"Why, what is this, Captain Vere?" he asked in surprise as that
officer, accompanied by the two boys and followed by Roger Browne
and Job Tredgold guarding the prisoner, entered.

"I have to accuse this man of treacherously communicating with the
enemy," Francis Vere said.

"What?" Arnold de Groenvelt exclaimed in surprise. "Why, this is
Mynheer Von Arnig, one of our most worshipful citizens! Surely,
Captain Vere, there must be some error here?"

"I will place my evidence before you," Captain Vere said; "and it
will be for you to decide upon it. Master Geoffrey Vickars, please
to inform the governor what you know about this matter."

Geoffrey then stated how he and his brother, being at the upper
window of the warehouse, had on two days in succession seen a
crossbow discharged from a neighbouring window, and had noticed a
Spanish soldier come out of a battery and pick up something which
they believed to be the bolt, and how he and his brother had reported
the circumstances to Captain Vere. That officer then took up the
story, and stated that seeing the evidence was not conclusive, and
it was probable that if an attempt was made to arrest the person,
whomsoever he might be, who had used the crossbow, any evidence
of treasonable design might be destroyed before he was seized, he
had accepted the offer of Master Vickars to climb the roof, lower
himself to the window from which the bolt would be shot, and, if
possible, strike it from the man's hands, so that it would fall
down the roof to the courtyard below, where men were placed to