noon
The Spaniards were , however , always ready to learn from a foe . Alva immediately ordered eight thousand pairs of skates , and the soldiers were kept hard at work practicing until they were able to make their way with fair rapidity over the ice . The evening after the fight a strong wind suddenly sprang up from the southwest , and the rain descended in torrents . By morning the ice was already broken up , the guns were hastily shifted to the vessels to which they belonged , the ships on the outside tiers cast off from the others , and before noon the whole were on their way back towards Enkhuizen , which they reached without pursuit by the Spanish vessels ; for at nine in the morning the wind changed suddenly again , the frost set in as severely as before , and the Spaniards in the port of Amsterdam were unable to get out . This event caused great rejoicing in Holland , and was regarded as a happy omen for the coming contest . After remaining another day with his family , Ned mounted his horse and rode to Haarlem . The city lay at the narrowest point of the narrow strip of land facing the German Ocean , and upon the shore of the shallow lake of the same name .