about midnight
to the Hague ! '' And Boxtel , without taking any notice of the treasures about him , so entirely were his thoughts absorbed by another inestimable treasure , let himself out by the window , glided down the ladder , carried it back to the place whence he had taken it , and , like a beast of prey , returned growling to his house . Chapter 9 . The Family Cell It was about midnight when poor Van Baerle was locked up in the prison of the Buytenhof . What Rosa foresaw had come to pass . On finding the cell of Cornelius de Witt empty , the wrath of the people ran very high , and had Gryphus fallen into the hands of those madmen he would certainly have had to pay with his life for the prisoner . But this fury had vented itself most fully on the two brothers when they were overtaken by the murderers , thanks to the precaution which William -- the man of precautions -- had taken in having the gates of the city closed .