'Full many a favor, dear friend, hast thou done me,
For which good hard coin glad wouldst thou be to see
There's none in my pockets; so for the debt
In place of dirty coin,
This written sheet so fine;
Paper money in Leyden is easy to get.'"

"Excellent!" cried Junker von Warmond, "and besides you made the die for
the pasteboard coins yourself."

"Of course! Herr von Noyelles' sitting still, cost me dear. You have
already made two expeditions."

"Hush, hush, for God's sake say nothing about the first sally!" cried the
captain. "A well-planned enterprise, which was shamefully frustrated,
because the leader lay down like a mole to sleep! Where has such a thing
happened a second time?"

"But the other ended more fortunately," said the host. "Three hundred
hams, one hundred casks of beer, butter, ammunition, and the most
worthless of all spies into the bargain; always an excellent prize."

"And yet a failure!" cried Captain Van der Laen, "We ought to have
captured and brought in all the provision ships on the Leyden Lake! And
the Kaag! To think that this fort on the island should be in the hands
of the enemy."

"But the people have held out bravely," said von Warmond.

"There are real devils among them," replied Van der Laen, laughing.