Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

“Just look!”

John de Witt leaned out of the window, and indeed saw that

the man was right.

“Never mind, but drive on,” said John, “I have with me the

order for the commutation of the punishment, the gate-keeper

will let us through.”

The carriage moved along, but it was evident that the driver

was no longer urging his horses with the same degree of

confidence.

Moreover, as John de Witt put his head out of the carriage

window, he was seen and recognized by a brewer, who, being

behind his companions, was just shutting his door in all

haste to join them at the Buytenhof. He uttered a cry of

surprise, and ran after two other men before him, whom he

overtook about a hundred yards farther on, and told them

what he had seen. The three men then stopped, looking after

the carriage, being however not yet quite sure as to whom it

contained.

The carriage in the meanwhile arrived at the Tol-Hek.

“Open!” cried the coachman.

“Open!” echoed the gatekeeper, from the threshold of his

lodge; “it’s all very well to say ‘Open!’ but what am I to

do it with?”

“With the key, to be sure!” said the coachman.

“With the key! Oh, yes! but if you have not got it?”

“How is that? Have not you got the key?” asked the coachman.

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“No, I haven’t.”

“What has become of it?”

“Well, they have taken it from me.”

“Who?”

“Some one, I dare say, who had a mind that no one should

leave the town.”

“My good man,” said the Grand Pensionary, putting out his

head from the window, and risking all for gaining all; “my

good man, it is for me, John de Witt, and for my brother

Cornelius, who I am taking away into exile.”

“Oh, Mynheer de Witt! I am indeed very much grieved,” said

the gatekeeper, rushing towards the carriage; “but, upon my

sacred word, the key has been taken from me.”

“When?”

“This morning.”

“By whom?”

“By a pale and thin young man, of about twenty-two.”

“And wherefore did you give it up to him?”

“Because he showed me an order, signed and sealed.”

“By whom?”

“By the gentlemen of the Town-hall.”

“Well, then,” said Cornelius calmly, “our doom seems to be

fixed.”

“Do you know whether the same precaution has been taken at

the other gates?”

“I do not.”

“Now then,” said John to the coachman, “God commands man to

do all that is in his power to preserve his life; go, and

drive to another gate.”

And whilst the servant was turning round the vehicle the

Grand Pensionary said to the gatekeeper, —

“Take our thanks for your good intentions; the will must

count for the deed; you had the will to save us, and that,

in the eyes of the Lord, is as if you had succeeded in doing

so.”

“Alas!” said the gatekeeper, “do you see down there?”

“Drive at a gallop through that group,” John called out to

the coachman, “and take the street on the left; it is our

only chance.”

The group which John alluded to had, for its nucleus, those

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

three men whom we left looking after the carriage, and who,

in the meanwhile, had been joined by seven or eight others.

These new-comers evidently meant mischief with regard to the

carriage.

When they saw the horses galloping down upon them, they

placed themselves across the street, brandishing cudgels in

their hands, and calling out, —

“Stop! stop!”

The coachman, on his side, lashed his horses into increased

speed, until the coach and the men encountered.

The brothers De Witt, enclosed within the body of the

carriage, were not able to see anything; but they felt a

severe shock, occasioned by the rearing of the horses. The

whole vehicle for a moment shook and stopped; but

immediately after, passing over something round and elastic,

which seemed to be the body of a prostrate man set off again

amidst a volley of the fiercest oaths.

“Alas!” said Cornelius, “I am afraid we have hurt some one.”

“Gallop! gallop!” called John.