"God! God! There he is!" cried the men at that moment, who were moving
the torches over the water. "We saw his head and feet. Help!"

Dolf threw off his coat and said to the boatmen coldly: "I will go."

Then he spoke again: "One of you run to Madame Puzzel and take her back
to the Guldenvisch at once."

He made the sign of the cross and muttered between his teeth: "Jesus
Christ, who died on the cross to save sinners, have mercy on me."

He went down the bank, with bared breast, and the crowd who followed him
trembled for his life. He looked for a moment at the traitorous river,
on which the torches dripped tears of blood, as if he saw death before
him. The flood gurgled, as when a great fish strikes the water with its
tail.

"There he is," the same voices cried.

Then the abyss was opened.

"Riekje!" cried Dolf.

The cold river closed about him like a prison. Increasing circles were
all that ruffled that black surface, which seemed blacker than ever by
the light of the torches.

Absolute silence reigned among the men who looked on from the bank. Some
stood up to their waist in water, feeling about with long poles; others
unfastened ropes, which they sent adrift; three men slipped into a boat