Part 9 (2/2)

I ARRIVE AT AMSTERDAM

My first care after arriving at Aoldsht from the Island of Gems, which proved to be of such value that I realized a considerable sum by the sale of a small portion, for I wished to keep so present for Anna

I lost no ti my coht be allowed to call upon him He consented to receive me, and I hastened to the Count's palace, where I found the old noblerief at the continued and unexplained illness of his only child; but when Anna had seen me, and satisfied herself of my return, she recovered so rapidly that her father, on hearing from me my improved condition, and the sentiave his consent to our union

From Anna I learnt of the persecution to which she had been subject from Count Hendrick Luitken, which had mainly been the cause of her illness Convinced that she would never accept hily, Count Hendrick, unknown to her father, had attempted to abduct her to his country estate With the aid of one of her attendants Anna hadfurther persecution, she had determined, should she be restored to health, to seek the cloister as her only safe refuge As her tale proceeded I found it hard to restrainoff at once in pursuit of the villain who had treatedhim to account when the opportunity should arise

I next sought Hartog at the tavern which I knew he frequented When he saw host, Peter? I had never looked to see thee again, lad I'd sooner have thee back than salvage all the gold in the Orient”

I thanked hi a seat at his right hand, I began to tell him ofto the treachery of Van Luck I had been cast into the sea to be washed ashore on the Island of Gems, and of the subsequent fate of the island and of Van Luck, he became so interested that he proive him a more detailed account of all that had befallen me I offered to share with him my jewels, but to this he would not consent

”Nay, Peter,” he said, ”I take no treasure that I had no hand in getting I am no pirate to rob a friend to whom chance and opportunity have proved kind, but if it would pleasure thee to give me a keepsake, I ear one of thy jewels set as a brooch, as a reoodwill I aold we took at Cortes' island proved of greater value than I expected, and of this your share, together with the wages due to you, I will see to it is honestly paid by the ether again?” But at this I shook ,” I said, ”I have had h side of life, and will now be content with the s ”Nay, Peter, I'll never believe it of you, that having tasted of adventure, you will be satisfied with a humdrum life ashore”

I was now rich by the sale of my jewels, and able to choose for myself my future mode of life Count Holstein advisedfor sale not far froed my parents, who still resided upon the Island of Urk, where ive up thisa livelihood and retire into private life, when I promised to make them a handsome allowance But they would not consent to abandon their independence

”I am not an old man, Peter,” said my father, when I spoke to him on the subject, ”and I have, I hope, still many useful years' work in me

I have always been a fisherman My father was a fisher is the only work I understand It is honest work Why then should I live in idleness upon thy bounty, when I can still play my part in the world?”

I could not but see the force of his argumany improvements which my mother desired but could not afford, while I presented -boat fitted with all the latest improveht a new happiness into the lives of er

My father also, and ard me as the flower of the flock Yet they had not scrupled to knock me about, with little ceremony, in the days of my boyhood; nor do I think they would have been behindhand in finding fault with e as poor and needy as from the first But such is life, and a man must take what comes, and make the best of it and not the worst; so I accepted my new role as the patron saint of my family with philosophy and content

Anna approved ive up their independence

She came with me to see my mother, and I soon found that, as true women, there was no inequality between the to re to her newnature

In a word, ht ive--the power ofothers happy

CHAPTER XXVI

HAPPILY MARRIED

I now resolved to bring Count Hendrick Luitken to account for his treath I did not desire that Anna's naht be avoided I therefore bided my time, and waited an opportunity which soon caovernorshi+p of Urk, and now kept a fine establishment at Amsterdam, to which he frequently invited company, and at one of his banquets I met, as I expected, Count Hendrick Luitken

As a merchant's clerk, and afterwards as a seaman, the Count had taken no notice of me, but now that I was rich and betrothed to Anna, he could do no less than treat me with consideration when he met me at her father's house

The banquet was sumptuous, and no effort was spared to make it worthy of the late Governor's hospitality Onlypresent, so that free scope was given for the gluttony and drunkenness which usually prevailed at such entertain snow before the keen-set appetites of the diners, and goblets of wine disappeared down thirsty throats until all present were more or less under the influence of liquor Toward the end of the entertainuests, a whom Count Hendrick Luitken was conspicuous I could see he was the worse for liquor, and as often happens to those under the influence of strong drink, his veneer gave place to a quarrelsoance in which his true disposition was displayed Accompanied by some of his friends as boisterous as hi himself in a vacant chair on the other side of the table in front oftrade prospered at Urk