farther down the river.

Sir Philip Sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness
in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to
remain. Early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack
upon Flanders by capturing the town of Steenberg. The faithful Roger
Williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "We wish to show your
Excellency," said he to Leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." The
Welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion
Sidney and himself had been overruled. At a later moment, and during the
siege of Neusz, Sir Philip had the satisfaction of making a successful
foray into Flanders.

The expedition had been planned by Prince Maurice of Nassau, and was his.
earliest military achievement. He proposed carrying by surprise, the
city of Axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western
edge of the great Scheldt estuary, and very important from its position.
Its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the English upon
Sluys and Ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of
annoying the enemy in Flanders.

Early in July, Maurice wrote to the Earl of Leicester, communicating the
particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very
secretly handled," and kept from every one but Sidney. Leicester
accordingly sent his nephew to Maurice that they might consult together
upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there
being so much treachery in the world." Sidney found no treachery in
young Maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and
the two arranged their plans in harmony.