CHAPTER XVI
THE MASTER
In the sitting-room, speaking more slowly and with greater caution, Foycontinued the story of their adventures. When he came to the tale ofhow the ship _Swallow_ was blown up with all the Spanish boarders,Elsa clasped her hands, saying, "Horrible! Horrible! Think of the poorcreatures hurled thus into eternity."
"And think of the business they were on," broke in Dirk grimly, adding,"May God forgive me who cannot feel grieved to hear of the death ofSpanish cut-throats. It was well managed, Foy, excellently well managed.But go on."
"I think that is about all," said Foy shortly, "except that two of theSpaniards got away in a boat, one of whom is believed to be the head spyand captain, Ramiro."
"But, son, up in Adrian's chamber just now you said something abouthaving made a map of the hiding-place of the gold. Where is it, for itshould be put in safety?"
"Yes, I know I did," answered Foy, "but didn't I tell you?" he wenton awkwardly. "Martin managed to drop the thing in the cabin of the_Swallow_ while we were lighting the fuses, so it was blown up with theship, and there is now no record of where the stuff was buried."
"Come, come, son," said Dirk. "Martha, who knows every island on thegreat lake, must remember the spot."
"Oh! no, she doesn't," answered Foy. "The truth is that she didn't comewith us when we buried the barrels. She stopped to watch the Spanishship, and just told us to land on the first island we came to and dig ahole, which we did, making a map of the place before we left, the samethat Martin dropped."
All this clumsy falsehood Foy uttered with a wooden face and in a voicewhich would not have convinced a three-year-old infant, priding himselfthe while upon his extraordinary cleverness.
"Martin," asked Dirk, suspiciously, "is this true?"
"Absolutely true, master," replied Martin; "it is wonderful how well heremembers."
"Son," said Dirk, turning white with suppressed anger, "you have alwaysbeen a good lad, and now you have shown yourself a brave one, but I prayGod that I may not be forced to add that you are false-tongued. Do younot see that this looks black? The treasure which you have hidden is thegreatest in all the Netherlands. Will not folk say, it is not wonderfulthat you should have forgotten its secret until--it suits you toremember?"
Foy took a step forward, his face crimson with indignation, but theheavy hand of Martin fell upon his shoulder and dragged him back asthough he were but a little child.
"I think, Master Foy," he said, fixing his eyes upon Lysbeth, "that yourlady mother wishes to say something."
"You are right, Martin; I do. Do you not think, husband, that in thesedays of ours a man might have other reasons for hiding the truth than adesire to enrich himself by theft?"
"What do you mean, wife?" asked Dirk. "Foy here says that he has buriedthis great hoard with Martin, but that he and Martin do not know wherethey buried it, and have lost the map they made. Whatever may be theexact wording of the will, that hoard belongs to my cousin here, subjectto certain trusts which have not yet arisen, and may never arise, and Iam her guardian while Hendrik Brant lives and his executor when he dies.Therefore, legally, it belongs to me also. By what right, then, do myson and my servant hide the truth from me, if, indeed, they are hidingthe truth? Say what you have to say straight out, for I am a plain manand cannot read riddles."
"Then I will say it, husband, though it is but my guess, for I have hadno words with Foy or Martin, and if I am wrong they can correct me. Iknow their faces, and I think with you that they are not speaking thetruth. I think that they do not wish us to know it--not that they maykeep the secret of this treasure for themselves, but because such asecret might well bring those who know of it to the torment and thestake. Is it not so, my son?"
"Mother," answered Foy, almost in a whisper, "it is so. The paper is notlost, but do not seek to learn its hiding-place, for there are wolveswho would tear your bodies limb from limb to get the knowledge out ofyou; yes, even Elsa's, even Elsa's. If the trial must come let it fallon me and Martin, who are fitter to bear it. Oh! father, surely you knowthat, whatever we may be, neither of us is a thief."
Dirk advanced to his son, and kissed him on the forehead.
"My son," he said, "pardon me, and you, Red Martin, pardon me also. Ispoke in my haste. I spoke as a fool, who, at my age, should have knownbetter. But, oh! I tell you that I wish that this cursed treasure, thesecases of precious gems and these kegs of hoarded gold, had been shiveredto the winds of heaven with the timbers of the ship _Swallow_. For, markyou, Ramiro has escaped, and with him another man, and they will knowwell that having the night to hide it, you did not destroy those jewelswith the ship. They will track you down, these Spanish sleuthhounds,filled with the lust of blood and gold, and it will be well if thelives of every one of us do not pay the price of the secret of theburying-place of the wealth of Hendrik Brant."
He ceased, pale and trembling, and a silence fell upon the room and allin it, a sad and heavy silence, for in his voice they caught the note ofprophecy. Martin broke it.
"It may be so, master," he said; "but, your pardon, you should havethought of that before you undertook this duty. There was no call uponyou to send the Heer Foy and myself to The Hague to bring away thistrash, but you did it as would any other honest man. Well, now it isdone, and we must take our chance, but I say this--if you are wise, mymasters, yes, and you ladies also, before you leave this room youwill swear upon the Bible, every one of you, never to whisper the wordtreasure, never to think of it except to believe that it is gone--lostbeneath the waters of the Haarlemer Meer. Never to whisper it, no,mistress, not even to the Heer Adrian, your son who lies sick abedupstairs."
"You have learnt wisdom somewhere of late years, Martin, since youstopped drinking and fighting," said Dirk drily, "and for my part beforeGod I swear it."
"And so do I." "And I." "And I." "And I," echoed the others, Martin,who spoke last, adding, "Yes, I swear that I will never speak of it; no,_not even to my young master, Adrian, who lies sick abed upstairs._"