by all the party, Master Ben wrote in pencil, "Saw, Dec., 184 , ninety-eight windmills within full view of Leyden."
Ben said this in such a sprightly tone that the two Van Holps and Carl felt sure that he had proposed a plan that would relieve the party at once. "What? what? Tell us, Van Mounen," they cried. "He says it is not Jacob's fault that the money is lost that he did it for the best when he proposed that Van Holp should put all of our money into his purse." "Is that all?" said Ludwig dismally.
Then came threats, threats that made Ludwig fairly shudder, though he continued to bind and tie with redoubled energy. "Hold up, mynheer housebreaker," said Van Mounen in a warning voice. "That knife is very near your throat. If you make the captain nervous, there is no telling what may happen." The robber took the hint, and fell into a sullen silence.
Instead of colored glass globes in the windows, or high jars of leeches, the drugstores had a gaping Turk's head at the entrance or, if the establishment was particularly fine, a wooden mandarin entire, indulging in a full yawn. Some of these queer faces amused Ben exceedingly; they seemed to have just swallowed a dose of physic, but Van Mounen declared he could not see anything funny about them.
"If we had time, Benjamin," said Lambert van Mounen in English, "I should like to take you to the City Hall, or Stadhuis. There are building piles for you! It is built on nearly fourteen thousand of them, driven seventy feet into the ground. But what I wish you to see there is the big picture of Van Speyk blowing up his ship great picture." "Van WHO?" asked Ben. "Van Speyk. Don't you remember?
"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?
"It's made by Mynheer Birmingham," she said after a while, still blushing and holding it before her eyes. "Birmingham!" replied Lambert van Mounen, "that's the name of a place in England. Let me see it." "Ha! ha!" He laughed, holding the open case toward the firelight. "No wonder you thought so, but it's a slight mistake. The case was made at Birmingham, but the maker's name is in smaller letters.
The rest of Peter's speech was uttered so confidentially that I cannot record it. Enough to say, Hans soon started back in dismay, and Peter, looking very much ashamed, stammered out something to the effect that he would keep them, since he won the race, but it was "all wrong." Here Van Mounen coughed, as if to remind Peter that lecture hour was approaching fast.
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