the city in combination with a squadron of Zeelanders coming up from below. So soon as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his conjecture. His drums and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge, the palisades, and in the nearest forts. Thus the 10 preparations to avoid or to contend with the danger, were leading the Spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. Alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute directions for re- 15 pelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself in the block-house at the point of junction, on the Flemish side, between the palisade and the bridge of boats. He was surrounded by a group 20 of superior officers, among whom Richebourg, Billy, Gaetano, Cessis, and the Englishman Sir Rowland Yorke, were conspicuous.

It was a dark, mild evening of early 25 spring. As the fleet of vessels dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. The very waves of the Scheldt seemed 30 glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were lighted up with a preternatural glare. It was a wild, pompous, theatrical spectacle. The array of soldiers on both sides the river, along the dykes 35 and upon the bridge, with banners waying, and spear and cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with ir- 40 regular movement, but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and tide; the deathlike silence of expectation, which had succeeded the sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow 45 which had supplanted the darkness - all combined with the sense of imminent and mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination.

Presently, the Spaniards, as they gazed 50 from the bridge, began to take heart again. One after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks and gigantic spear-heads, 55 and burned slowly out without causing any extensive conflagration. Others grounded on the banks of the river, be

fore reaching their destination. Some sank in the stream.

Last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the current; the 5 pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. The slight fire upon the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. Both were carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. The Fortune came first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against the dyke, and grounding near Kalloo, without touching the bridge. There was a moment's pause of expectation. At last the slow match upon the deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which little or no damage was produced.

Parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. The desperate expedition was headed by the bold Rowland Yorke, a Londoner, of whom one day there was more to be heard in Netherland history. The party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing the slight fires that were smoldering on the deck, and thrusting spears and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. There was, however, little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon made their escape to the bridge.

The troops of Parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive laughter. It was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a Spanish army, and a general like Alexander Farnese, with such paltry fireworks as these. Nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining fire-ship, or hell-burner,' the Hope, which had now drifted very near the place of its destination. Tearing her way between the raft and the shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the Kalloo side, close to the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the bridge. A thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and smoldering fire upon her deck.

Marquis Richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adven

ture. It was his last laugh on earth. A number of soldiers, at Parma's summons, instantly sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied_themselves, as the party on board the Fortune had done, in extinguishing the flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. Richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experi

ments.

body was discovered, doubled around an iron chain, which hung from one of the bridge-boats in the center of the river. The veteran Robles, Seigneur de Billy, a 5 Portuguese officer of eminent service and high military rank, was also destroyed. Months afterwards, his body was discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate removal of that 10 structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold chain which he habitually wore. Parma himself was thrown to the ground, stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. The page, who was behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the concussion of the air.

At the same moment a certain ensign De Vega, who stood near the Prince of Parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties that he should retire. Alexander refused 15 to stir from the spot, being anxious to learn the result of these investigations. Vega, moved by some instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and plucking the General earnestly by the 20 cloak, implored him with such passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the Prince reluctantly yielded.

It was not a moment too soon. The clock-work in the Hope had been better 25 adjusted than the slow match in the Fortune. Scarcely had Alexander reached the entrance of Saint Mary's Fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible explosion was heard. The Hope disap- 30 peared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had 35 vanished into air. It was the work of a single instant. The Scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. The earth shook as 40 with the throb of a volcano. A wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. Houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote 45 places, could keep its feet. The air was filled with a rain of plow-shares, gravestones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. Slabs of granite, 50 vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. A thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, 55 beyond even the semblance of humanity.

Richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when his

Several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. The Viscomte de Bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the Flemish side, and descended safe and sound into another in the center of the stream. Captain Tucci, clad in complete armor, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into the air, and then fell back into the river. Being of a cool temperament, a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass and helmet, recommended himself to the Blessed Virgin, and swam safely ashore. Another young officer of Parma's bodyguard, François de Liege by name, standing on the Kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. He imagined himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of irresistible fury.

It had been agreed that Admiral Jacobzoon should, immediately after the explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the amount of damage. If a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the city opened, he was to fire a rocket. At this signal, the fleet stationed at Lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions enough to relieve Antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the instant, was at once to force its way up the river.

The deed was done. A breach, two hundred feet in width, was made. Had the most skilful pilot in Zeeland held the helm of the Hope, with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have

5

guided her more carefully than she had
been directed by wind and tide. Avoid-
ing the raft which lay in her way, she had,
as it were, with the intelligence of a liv-
ing creature, fulfilled the wishes of the
daring genius that had created her; and
laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly
at the most telling point. She had then
destroyed herself, precisely at the right
moment. All the effects, and more than 10
all, that had been predicted by the Man-
tuan wizard had come to pass. The fa-
mous bridge was cleft through and
through, and a thousand picked men
Parma's very 'daintiest were blown 15
out of existence. The Governor-General
himself was lying stark and stiff upon
the bridge which he said should be his
triumphal monument or his tomb. His
most distinguished officers were dead, and 20
all the survivors were dumb and blind
with astonishment at the unheard-of con-
vulsion. The passage was open for the
fleet, and the fleet lay below with sails
spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only 25
waiting for the signal to bear up at once
to the scene of action, to smite out of
existence all that remained of the splen-
did structure, and to carry relief and
triumph into Antwerp.

30

Not a soul slept in the city. The explosion had shook its walls, and thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with expectation. It was a moment of exquisite triumph. 35 The Hope, word of happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and Parma's seven months of patient labor had been annihilated in a moment. Sainte Aldegonde and Gianibelli stood in the Boors 40 Sconce on the edge of the river. They had felt and heard the explosion, and they

were

now straining their eyes through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket.

wait for its return. The boatmen, too, appalled by its sights and sounds which they had witnessed, and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. Sainte Aldegonde and Gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the imbecility of the Admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the gallows, which he certainly deserved. The wrath of the keen Italian may be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent Fleming.

On the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appal. Alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers was universal. He was known to have been standing an instant before the explosion on the very block-house where the Hope had struck. After the first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of St. Mary's Fort, his drawn sword in his hand, with Cessis embracing his knees, and Gaetano extended at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head.

Recovering from his swoon, Parma was the first to spring to his feet. Sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of the disaster. The admirable structure, the result of so much patient and intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. He expected, as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force its passage, 45 destroy the remainder of his troops stunned as they were with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and then make its way to Antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. And Alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. Momently expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart.

That rocket never rose. And it is enough, even after the lapse of three centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these 50 great and legitimate hopes. The cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble enterprise.

Admiral Jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his Own triumph, sent off the barge, but did not

55

His winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should be obliged to raise the siege. Nevertheless, he passed in person from rank to rank,

RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR. (1815-1882)

'The younger Dana,' as he was usually designated by his contemporaries to distinguish him from his father the poet, lives in the history of American literature solely because of his book Two Years before the Mast, 1840. He was a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and naturally in due time entered Harvard College, but in his junior year his eyesight failed him, and so seriously that his physician prescribed the heroic treatment of a long period at sea as a common sailor. Dana accordingly shipped before the mast for a two years' voyage to the coast of California. On his return in 1836 he finished his course at Harvard, studied law, and later became one of the leading lawyers of Boston. His book, Two Years before the Mast, was written from the same motives that prompted Mrs. Stowe in later years to write Uncle Tom's Cabin. Its object primarily was humanitarian. In the words of his biographer, The night after the flogging of his two fellow-sailors off San Pedro, California, Mr. Dana, lying in his berth, " vowed that, if God should ever give me the means, I would do something to redress the grievances and relieve the sufferings of that class of beings with whom my lot has been so long cast." The book accomplished its purpose. It was enormously popular, it was adopted by the British admiralty for free distribution in the navy, and it has long since taken an undisputed place as an American classic.