Upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were
hanging. To tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to Antwerp,
and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of Philip
--to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that May morning.
To prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was
the determination of the Spaniards. And so, closely pent and packed,
discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled
together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters,
struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the
royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry,
Catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all
the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved.

At last the patriots were victorious. They made good their
entrenchments, drove the Spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the
fort of Saint George on the one side, and of the Palisade on the other,
and cleared the whole space between the two points. The centre of the
dyke was theirs; the great Kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of
Antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. They pursued
their victory, and attacked the Palisade Fort. Gamboa, its commandant,
was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks
were in the hands of the Hollanders; the slender piles on which the
fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost
complete.

And now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. The beavers had done
their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water
rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. A few moments later, and
a Zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the
waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. The deed was done--the