21 The Siege of Antwerp. On the 10th of July 1584 a deep gloom was cast over all Holland and England by the assassination of the Prince of Orange. Many attempts had been made upon his life by paid agents of the King of Spain. One had been nearly successful, and the Prince had lain for weeks almost at the point of death.  His murderer was captured and put to death with horrible tortures, boasting of his crime to the last. It was proved beyond all question that he, as well as the authors of the previous attempts, was acting at the instigation of the Spanish authorities, and had been promised vast sums in the event of his success. Thus died the greatest statesman of his age, a pure patriot, a disinterested politician, a great orator, a man possessing at once immense talent, unbounded perseverance, a fortitude under misfortunes beyond proof, and an unshakable faith in God. But terrible as was the blow to the Netherlands, it failed to have the effect which its instigators had hoped from it. On the very day of the murder the estates of Holland, then sitting at Delft, passed a resolution to maintain the good cause with God's help to the uttermost without sparing gold or blood. The Prince's eldest son had been kidnapped from school in Leiden by Philip's orders, and had been a captive in Spain for seventeen years under the tutorship of the Jesuits. Maurice, the next son, now seventeen years old, was appointed head of the State's Council. But the position of the Netherlands was still well nigh desperate. Flanders and Brabant lay at the feet of the Spaniards, a rising which had lately taken place had been crushed. Bruges had surrendered without a blow. The Duke of Parma, with eighteen thousand troops, besides his garrisons, was threatening Ghent, Meklin, Brussels and Antwerp, and was freely using promises and bribery to induce them to surrender. Dendermond and Vilvoorde both opened their gates, the capitulation of the latter town cutting the communication between Brussels and Antwerp. Ghent followed the example and surrendered without striking a blow, and at the moment of the assassination of the Prince of Orange, Parma's army was closing round Antwerp. Sir Edward Martin was at Antwerp where he had gone by the Queen's order when he received the news of the murder of the Prince whom he had seen a few days before. He was filled with grief and horror at the loss of one who had been for six years his friend, and whom he regarded with enthusiastic admiration. It seemed to him at first that with the death of the Prince the cause of the Netherlands was lost, and had the former attempts of Philip's emissaries upon the Prince's life been successful, such a result would no doubt have followed, but the successful defense of their cities and the knowledge they had gained that the sea could be made to fight for them had given the people of Holland strength and hope. Their material resources, too, were larger than before, for great numbers of the Protestants from the other provinces had emigrated there and had added a like to their strength and wealth. At first, however, the news caused something like despair in Antwerp. Men went about depressed and sorrowful as if they had lost their dearest friend, but Sante Aldegonde, who had been appointed by the Prince to take charge of the defense of Antwerp, encouraged the citizens, and their determination to resist returned. Unfortunately there had already been terrible blundering. William de Bois, Lord of Trelong and Admiral of the Fleet of Holland and Zeeland, had been ordered to carry up to the city provisions and munitions of war sufficient to last for a year, the money having been freely voted by the state's general of these provinces. But Trelong disobeyed the orders and remained week after week at Austin, drinking heavily and doing nothing else. At last the states, enraged by his disobedience, ordered him to be arrested and thrown into prison, but this was too late to enable the needed stores to be taken up to Antwerp. The citizens were under no uneasiness. They believed that it was absolutely impossible to block the river, and that, therefore, they could at all times receive supplies from the coast. On both sides of the river below the town the land was low, and could at any time be laid under water, and Sante Aldegonde brought the Prince of Orange's instructions that the great dyke, called Blavgarin, was to be pierced. This would have laid the country under water for miles, and even the blocking of the river would not have prevented the arrival of ships with provisions and supplies. Unfortunately Sante Aldegonde's power was limited. The Butcher's Guild rose against the proposal, and their leaders appeared before the magistrates and protested against the step being carried out. Twelve thousand cattle grazed upon the pastures which would be submerged, and the destruction of farms, homesteads, and orchards would be terrible. As to the blocking up of the river, the idea was absurd, and the operation far beyond the power of man. The Butcher's were supported by the officers of the militia, who declared that worthy authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke the municipal soldiery would oppose it by force. Such was the state of things when the only man whom the democracy would listen to and obey fell by the assassin's knife, and his death and the obstinate stupidity of the burgers of Antwerp sealed the fate of the city. Sante Aldegonde had hailed the arrival of Elizabeth's envoy, and consulted with him as to the steps to be taken for the defense of the city. He himself did not believe in the possibility of the river being stopped. It was nearly half a mile in width and sixty feet in depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet. Ned agreed with the Governor or Burgomaster, for this was Sante Aldegonde's title, that the work of blocking this river seemed impossible, but his reliance upon the opinion of the Prince was so great that he did what he could towards persuading the populace to permit the plans to be carried out. But Elizabeth had so often disappointed the people of the Netherlands, that her envoy possessed no authority, and the magistrates with whom were the wardmasters, the deans of all the guilds, the presidents of chambers and heads of colleges, squabbled and quarreled among themselves, and nothing was done. The garrison consisted only of a regiment of English under Colonel Morgan and a scotch regiment under Colonel Balfour, but these were in a state of indiscipline, and a mutiny had shortly before broken out among them. Many of the troops had deserted to Parma and some had returned home, and it was not until Morgan had beheaded Captain Lee and Captain Powell that order was restored among them. Beside these were the Berger militia, who were brave and well trained, but insubordinate, and ready on every occasion to refuse obedience to authority. The first result of the general confusion which prevailed in Antwerp was that Herenthal's was allowed to fall without assistance. Had this small but important city been suckered it would have enabled Antwerp to protract its own defense for some time. The veteran Mondragon, as he took possession remarked, now it is easy to see that the Prince of Orange is dead, and indeed it was only under his wise supervision and authority that anything like concerted action between the cities, which were really small republics, was possible. Quietly but steadily the Duke of Parma established fortified posts at various points on both banks of the Lower Skelte, thereby rendering its navigation more difficult, and covering in some degree the spot where he intended to close the river. Nine miles below the city were two forts, Lilo and Liefkenschuk, one on either side of the stream. The fortifications of Lilo were complete, but those of Liefkenschuk were not finished when Parma ordered the Marquis of Rieschburg to carry it by assault. It was taken by surprise, and the eight hundred men who composed its garrison were all killed or drowned. This first blow took place on the very day the Prince of Orange was killed. Lilo was garrisoned by Antwerp volunteers, called the Young Bachelors, together with a company of French under-captain Gasquan, and four hundred Scotch and Englishmen under Colonel Morgan. Mondragon was ordered to take the place at any cost. He took up his position with five thousand men at the country house and farm of Lilo a short distance from the fort, planted his batteries and opened fire. The fort responded briskly, and finding that the walls were little injured by his artillery fire, Mondragon tried to take it by mining. Teligny, however, ran countermines, and for three weeks the siege continued, the Spaniards gaining no advantage and losing a considerable number of men. At last Teligny made a sortie and a determined action took place without advantage on either side. The defenders were then recalled to the fort, the sluice gates were opened, and the waters of the Skelte, swollen by a high tide, poured over the country.  Using the uselessness of the siege, the attempt to capture Lilo was abandoned, having cost the Spaniards no less than two thousand lives. Parma's own camp was on the opposite side of the river, at the villages of Beverin, Calu, and Borgt, and he was thus nearly opposite to Antwerp, as the river swept round with a sharp curve. He had with him half his army, while the rest were at Stabrook on the opposite side of the river, nearly ten miles below Antwerp. Calo stood upon rising ground, and was speedily transformed into a bustling town. From this point an army of men dug a canal to Steakin, a place on the river above Antwerp, twelve miles from Calu, and as soon as Ghent and Dendremond had fallen, great rafts of timber, fleets of boats laden with provisions, munitions, building materials, and every other requisite for the great undertaking Parma had in view were brought to Calu. To this place was brought also by Parma's orders, the shipwrites, the masons, rope-makers, sailors, boatmen, bakers, roovers, and butchers of Flanders and Brabant, and work went on unceasingly. But while the autumn war on the river was still open, and in spite of the Spanish batteries on the banks the daring sailors of Zeeland brought up their ships laden with corn to Antwerp, where the price was already high. Had this traffic been continued Antwerp would soon have been provisioned for a year's siege, but the folly and stupidity of the municipal authorities put a stop to it, for they enacted that instead of the high price's current for grain, which had tempted the Zeelanders to run the gauntlet of the Spanish batteries, a price but little above that obtainable in other places should be given. The natural result was the supply of provisions seized at once. Did you ever see anything like the obstinacy and folly of these burgers, Sante Aldegonde said in despair to Ned, when in spite of his entreaties this suicidal edict had been issued, what possible avail is it to endeavour to defend a city which seems bent on its own destruction? The best thing to do, Ned replied in great anger, would be to surround the town hall with the companies of Morgan's regiment remaining here and to hang every one of these thick-headed and insolent tradesmen. It would be the best way, Sante Aldegonde agreed, if we had also a sufficient force to keep down the city, these naves think vastly more of their own privileges than of the good of the state or even of the safety of the town. Here, as in Ghent, the people are divided into sections and parties, who, when there is no one else to quarrel with, are ever ready to fly at each other's throats. Each of these leaders of guilds and presidents of chambers considers himself a little god, and it is quite enough if any one else expresses an opinion for the majority to take up at once the opposite view. I looked in at the town hall yesterday, Ned said, and such an uproar was going on that no one could be heard to speak. Twenty men were on their feet at once, shouting and haranguing, and paying not the slightest attention to each other, while the rest joined in from time to time with deafening cries and yells. Never did I see such a scene, and it is upon such men as these that it rests to decide upon the measures to be taken for the safety of the city. Ah, if we had but the prince here among us again for a few hours, there would be some hope, Sante Aldegonde said, for he would be able to persuade the people that in times like these there is no safety in many councillors, but that they must be content for the time to obey one man. On the Flemish side of the river the sluices had been opened at Saftingen. The whole country there, with the exception of the ground on which Kalu and the other villages stood, was under water. Still the Blavgarand Dike and an Inner Dike called the Covenston barred back the water which, had at free course, would have turned the country into a sea and given passage to the fleets of Zealand. Now that it was too late, those who had so fiercely opposed the plan at first were eager that these should be cut. But it was now out of their power to do so. The Lord of Covenston, who had a castle upon the Dike which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon the Antwerp Magistracy the extreme importance of cutting through this Dike, even if they deferred the destruction of the Outer One, enraged at their obstinacy and folly, and having the Spanish armies all round him, he made terms with Parma, and the Spaniards established themselves firmly along the bank, built strong redoubts upon it, and stationed five thousand men there. As the Prince had foreseen, the opening of the Saftingen sluice had assisted Parma instead of adding to his difficulties, for he was now no longer confined to the canal, but was able to bring a fleet of large vessels laden with cannon and ammunition from Ghent down the Skelte, and in through a breach through the Dike of Borkt to Kalu. Sante Aldegonde, in order to bar the Borkt Passage, built a work called Forteligny upon the Dike, opposite that thrown up by the Spaniards, and in the narrow passage between them constant fighting went on between the Spaniards and Patriots. Still the people of Antwerp felt confident, for the Skelte was still open, and when food became short the zealand fleet could at any time sail up to their assistance, but before winter closed in Parma commenced the work for which he had made such mighty preparations. Between Kalu and Ordam, on the opposite side, a sandbar had been discovered, which somewhat diminished the depth of the stream and rendered pile-driving comparatively easy. A strong fort was erected on each bank and the work of driving in the piles began. From each side a framework of heavy timber, supported on these massive piles, was carried out so far that the width of open water was reduced from twenty-four to thirteen hundred feet, and strong blockhouses were erected upon each pier to protect them from assault. Had a concerted attack been made by the Antwerp ships from above, and the zealand fleet from below, the works could at this time have been easily destroyed. But the fleet had been paralyzed by the insubordination of Trelong, and there was no plan or concert, so that although constant skirmishing went on, no serious attack was made. The brave Teligny, one night going down in a rowboat to communicate with the zealenders and arrange for joint action, was captured by the Spanish boats, and remained for six years in prison. His loss was a very serious blow to Antwerp and to the cause. On the thirteenth of November Parma sent in a letter to Antwerp, begging the citizens to take compassion on their wives and children and make terms. Parma had none of the natural bloodthirstiness of Alva, and would have been really glad to have arranged matters without further fighting, especially as he was almost without funds, and the attitude of the King of France was so doubtful that he knew that at any moment his plans might be overthrown. The states in January attempted to make a diversion in favour of Antwerp by attacking Boilé-Duc, a town from which the Spaniards drew a large portion of their supplies. Parma, although feeling the extreme importance of this town, had been able to spare no men for its defence, and although it was strong and its burgers notably brave and warlike, it seemed that it might be readily captured by surprise. Count Hohenlo was entrusted with the enterprise, and with 4,000 infantry and 200 cavalry advanced towards the place. Fifty men under an officer who knew the town hid at night near the gate, and when in the morning the portcullis was lifted, rushed in, overpowered the guard, and threw open the gate, and Hohenlo, with his 200 troopers and 500 pikemen, entered. These at once, instead of securing the town, scattered to plunder. It happened that forty Spanish lancers and thirty foot soldiers had come into the town the night before to form an escort for a convoy of provisions. They were about starting when the tumult broke out. As Hohenlo's troops thought of nothing but pillage, time was given to the burgers to seize their arms, and they, with the little body of troops, fell upon the plunderers, who, at the sight of the Spanish uniforms, were seized with a panic. Hohenlo galloped to the gate to bring in the rest of the troops, but while he was away one of its guards, although desperately wounded at its capture, crawled to the ropes which held up the portcullis and cut them with his knife. Thus those within were cut off from their friends, many of them were killed, others threw themselves from the walls into the moat, and very few of those who had entered made their escape. When Hohenlo returned with two thousand fresh troops and found the gates shut in his face, he had nothing to do but to ride away, the enterprise having failed entirely through his own folly and recklessness, for it was he himself who had encouraged his followers to plunder. Had he kept them together until the main force entered, no resistance could have been offered to him, or had he, when he rode out to fetch reinforcements, left a guard at the gate to prevent its being shut, the town could again have been taken. Parma himself roped to Philip acknowledging that, had the rebels succeeded in their enterprise, I should have been compelled to have abandoned the siege of Antwerp. But now the winter upon which the people in Antwerp had chiefly depended for preventing the blocking of the stream, was upon the besiegers. The great river lashed by storms into fury, and rolling huge masses of ice up and down with the tide, beat against the piers, and constantly threatened to carry them away, but the structure was enormously strong, the piles had been driven fifty feet into the river bed, and withstood the force of the stream, and on the twenty-fifth of February the skelter was closed. Parma had from the first seen that it was absolutely impossible to drive piles across the deep water between the piers, and had prepared to connect them with a bridge of boats. For this purpose he had constructed thirty-two great barges, each sixty-two feet in length, and twelve in breadth. These were moored in pairs with massive chains and anchors, the distance between each pair being twenty-two feet. All were bound together with chains and timbers, and a roadway protected by a parapet of massive beams was formed across it. Each boat was turned into a fortress by the erection of solid wood redoubts, at each end, mounting heavy guns, and was manned by thirty-two soldiers and four sailors. The forts at the end of the bridge each mounted ten great guns, and twenty armed vessels with heavy pieces of artillery were moored in front of each fort. Thus the structure was defended by one hundred seventy great guns. As an additional protection to the bridge, two heavy rafts, each twelve hundred fifty feet long, composed of empty barrels, heavy timbers, ships masts, and woodwork bound solidly together, were moored at some little distance above and below the bridge of boats. These rafts were protected by projecting beams of wood tipped with iron to catch any vessels floating down upon them. The erection of this structure was one of the most remarkable military enterprises ever carried out. Now that it was too late the people of Antwerp bitterly bewailed their past folly, which had permitted an enterprise that could at any moment have been interrupted to be carried to a successful issue. But if something like despair seized the citizens at the sight of the obstacle that cut them off from all hope of succor, the feelings of the great general whose enterprise and ability had carried out the work were almost as depressed, his troops had dwindled to the mere shadow of an army, the cavalry had nearly disappeared, the garrisons in the various cities were starving, and the burgers had no food either for the soldiers or themselves. The troops were two years behind hand in their pay. Parma had long exhausted every means of credit, and his appeals to his sovereign for money met with no response. But while in his letters to Philip he showed the feelings of despair which possessed him, he kept a smiling countenance to all else. A spy having been captured, he ordered him to be conducted over every part of the encampment. The forts and bridge were shown to him, and he was requested to count the pieces of artillery, and was then sent back to the town to inform the citizens of what he had seen. At this moment Brussels, which had long been besieged, was starved into surrender, and Parma was reinforced by the troops who had been engaged in the siege of that city. A misfortune now befell him similar to that which the Patriots had suffered at Wale Duk. He had experienced great inconvenience from not possessing a port on the sea-coast of Flanders, and consented to a proposal of Le Mat, one of the most experienced of the Walloon generals, to surprise Austin. On the night of the 29th of March, Le Mat, with 2,000 foot and 1,200 cavalry, surprised and carried the old port of the town. Leaving an officer in charge of the position, he went back to bring up the rest of his force. In his absence the soldiers scattered to plunder, the citizens roused themselves, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight, and by the time Le Mat returned with the fresh troops the panic had become so general that the Enterprise had to be abandoned. The people of Antwerp now felt that unless some decisive steps were taken their fate was sealed. A number of armed vessels sailed up from Zeeland, and, assisted by a detachment from Fort Lilo, suddenly attacked and carried Fort Lefkinschuk, which had been taken from them at the commencement of the siege, and also Fort St. Anthony, lower down the river. In advancing towards the latter fort they disobeyed Sante Aldegonde's express orders, which were that they should, after capturing Lefkinschuk, at once followed the dike up the river to the point where it was broken near the fort at the end of the bridge, and should there instantly throw up strong works. Had they followed out these orders they could from this point have battered the bridge, and destroyed this barrier over the river, but the delay caused by the attack on the fort St. Anthony was fatal, for at night Parma sent a strong body of soldiers and sappers in boats from Calu to the broken end of the dike, and these before morning threw up works on the very spot where Sante Aldegonde had intended the battery for the destruction of the bridge to be erected. Nevertheless the success was a considerable one. The possession of Lilo and Lefkinschuk restored to the Patriots the command of the river to within three miles of the bridge, and enabled the Zeeland fleet to be brought up at that point. Another blow was now meditated. There was in Antwerp an Italian named Genobelli, a man of great science and inventive power. He had first gone to Spain to offer his inventions to Philip, but had met with such insolent neglect there that he had betaken himself in a rage to Flanders, swearing that the Spaniards should repent their treatment of him. He had laid his plans before the Council of Antwerp, and had asked from them three ships of a hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, and five hundred tons, respectively. Besides these he wanted sixty flat, bottomed scows. Had this request been complied with it is certain that Parma's bridge would have been utterly destroyed, but the leading men were building a great ship or floating castle of their own design, from which they expected such great things that they christened at the end of the war. Genobelli had warned them that this ship would certainly turn out a failure. However they persisted, and instead of granting him the ships he wanted only gave him two small vessels of seventy and eighty tons. Although disgusted with their parsimony on so momentous an occasion, Genobelli set to work with the aid of two skillful artisans of Antwerp to fit them up. In the hold of each vessel a solid flooring of brick and mortar of foot thick was first laid down. Upon this was built a chamber of masonry forty feet long, three and a half feet wide, and as many high, and with sidewalls five feet thick. This chamber was covered with a roof six feet thick of tombstones placed edgeways, and was filled with a powder of Genobelli's own invention. Above was piled a pyramid of millstones, cannon balls, chainshot, iron hooks, and heavy missiles of all kinds, and again over these were laid heavy marble slabs. The rest of the hold was filled with paving stones. One ship was christened with the fortune, and on this the mine was to be exploded by a slow match, cut so as to explode at a calculated moment. The mine on board the hope was to be started by a piece of clockwork, which at the appointed time was to strike fire from a flint. Planks and woodwork were piled on the decks to give to the two vessels the appearance of simple fireships. Thirty-two small craft, saturated with tar and turpentine, and filled with inflammable materials, were to be sent down the river in detachments of eight every half hour to clear away, if possible, the raft above the bridge and to occupy the attention of the Spaniards. The fifth of April, the day after the capture of the Liefkenschuk, was chosen for the attempt, it began badly. Admiral Jacobzon, who was in command, instead of sending down the fireboats in batches as arranged, sent them all off one after another, and started the two mine ships immediately afterwards. As soon as their approach was discovered, the Spaniards, who had heard vague rumors that an attack by water was meditated, at once got under arms and mustered upon the bridge and forts. Parma himself, with all his principal officers, superintended the arrangements. As the fleet of small ships approached, they burst into flames. The Spaniards silently watched the approaching danger, but soon began to take heart again. Many of the boats grounded on the banks of the river before reaching their destination. Others burned out and sank, while the rest drifted against the raft, but were kept from touching it by the long projecting timbers, and burned out without doing any damage. Then came the two ships, the pilots as they neared the bridge escaped in boats, and the current carried them down, one on each side of the raft, towards the solid ends of the bridge. The fortune came first, but grounded near the shore without touching the bridge. Just as it did so, the slow match upon deck burned out. There was a faint explosion, but no result, and Sir Ronald York, the man who had handed over Zutphen, sprang on board with a party of volunteers, extinguished the fire smoldering on deck, and thrusting their spears down into the hold, endeavored to ascertain the nature of its contents, finding it impossible to do so they returned to the bridge. The Spaniards were now shouting with laughter at the impotent attempt of the antwarpers to destroy the bridge, and were watching the hope which was now following her consort. She passed just clear of the end of the raft, and struck the bridge close to the blockhouse at the commencement of the floating portion.  The marquee of Rishburg, standing on the bridge, directed the operations. The Prince of Parma was standing close by, when an officer named Vega, moved by a sudden impulse, fell on his knees and implored him to leave the place, and not to risk a life so precious to Spain. Moved by the officer's entreaties, Parma turned and walked along the bridge. He had just reached the entrance to the fort when a terrific explosion took place. The clockwork of the hope had succeeded better than the slow match in the fortune. In an instant she disappeared, and with her the blockhouse against which she had struck, with all of its garrison, a large portion of the bridge, and all the troops stationed upon it. The ground was shaken as if by an earthquake, houses fell miles away, and the air was filled with a rain of mighty blocks of stone, some of which were afterwards found a league away. A thousand soldiers were killed in an instant, the rest were dashed to the ground, stunned and bewildered. The marquee of Rishburg and most of Parma's best officers were killed. Parma himself lay for a long time as if dead, but presently recovered and set to work to do what he could to repair the disaster. The Zeeland fleet were lying below, only waiting for the signal to move up to destroy the rest of the bridge and carry succor to the city, but the incompetent and cowardly Jacob Zoon rode hastily away after the explosion, and the rocket that should have summoned the Zeelanders was never sent up. Parma moved about among his troops, restoring order and confidence, and as the night went on and no assault took place, he set his men to work to collect drifting timbers and spars, and make a hasty and temporary restoration, in appearance at least, of the ruined portion of the bridge. It was not until three days afterwards that the truth that the bridge had been partially destroyed and that the way was open was known at Antwerp. But by this time it was too late. The Zeelanders had retired, the Spaniards had recovered their confidence and were hard at work restoring the bridge. From time to time fresh fireships were sent down, but Parma had now established a patrol of boats which went out to meet them and towed them to shore far above the bridge. In the weeks that followed Parma's army dwindled away from sickness brought on by starvation, anxiety and overwork, while the people of Antwerp were preparing for an attack upon the Dyke of Covenston. If that could be captured and broken Parma's bridge would be rendered useless, as the Zeeland fleet could pass up over the submerged country with aid. Parma was well aware of the supreme importance of this Dyke. He had fringed both its margins with breastworks of stakes, and had strengthened the whole body of the Dyke with timberwork and piles, where it touched the great Skelth Dyke a strong fortress called the Holy Cross had been constructed under the command of Mondragon, and at the further end in the neighborhood of Mansfeldt's headquarters was another fort called the Stabruk, which commanded and raked the whole Dyke. On the body of the Dyke itself were three strong forts a mile apart called St. James, St. George, and the Fort of the Palisades. Several attacks had been made from time to time, both upon the bridge and Dyke, and at daybreak on the 7th of May a fleet from Lillo, under Hohenlo, landed five hundred Zeelanders upon it between St. George's and Fort Palisade. But the fleet that was to have come out from Antwerp to his assistance never arrived, and the Zeelanders were overpowered by the fire from the two forts and the attacks of the Spaniards, and retreated, leaving four of their ships behind them, and more than a fourth of their force. On the 26th of the same month the grand attack from which the people of Antwerp hoped so much took place. Two hundred vessels were ready, a portion of these were to come up from Zeeland under Hohenlo, the rest to advance from Antwerp under Sante Aldegonde. At two o'clock in the morning the Spanish sentinels saw four fire ships approaching the Dyke. They mustered reluctantly, fearing a repetition of the previous explosion, and retired to the fort. When the fire ships reached the stakes protecting the Dyke, they burned and exploded, but without effecting much damage. But in the meantime a swarm of vessels of various sizes were seen approaching. It was the fleet of Hohenlo, which had been sailing and rowing from ten o'clock on the previous night. Guided by the light of the fire ships, they approached the Dyke, and the Zeelanders sprang ashore and climbed up.  The Zeelanders were beginning to give way when the Antwerp fleet came up on the other side, headed by Sante Aldegonde. The new arrivals sprang from their boats and climbed the Dyke. The Spaniards were driven off, and three thousand men occupied all the space between Fort George and the Palisade Fort. With Sante Aldegonde came all the English and Scotch troops in Antwerp under Balfour and Morgan, and many volunteers, among whom was Ned Martin. With Hohenlo came Prince Maurice, William the Silent's son, a lad of eighteen. With wool sacks, sandbags, planks, and other materials the Patriots now rapidly entrenched the position they had gained, while a large body of sappers and miners set to work with picks, mattocks, and shovels, tearing down the Dyke. The Spaniards poured out from the forts, but Antwerpers, Dutchmen, Zeelanders, Scotchmen, and Englishmen met them bravely, and the tremendous conflict went on at each end of the narrow causeway. Both parties fought with the greatest obstinacy, and for an hour there was no advantage on either side. At last the Patriots were victorious, drove the Spaniards back into their two forts, and following up their success attacked the Palisade Fort. Its outworks were in their hands when a tremendous cheer was heard. The sappers and miners had done their work, salt water poured through the broken Dyke, and a Zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the water beyond, now no longer an inland sea. Then when the triumph seemed achieved, another fatal mistake was made by the Patriots, Sante Aldegonde and Hohenlo, the two commanders of the Enterprise, both leapt on board, anxious to be the first to carry the news of the victory to Antwerp, where they arrived in triumph, and set all the bells ringing and bonfires blazing. For three hours the party on the Dyke remained unmolested. Parma was at his camp four leagues away, and in ignorance of what had been done, and Mansfeldt could send no word across to him. The latter held a council of war, but it seemed that nothing could be done. Three thousand men were entrenched on the narrow Dyke, covered by the guns of a hundred and sixty Zeeland ships. Some of the officers were in favor of waiting until nightfall, but at last the advice of a gallant officer Camilo Cappazzuca, Colonel of the Italian Legion, carried the day in favor of an immediate assault, and the Italians and Spaniards marched together from Fort Stabrook to the Palisade Fort, which was now in extremity. They came in time, drove back the assailants, and were preparing to advance against them when a distant shout from the other end of the Dyke told that Parma had arrived there, Mondragon moved from the Holy Cross to Fort George, and from that fort and from the Palisade the Spaniards advanced to the attack of the Patriots' position. During the whole war no more desperate encounter took place than that upon the Dyke, which was but six paces wide. The fight was long and furious. Three times the Spaniards were repulsed with tremendous loss, and while the Patriot soldiers fought, their pioneers still carried on the destruction of the Dyke. A fourth assault was likewise repulsed, but the fifth was more successful. The Spaniards believed that they were led by a dead commander who had fallen some months before, and this superstitious belief inspired them with fresh courage. The entrenchment was carried, but its defenders fought as obstinately as before on the Dyke behind it. Just at this moment the vessels of the Zealander's began to draw off. Many had been sunk or disabled by the fire that the forts had maintained on them, and the rest found the water sinking fast, for the tide was now ebbing. The Patriots, believing that they were deserted by the fleet, were seized with a sudden panic, and leaving the Dyke tried to wade or swim off to the ships. The Spaniards with shouts of victory pursued them. The English and Scotch were the last to abandon the position they had held for seven hours, and most of them were put to the sword. Two thousand in all were slain or drowned. The remainder succeeded in reaching the ships on one side or other of the Dyke. Ned Martin had fought to the last. He was standing side by side with Justinius of Nassau, and the two sprang together into a clump of high rushes, tore off their heavy armor, and swam out to one of the Zealander's ships, which at once dropped down the river and reached the sea. Ned's mission was now at an end, and he at once returned to England. The failure of the attempt upon the Covenston Dyke sealed the fate of Antwerp. It resisted until the middle of June, when finding hunger staring the city in the face and having no hope whatever of relief, Sante Aldegonde yielded to the clamor of the mob and opened negotiations. These were continued for nearly two months. Parma was unaware that the town was reduced to such an extremity and consented to give honorable terms. The treaty was signed on the 17th of August.  Royalist absentees were to be reinstated in their positions. The cities and churches to be restored to their former possessors. The inhabitants of the city were to practice the Catholic religion only, while those who refused to conform were allowed two years for the purpose of winding up their affairs. All prisoners, with the exception of Telligny, were to be released. Four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the city as a fine, and the garrison were to leave the town with arms and baggage and all honors of war. The fall of Antwerp brought about with it the entire submission of Brabant and Flanders, and henceforth the war was continued solely by Zeeland, Holland, and Friesland. The death of the Prince of Orange and the fall of Antwerp marked the conclusion of what may be called the first period of the struggle of the Netherlands for freedom. It was henceforth to enter upon another phase. England, which had long assisted Holland privately with money, and openly by the raising of volunteers for her service, was now about to enter the arena boldly and to play an important part in the struggle which, after a long period of obstinate strife, was to end in the complete emancipation of the Netherlands from the yoke of Spain. Sir Edward Martin married Gertrude von Harp soon after his return to England. He retained the favour of Elizabeth to the day of her death, and there were few whose councils had more influence with her. He long continued in the public service, although no longer compelled to do so as a means of livelihood, for as Holland and Zeeland freed themselves from the yoke of Spain and made extraordinary strides in wealth and prosperity, the estates of the Countess once more produced a splendid revenue, and this at her death came entirely to her daughter. A considerable portion of Sir Edward Martin's life, when not actually engaged upon public affairs, was spent upon the broad estates which had come to him from his wife. End of Chapter 21 End of By Pike and Dyke A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic by G. A. Henty


23 What's that? It was Mr. Rathbone who first found his voice. To what estate have I come when, in every woman's face, even in hers, who is dearest, I see expressions I no longer understand, and, in every child's voice, catch the sound of Gwendolyn's. Harry's voice is not Gwendolyn's, came a desperate protest from the ready widow, a daring assertion for her to make to him, who had often held this child in his arms for hours together. You are not yourself. Justin. I am sorry. I— She almost gave her promise. Almost she risked her future, possibly his, by saying under the stress of her fears what her heart did not prompt her to, when—a quick move on her part, a low cry on his—and he came rushing up the steps. I had advanced at her hesitating words and shown myself. When Mr. Rathbone was well up the terrace, he hardly honored me with a look as he went by. I slowly began my descent to where she stood, with her back toward me and her arms thrown round the child she had evidently called to her, in her anxiety to conceal the little beaming face from this new intruder. She had not looked as high as my face, I felt assured, that she would not show me hers unless I forced her to, seemed equally certain. Every step I took downward was consequently of moment to me. I wondered how I should come out of this. What would she do? What I myself should say? The bold course commended itself to me. No more circumlocation, no more doubtful playing of the game with this woman. I would take the bull by the horns and—I had reached the step on which she crouched. I could catch sight of the child's eyes over her shoulder, a shoulder that quivered. Was it with the storm of the last interview, or with her fear of this? I would see. Pausing I said to her with every appearance of respect, but in my most matter of fact tones, Mrs. Carew, may I request you to send Gwendolyn down to the girl I see below there? I have something to say to you before you leave. Gwendolyn? With a start which showed how completely she was taken by surprise, Mrs. Carew rose. She may have recognized my voice, and she may not. It is hard to decide in such an actress. Whether she did or not, she turned with a frown, which gave way to a ravishing smile as her eyes met my face. You, she said, and without any betrayal in her voice or gesture, that she recognized that her hopes, and those of the friend to whose safety she had already sacrificed so much, had just received their death-blow. She gave a quick order to the girl, who, taken the child by the hand, sat down on the steps Mrs. Carew now quitted, and laid herself out to be amusing. Gravely Mrs. Carew confronted me on the terrace below. Explain, she said. I have just come from Mrs. Ocampa, I replied. The veiled head dropped a trifle. She could not sustain herself, so all is lost? That depends, but I must request you not to leave the country till Mr. Ocampa returns. The flash of her eyes startled me. Who can detain me? she cried, if I wish to go. I did not answer in kind. I had no wish to rouse this woman's opposition. I do not think you will want to go when you remember Mrs. Ocampa's condition. Would you leave her to bear the full burden of this deception alone? She is a broken woman. Her full story is known to me. I have the profoundest sympathy for her. She has only three days in which to decide upon her course. I have advised her to tell the whole truth to her husband. You! But the word was but a breath. But I heard it, yet I felt no resentment against this woman. No one could under the spell of so much spirit and grace. Did I not advise her right? Perhaps, but you must not detain me. You must do nothing to separate me from this child. I will not bear it. I have experienced for days now what motherhood might be, and nothing on earth shall rob me of my present rights in this child. Then as she met my unmoved countenance. If you know Mrs. Ocampa's whole story, you know that neither she nor her husband has any real claim on the child. In that you are mistaken, I quickly protested. Six years of care and affection such as they have bestowed on Gwendolyn to say nothing of the substantial form which these have taken from the first constitute a claim which all the world must recognize if you do not. Think of Mr. Ocampa's belief in her relation to him. Think of the shock which awaits him when he learns that she is not of his blood and lineage. I know, I know. Her fingers worked nervously. The woman was showing through the actress. But I will not give up the child, ask anything but that. Madam, I have had the honor so far to make but one requirement that you do not carry the child out of the country yet. As I uttered this ultimatum some influence acting equally upon both caused us to turn in the direction of the river, possibly an apprehension lest some word of this conversation might be overheard by the child or the nurse. A surprise awaited us which effectually prevented Mrs. Carew's reply. In the corner of the Ocampa grounds stood a man staring with all his eyes at the so-called little Harry. An expression of doubt was on his face. I knew the minute to be critical and was determined to make the most of it. Do you know that man, I whispered to Mrs. Carew? The answer was brief but suggestive of alarm. Yes, one of the gardeners over there, one of whom Gwendolyn is especially fond. She's the one to fear, then, engage his attention while I divert hers. All this in a whisper while the man was summoning up courage to speak. A pretty child, he stammered as Mrs. Carew advanced toward him smiling. Is that your little nephew I've heard them tell about? Seems to me he looks like our own little lost one, only darker and sturdier. Much sturdier I heard her say as I made haste to accost the child. Harry, I cried, recalling my old address when I was in training for a gentleman. Your aunt is in a hurry. The cars are coming, don't you hear the whistle? Will you trust yourself to me? Let me carry you, I mean. Pick a back, while we run for the train.  It was fortunate for Mrs. Carew that no one but myself had ever gotten near enough to see those eyes, or she could hardly have kept her secret. And at first slowly, then with instinctive trust, the little arms rose and I caught her to my breast, taking care as I did so to turn her quite away from the man whom Mrs. Carew was about leaving. Come, I shouted back, we shall be late, and made a dash for the gate. Mrs. Carew joined me and none of us said anything till we reached the station platform. Then as I set the child down I gave her one look. She was beaming with gratitude. That saved us together with the few words I could edge in between his loud regrets at my going and his exclamations over the grief of Gwendolyn's loss. On the train I shall fear nothing. If you will lift him up I will wrap him in this shawl as if he were ill. Once in New York are you not going to permit me? To go to New York yes, but not to the steamer. She showed anger, but she also showed admirable self-control. Far off we could catch the sounding thrill of the approaching train. I yield, she announced suddenly, and opening the bag at her side she fumbled in it for a card which she presently put in my hand. I was going there for lunch, she explained. Now I will take a room and remain there until I hear from you. Here she gave me a quick look. You do not appear satisfied? Yes, yes, I stammered as I looked at the card and saw her name over that of an inconspicuous hotel in the downtown portion of New York City. I merely—the train. The nearing of the train gave me the opportunity of cutting short the sentence I should have found it difficult to finish. Here is the child, I exclaimed, lifting the little one, whom she immediately enveloped in a light but ample wrap she had chosen as a disguise. Good-bye, Harry.  Your arms are strong and you don't shake me when you run. Mrs. Carew smiled. There was deep emotion in her face. Au revoir! she murmured, in a tone implying promise. Happily I understood the French phrase. I bowed and drew back. Was I wrong in letting her slip from my surveillance? The agitation I probably showed might have caused her some thought. But she would have been more than a diviner of mysteries to have understood its cause. Her bag, when she opened it before my eyes, revealed among its contents a string of remarkable corals. A bead similar in shape, color and marking, rested at that very moment over my own heart. Was that necklace one bead short? With the start of conviction I began to believe so, and that I was the man who could complete it. If that was so, why then, then? It isn't often that a detective's brain reels, but mine did then. The train began to move. This discovery, the greatest of all, if I were right, would. I had no more time to think. Instinctively, with a quick jump, I made my place good on the rear car. End of Chapter 23. Chapter 24 of The Millionaire Baby. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Millionaire Baby by Anna K. Green, Chapter 24. Shall I give him my word, Harry? I did not go all the way to New York on the train which Mrs. Carew and the child had taken. I went only as far as Yonkers. When I reached Dr. Poole's house I thought it entirely empty. Even the office seemed closed. But appearances here could not always be trusted, and I rang the bell with a vigor which must have awakened echoes in the inhabited upper portions. I know that it brought the doctor to the door and in a state of doubtful amiability. But when he saw who awaited him his appearance changed and he welcomed me in with a smile or what was as nearly like one as his austere nature would permit. How, now, want your money? Seems to me you have earned it with unexpected ease. Not such great ease, I replied, as he carefully closed the door and locked it. I know that I feel as tired as I ever did in my life. The child is in New York under the guardianship of a woman who is really fond of her. You can dismiss all Care concerning her. I see, and who is the woman? Name her. You do not trust me, I see. I trust no one in business matters. This is not a business matter, yet. What do you mean? I have not asked for money. I am not going to until I can perfectly satisfy you that all deception is at an end, so far as Mr. Ocampa at least is concerned. Oh! you would play fair, I see. I was too interested in noting how each of his hands involuntarily closed on itself, in his relief at not being called upon to part with some of his hoardings, to answer with ought but a nod. You have your reasons for keeping close, of course, he growled, as he led me toward the basement stairs. You're not out of the woods, is that it? Or has the great lady bargained with you? Hum? He threw the latter ejaculations back over his shoulder as he descended to the office. This displeased me, and I made no attempt to reply. In fact, I had no reply ready. Had I bargained with Mrs. Ocampa? Hardly. Yet. She is handsome enough, the old man broke in sharply, cutting in two myself communings.  So the child is well, that's good. There's one long black mark eliminated from my account. But I have not closed the book, and I am not going to, till my conscience has nothing more to regret. It is not enough that the child is handed over to a different life. The fortunes that have been bequeathed to her must be given to him, who would have inherited them had this child not been taken for a veritable Ocampa. That raises a nice point, I said. That one that will drag all false things to light. Your action in the matter along with the rest, I suggested. True. But do you think I stopped because of that? He did not look as if he would stop because of anything. Do you not think Mrs. Ocampa worthy of some pity? Her future is a ghastly one whichever way you look at it. She sinned was his uncompromising reply. The wages of sin is death. But such death I protested, death of the heart, which is the worst death of all. He shrugged his shoulders leading the way into the office. Let her beware, he went on surlyly. Last month I saw my duty no further than the exaction of this child's dismissal from the home whose benefits she enjoyed under a false name. Today I am led further by the inexorable guide which prompts the anxious soul. All that was wrong must be made good. Mr. Ocampa must know on whom his affections have been lavished. I will not yield. The woman has done wrong and she shall suffer for it till she rises, a redeemed soul into a state of mind that prefers humiliation to a continuance in a life of deception. You may tell her what I say, that is, if you enjoy the right of conversation with her. The look he shot me at this was keen as hate and spite could make it. I was glad that we were by this time in the office and that I could avoid his eye by a quick look about the well-remembered place. This proof of the vindictive pursuit he had marked out for himself was no surprise to me. I expected no less, yet it opened up difficulties which made my way, as well as hers, looked dreary in the prospect. He perceived my despondency and smiled, then suddenly changed his tone. You do not ask after the little patience I have here. Come, Harry, come. Here is someone I would like you to meet. The door of my old room swung open and I do not know which surprised me more. The kindness in that rugged old voice that I had never before heard lifted in tenderness, or the look of confidence and joy on the face of the little boy who now came running in, so inexorable to a remorseful and suffering woman, and so full of consideration for a stranger's child. Almost well pronounced the doctor and lifted him on his knee. Do you know this child's parentage and condition, he sharply inquired, with a quick look toward me? I saw no reason for not telling the truth. He is an orphan and was destined for an institution. You know this? Positively. Then I shall keep the child. Harry, will you stay with me? To my amazement the little arms crept around his neck. A smile grim enough in my estimation, but not at all frightful to a child, responded to this appeal. I did not like the old man and woman, he said. Dr. Poole's whole manner showed triumph. I shall treat him better than I did you, he remarked. I am a regenerate man now. I bowed. I was very uneasy. There was a question I wanted to ask, and could not in the presence of this child. He is hardly of an age to take my place, I observed, still under the spell of my surprise, for the child was handling the old man's long beard, and seeming almost as happy as Gwendolyn did in Mrs. Carew's arms. He will have one of his own, was the doctor's unexpected reply. I rose. I saw that he did not intend to dismiss the child. I should like your word, in return for the relief I have undoubtedly brought you, that you will not molest certain parties till the three days are up which I have mentioned as the limit of my own silence. Shall I give my word, Harry? The child startled by the abrupt address, drew his fingers from the long beard he was playfully stroking, and eyeing me with elfish gravity, seemed to ponder the question as if some comprehension of its importance had found entrance into his small brain. Annoyed at the doctor's whim, yet trusting to the child's intuition, I waited with inner anxiety for what those small lips would say, and felt an infinite relief, even if I did not show it, when he finally uttered a faint, yes, and hid his face against the doctor's breast. My last remembrance of them both was the picture they made, as the doctor closed the door upon me, with the sweet confiding child still clasped in his arms. CHAPTER XXV THE WORK OF AN INSTANT I did not take the car at the corner. I was sure the jump was somewhere around and I had a new mission for him of more importance than any he could find here now. I was just looking about for him when I heard cries and screams at my back, and turning saw several persons all running one way. As that way was the one by which I had just come, I commenced running too, and in another moment was one of the crowd collected before the doctor's door. I mean the great front door which, to my astonishment I had already seen was wide open. The sight which there met my eyes almost paralyzed me. Stretched on the pavement spotted with blood lay the two figures I had seen within the last five minutes beaming with life and energy. The old man was dead, the child dying, one little hand outstretched as if in search of the sympathetic touch which had made the last few hours perhaps the sweetest of his life. How had it happened? Was it suicide on the doctor's part, or just pure accident? Either way it was horrible, but I looked about me. There was a man ready to give explanations. He had seen it all. The doctor had been racing with the child in the long hall. He had opened the door probably for air. A sudden dash of the child had brought him to the verge. The doctor had plunged to save him, and losing his balance toppled headlong to the street carrying the child with him. It was all the work of an instant. One moment, two vigorous figures, the next a mass of crushed humanity. A sight to stagger a man's soul, but the thought which came with it staggered me even more. The force which had been driving Mrs. Ocampa to her fate was removed. Henceforth her secret was safe, if I chose to have it so. Someone had seen me come from the doctor's office a few minutes before. Of course this meant detention till the coroner should arrive. I quarreled with the circumstances but felt forced to submit. Happily Jepp now came to the front and I was able to send him to New York to keep that watch over Mrs. Carew without which I could not have rested quiet an hour. One great element of danger was removed, most remarkably, if not providentially, from the path I had marked out for myself, but there still remained that of this woman's possible impulses, under her great determination to keep Gwendolyn in her own care. But with Jepp to watch the dock and a man in plain clothes at the door of the small hotel she was at present bound for, I thought I might remain in Yonkers contentedly the whole day. It was not, however, till late the next afternoon that I found myself again in Homewood. I had heard from Jepp. The steamer had sailed but without two passengers who had been booked for the voyage. Mrs. Carew and the child were still at the address she had given me. All looked well in that direction, but what was the aspect of affairs at Homewood? I trembled in some anticipation of what these many hours of bitter thought might have affected in Mrs. Ocampa, evidently nothing to lessen the gloom into which her whole household had now fallen. Miss Porter, who came in haste to greet me, wore the care-worn look of a long and unrelieved vigil. I was not astonished when she told me she had not slept a wink. How could I, she asked, when Mrs. Ocampa did not close her eyes? She did not even lie down, but sat all night in an armchair, which she had wheeled into Gwendolyn's room, staring like one who sees nothing out into the night through the window which overlooks that river. This morning we cannot make her speak. Her eyes are dry with fever, only now and then she utters a little moan. The doctor says she will not live to see her husband unless something comes to rouse her. But the papers give no news, and all the attempts of the police end in nothing.  The child on which they counted proved to be both red-haired and pockmarked. Gwendolyn appears to be lost, lost. In spite of the despair thus expressed, my ways seemed to open a little. I think I can break Mrs. Ocampa's dangerous apathy if you will let me see her again. Will you let me try? The nurse, we have a nurse now, will not consent I fear. Then telephone to the doctor, tell him I am the only man who can do anything for Mrs. Ocampa. This will not be an exaggeration. Wait, I will get his order. I do not know why I have so much confidence in you. In another fifteen minutes she came to lead me to Mrs. Ocampa. I entered without knocking, they told me to. She was seated, as they said, in a large chair, but with no ease to herself. For she was not even leaning against its back, but sat with body strained forward, eyes fixed on the ripple of that great river, where, from what she had intimated to me in our last interview, she probably saw as her grave. There was a miniature in her hand, but I saw at first glance, that it was not the face of Gwendolyn over which her fingers closed so spasmodically. It was her husband's portrait, which she held, and it was his face, aroused and full of denunciation, which she evidently saw in her fancy as I drew nearer her in my efforts to attract her attention. For a shiver suddenly contracted her lovely features, and she threw her arms out as if to ward from herself something which she had no power to meet. In doing this her head turned slightly and she saw me. Instantly the spell under which she sat frozen yielded to a recognition of something besides her own terrible brooding. She let her arms drop, and the lips which had not spoken that morning moved slightly. I waited respectfully. I saw that in another moment she would speak. "'You have come,' she panted out at last, to hear my decision. It is too soon. The steamer has twenty-four hours yet before it can make port. I have not finished weighing my life against the good opinion of him I live for. Then faintly Mrs. Carew has gone. To New York I finished. No farther than that,' she asked anxiously. She has not sailed. I did not see how it was compatible with my duty to let her. Mrs. Ocampa's whole form collapsed. The dangerous apathy was creeping over her again. "'You are deciding for me,' she spoke very faintly. You and Dr. Poole.' "'Should I tell her Dr. Poole was dead?' "'No, not yet. I wanted her to choose the noble course for Mr. Ocampa's sake, yes, and for her own.' "'No,' I ventured to rejoin.  The word must come from you. I am only trying to make it possible for you to meet your husband without any additional wrong, to blunt his possible forgiveness.' "'Oh, he will never forgive. And I have lost all.' And the set look returned in its full force. I made a final attempt. Mrs. Ocampa, we may never have another moment together in confidence. There is one thing I have never told you, something which I think you ought to know as it may affect your whole future course. It concerns Gwendolyn's real mother. You say you do not know her.' "'No, no, do not bring that up. I do not want to know her. My darling is happy with Mrs. Karoo. Too happy. Oh, God, give me no opportunity for disturbing that contentment. Don't you see that I am consumed with jealousy that I might?' She was roused enough now. Cheek and lip and brow were red. Even her eyes looked bloodshot.  It will not add to your pain. Rather, alleviate it.' When I hid behind the curtain that day we all regret, I did not slip from my post at your departure. I knew that another patient awaited the doctor's convenience in my own small room, where he had hastily seated her when your carriage drove up. I also knew that this patient had overheard what you said as well as I. For impervious as the door looked, I had often heard the doctor's muttering when he thought I was safe beyond earshot, if not asleep. And I wanted to see how she would act when she rejoined the doctor, for I had heard a little of what she had said before, and was quite aware that she could help you out of your difficulty if she wished. She was a married woman, or she had been, and she had no use for a child, being very poor and anxious to earn her own living. Would she embrace this opportunity to part with it when it came? You may imagine my interest, boy, though I was. And did she? Was she? Yes. She was ready to make her compact with the doctor just as you had done. Before she left everything was arranged for. It was her child you took, reared, loved, and have now lost. At another time she might have resented these words, especially the last, but I had aroused her curiosity, her panting, eager curiosity, and she let them pass altogether unchallenged. Did you see this woman? Was she of common blood, common manners? It does not seem possible. Gwendolyn is by nature so dainty in all her ways. The woman was a lady, I did not see her face who was heavily veiled, but I heard her voice, it was a lady's voice, and... What! She wore beautiful jewels. Jewels, you said she was poor. So she declared herself, but she had on her neck under her coat a string of beads which were both valuable and of exquisite workmanship. I know because it broke just as she was leaving and the beads fell all over the floor, and one rolled my way and I picked it up, scamp that I was, when both their backs were turned in their search for the others. A bead, a costly bead, and you were not found out? No, Mrs. Ocampa, she never seemed to miss it. She was too excited over what she had done just then to count correctly. She thought she had them all. But this has been in my pocket for six years. Perhaps you have seen it's like. I never have in jewelry shops or elsewhere, till yesterday. Yesterday. Her great eyes haggard with suffering, rose to mine, then they fell on the bead which I had taken from my pocket. The cry she gave was not loud, but it effectually settled all my doubts. What did you know of Mrs. Karoo before she came to the area, I asked impressively. For a minute she did not answer. She was trembling like a leaf. Her mother! she exclaimed at last. Her mother, her own mother. And she never hinted it to me by word or look. Oh, Valerie! Valerie, what tortures we have both suffered and now you are happy while I? Grief seemed to engulf her. Feeling my position keenly I walked to the window. But soon turned and came back in response to her cry. I must see Mrs. Karoo instantly. Give my orders. I will start at once for New York. They will think I have gone to be on hand to meet Mr. Ocampa and will say that I have not the strength. Override their objections. I put my whole cause in your hands. You will go with me? With pleasure, madam. And thus was that terrifying apathy broken up to be succeeded by a spell of equally terrifying energy. CHAPTER 27 The Final Struggle She however did not get off that night. I dared not push the matter to the point of awakening suspicion. And when the doctor said that the ship was not due for twenty-four hours and that it would be madness for her to start without a night's rest and two or three good meals, I succumbed and she also to the few hours delay. More than that she consented to retire and when I joined her in her carriage the following morning it was to find her physically stronger even if the mind was still a prey to deepest anguish and a torturing in decision. Her nurse accompanied us and the maid called Celia so conversation was impossible, a fact I did not know whether to be thankful for or not. On the cars she was shielded as much as possible from everyone's gaze and when we reached New York we were driven at once to the plaza. As I noticed the respect and intense sympathy with which her presence was met by those who saw nothing in her broken aspect but a mother's immeasurable grief I wondered at the secrets which lie deep down in the hearts of humanity and what the effect would be if I should suddenly shout aloud. She is more wretched than you think. Her suspense is one that the child's return would not appease. Dig deeper into mortal fear and woe if you would know what has changed this beautiful woman into a shadow in five days. And I myself did not know her mind. I could neither foresee what she contemplated nor what the effect of seeing the child again would have upon her. I only knew that she must never for a moment be out of sight of someone who loved her. I myself never left the hall upon which her room opened, a precaution for which I felt grateful, when, late in the evening, she opened the door and seeing me stepped out fully dressed for the street. Come and tell Sister Angelina that I may be trusted with you, she said. Sister Angelina was the nurse. Of course I did as she bade me, and after a few more difficulties I succeeded in getting her into a carriage without attracting any special attention. Once there she breathed more easily, and so did I. Now take me to her, she said, whether she meant Mrs. Caru or Gwendolyn I never knew. I now saw that the hour had come for telling her that she no longer need have any fear of Dr. Poole. Whatever she contemplated must be done with the true knowledge of where she stood and to just what extent her secret remained endangered. I do not know if she felt grateful. I almost think that for the first few minutes she felt rather frightened than relieved to find herself free to act as her wishes in her preservation of her place in her husband's heart and the world's regard impelled her. For she never for a moment seemed to doubt that now the doctor was gone I would yield to her misery and prove myself the friend she had begged me to be from the first. She turned herself toward me and sought to read my face, but it was rather to find out what I expected of her than what she had yet to fear from me. I noted this and muttered some words of confidence, but her mood had already changed and they fell on deaf ears. I was not present at the meeting of the two women. That is, I remained in what they call a private parlor while Mrs. O'Kampa passed into the inner room where she knew she would find Mrs. Carew in the child. Nor did I hear much. Some words came through the partition. I caught most of Mrs. Carew's explanation of how she came to give up her newborn child. She was an actress at the time with the London's success to her credit, but with no hold as yet in this country. She was booked for a tour the coming season, the husband who might have seen to the child was dead. She had no friends, no relatives here, save her brother poorer than herself, and the mother instinct had not awakened. She bartered her child away as she would have parted with any other encumbrance likely to interfere with her career. But here her voice rose and I heard distinctly. A fortune was suddenly left me. An old admirer dying abroad bequeathed me two million dollars and I found myself rich. Admired and independent, with no one on earth to care for or to share the happiness of what seemed to me after the brilliant life I had hitherto led, a dreary inaction. Love had no interest for me. I had had a husband and that part of my nature had been satisfied. What I wanted now, and the wish presently grew into a passion, was my child. From passion it grew to mania. Knowing the name of her to whom I had yielded it, I had overheard it in the doctor's office. I hunted up your residence and came one day to Homewood. Perhaps some old servant can be found there to-day who could tell you of the strange, deeply veiled lady who was found one evening at sunset, clinging to the gate with both hands, and sobbing as she looked in at the triumphant little heiress racing up and down the walks with a great mastiff named Don.  I, who was brokenhearted now for her smiles and her touches, and saw them all given to strangers, who had made her a princess, but who could never give her such love as I felt for her then in my madness. I went away that time, but I came again soon with the titles of the adjoining property in my pocket. I could not keep away from the sight of her, and felt that the torture would be less to see her in your arms than not to see her at all. The answer was not audible, but I could well imagine what it was. As everyone knew the false mother had not long held out against the attractions of the true one. Instinct had drawn the little one to the heart that beat responsive to its own. What followed I could best judge from the frightened cry which the child suddenly gave. She had evidently waked to find both women at her side. Mrs. Rue's hush-hush did not answer this time. The child was in a frenzy and evidently turned from one to the other, sobbing out alternately. I will not be a girl again. I like my horse in going to Papa and sailing on the big ocean in trousers in a little cap. And the softer phrases she evidently felt suited to Mrs. O'Kampa's deep distress. Don't feel bad, Mama.  Papa will send for you. I am going to him. Then silence. Then such a struggle of woman-heart with woman-heart as I hope never to be witnessed to again. Mrs. O'Kampa was pleading with Mrs. Carew, not for the child but for her life. Mr. O'Kampa would be in port the next morning, if she could show him the child all would be well. Mr. Trevott would manage the details, take the credit of having found Gwendolyn somewhere in the city, and that would ensure him the reward and them his silence. I heard this. There was no one else to fear. Dr. Poole, the cause of all this misery, was dead. And in the future, her heart being set to rest about her secret, she would be happier and make the child happier and they could enjoy her between them. And she would be unselfish and let Gwendolyn spend an hour or more every day with Mrs. Carew on some such plea as lessons in vocal training and music. Thus pleaded Mrs. O'Kampa. But the mother hardly listened. She had eaten with the child, slept with the child, and almost breathed with the child for three days now, and the ecstasy of the experience had blinded her to any other claim than her own. She pitied Mrs. O'Kampa, pitied most of all her deceived husband. But no grief of theirs could equal that of Rachel crying for her child. Let Mrs. O'Kampa remember that when the evil days come.  Oh, how the whale swept through those two rooms! I dared not prophecy to myself at that point how this would end. I simply waited. The voices had sunk after each passionate outbreak, and I was only able to catch now and then a word which told me that the struggle was yet going on. But finally there came a lull, and while I wondered the door flew suddenly open, and I saw Mrs. O'Kampa standing on the threshold, pallid and stricken, looking back at the picture made by the other two, as Mrs. Carew fell on her knees by the bedside and held to her breast the panting child. I cannot go against nature, she said. Keep Gwendolyn, and may God have pity on me and Philo. I stepped forward, meeting my eye she faltered this last word. Your advice was good. Tomorrow when I meet my husband, I will tell him who found the child and why that child is not at my side to greet him. That night I had a vision I saw a door, shut, ominous, before that door stood a woman, tall, pale, beautiful. She was there to enter, but to what no mortal living could say. She saw nothing but lost in the hollowness of a living death behind that closed door. But who knows angels spring up unknown on the darkest road, and perhaps here the vision broke the day and its possibilities lay before me. End of Chapter 27. End of The Millionaire Baby by Anna Kay Green. Read for you by Don Larson in Minnesota. Thank you for listening.


So Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, he spent his first, the first 20 years of his life as a slave. And in 1838 he escaped and made his way up to Massachusetts where he worked as a laborer for a few years. And in 1841 he was discovered by the abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison.  And Garrison immediately knew he had a star on his hands and invited Douglass to join the abolitionist lecture circuit. And that began a 50-plus year career as an abolitionist order and order on behalf of other progressive causes. And Douglass, after leaving Garrison in Massachusetts in the late 1840s, began editing his own newspapers. And he did that for quite a few years. And eventually served as a kind of informal advisor to President Lincoln. And after the Civil War Douglass continued to write and speak and also was appointed to a variety of positions in Republican administrations up until the late 1880s. So Douglass literally agitated until the day he died. In February 20th, 1895 he spent the day at a women's rights convention and died that evening. So he was always engaged in the life of activism on behalf of liberty.


From the SiliconANGLE Media office in Boston, Massachusetts, it's theCUBE. Now, here's your host, Dave Vellante. Hello everyone and welcome to this week's WikibonCube Insights powered by ETR. In this breaking analysis ahead of the RSA conference, we want to update you on the cybersecurity sector. This year's event is underlined by coronavirus fears. IBM has pulled out of the event and cited the epidemic as the reason. And it also brings to the front the sale of RSA by Dell to STG Partners, a private equity firm. Now in our last security drill down, we cited several mega trends in the security sector. These included the ever escalating sophistication of the attacker, the increased risk from the data economy, the expanded attack surface with the huge number of IP addresses that are exploding out there, and the lack of skills and the number of cyber tools that are coming to the market. Now, as you know, in these segments, we'd like to share insights from theCUBE and I want you to listen to two American statesmen and what they said on theCUBE. Here's General Keith Alexander, who's the former director of the NSA, along with Dr. Robert Gates, who's the former director of the CIA and former secretary of defense. Play the clip. When you think about threats, you think about nation states, so that you can go to Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and then you think about criminal threats with all the things like ransomware. Some of the nation state actors are also criminals at night, so they can use nation state tools. And my concern about all the evolution of cyber threats is that the attacks are getting more destructive. I think cyber and the risks associated with cyber and IT need to be a regular part of every board's agenda. So you hear General Alexander really underscore the danger as well, Dr. Gates is articulating what we've said many times on theCUBE that cybersecurity is a board level agenda item. Now the comments from both of these individuals represent what I would consider tailwinds for cyber technology companies. Now we're going to drill into some of those today, but it's not all frictionless. There are headwinds too in this market space. Cloud migration, the shift from North South to East West network traffic, it's pressuring traditional appliance based perimeter security solutions, increased complexity and lack of skills and other macro factors, including questions on ROI. CFO saying, hey, we spend all this cash, why aren't we more secure? Now, I want you to hear from two chief information security officers on both the challenges that they face and how they're dealing with them. Roll the clip. Lack of talent. I mean, we're starving for talent. Cyber security is the only field in the world with negative unemployment. We just don't have the actual bodies to actually fill the gaps that we have. And in that lack of talent, ceaseless are starving. I think that the public cloud offers us a really interesting opportunity to reinvent security, right? So if you think about all of the technologies and processes and many of which are manual over the years, I think we have an opportunity to leverage automation to make our work easier in some ways. Now I've featured Brian Lozada and Katie Jenkins before in breaking analysis segments. And you can hear it from these cyber leaders. We lack the talent and cloud computing and automation are areas we're pursuing. So this challenges security companies to respond. But at the end of the day, companies have no choice. In other words, organizations buying security solutions. The sophistication of the attacker is very high and the answer to my CFO and ROI is fear-based. If you don't do this, you might lose billions in market cap. Now I want you to take a listen to these CUBE alum talking about the attacker sophistication and the importance of communication skills in order to fund cyber initiatives really to keep up with the bad guys. Please play the clip. The adversary is talented and they're patient, they're well-funded. Okay, that's where it starts. And so, why bring an interpreter to a host when there's already one there? Why write all this complicated software distribution when I can just use yours? And so that's where the game starts. And the most advanced threats aren't leaving footprints because the footprints are already there. They'll get on a machine and behaviorally they'll check the cache to see what's hot. And what's hot in the cache means that behaviorally it's a path they can go. They're not cutting a new trail most of the time, right? So living off the land is not only the tools that they're using, your automation, they're using against you, but it's also behavioral. That's why the most important talent or skill that a security professional needs is communication skills. If you can articulate technical risk into a business risk to fund your program, it's very hard for you actually to be successful in security. Now, the really insidious thing about what TK Kianini just said is the attackers are living off the land, meaning they're using your tools and your behaviors to sneak around your data unnoticed. And so as Brian Lazada said, as a security pro, you need to be a great communicator in order to get the funding that you need to compete with the bad guys. Which brings me to the RSA conference. This is why you as a security practitioner attend. You want to learn more, you want to obtain new skills, you want to bring back ideas to your organization. Now, one of the things I did to prepare for this segment is to read the RSA conference content agenda, which was co-authored by Britta Glade. And I read numerous blogs and articles about what to expect at the event. And from all that, I put together this word cloud, which conveys some of the key themes that I would expect you're going to hear at the shows. Look at skills that jump right out. Just like Brian was saying, the human element is going to be a big deal this year. IOT and the ITOT schism. Everyone's talking about the Olympics and seeing that as a watershed event for cyber. How to apply machine learning in AI is a big theme as is cloud with containers and serverless, phishing, zero trust in frameworks, frameworks for privacy, frameworks for governance, and compliance. The 2020 election and weaponizing social media with deep fakes and expect to hear a lot about the challenges of securing 5G networks, open source risks, supply chain risks, and of course the need for automation. And it's no surprise there's going to be a lot of talk about cyber technology, the products, and of course the companies that sell them. So let's get into the market and unpack some of the ETR spending data and drill into some of these companies. The first chart I want to show you is spending on cyber relative to other initiatives. What this chart shows is the spending on cybersecurity highlighted in the green in relation to other sectors in the ETR taxonomy. Notice the blue dot. It shows the change in spending expected in 2020 versus 2019. Now, two points here. First is that despite the top of my narrative that we always hear, the reality is that other initiatives compete for budget and you just can't keep throwing cash at the security problem. As I've said before, we spend like 0.014% of our global GDP on cyber. So we barely scratch the surface. The second point is there's a solid year on year growth quite high at 12% for a sector that's estimated at $100 to $150 billion worldwide according to many sources. Now, let's take a look at some of the players in this space who are going to be presenting at the RSA conference. You might remember to my 2020 predictions in that breaking analysis, I focused on two ETR metrics, net score, which is a measure of spending velocity and market share, which measures pervasiveness in the data set. And I anointed nine security players as four-star players. These were Microsoft Cisco Palo Alto Network Splunk Proof Point, Fortinet, Okta, CyberArk, and CrowdStrike. What I'm showing here is an update of that data with the January survey data. My four-star companies were defined as those in the cybersecurity sector that demonstrated both net scores or spending momentum, that's the left-hand chart, and market share or pervasiveness on the right-hand chart. Within the top 22 companies, why did I pick 22? Well, it seemed like a solid number and it fit nicely in the screen and allowed more folks in. So a few takeaways here. One is that there are a lot of cybersecurity companies in the green from the standpoint of net score. Number two is that Fortinet and Cisco fell off the four-star list because of their net scores. While still holding reasonably well, they dropped somewhat. Also, some other companies like Veronis and Veracode and Carbon Black jumped up on the net score rankings. But Cisco and Fortinet are still showing some strength in the market overall, I'm going to talk about that. Cisco's security business was up 9% in the quarter and Fortinet is breaking away from Palo Alto and networks from a valuation perspective, which I'm going to drill into a bit. So we're going to give Cisco and Fortinet two stars this survey period. But look at Zscaler, they made the cut this time. Their net score or spending momentum jumped from 38% last quarter to nearly 45% in the January survey, with a sizable shared in at 123. So we've added Zscaler to the four-star list. They have momentum and we're going to continue to watch that quarterly horse race. Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Microsoft continues to get stronger and stronger in many sectors, including cyber. So that's something to really pay attention to. Okay, I want to talk about the valuations a bit. Valuations of cyber security space are really interesting and for reasons we've discussed before, the market's hot right now. Some people think it's overvalued, but I think the space is going to continue to perform quite well relative to other areas in tech. Why do I say that? Because cyber continues to be a big priority for organizations. The software and annual recurring revenue contribution ARR continues to grow. M&A is going to continue to be robust in my view, which is going to fuel valuations. So let's look at some of the public companies within cyber. What I've compiled in this chart is eight public companies that were cited as four-star or two-star firms as I defined earlier. Now I've ranked this by market value. In the columns, we show the market cap and trailing 12-month revenue in billions. The revenue multiple and the annual revenue growth. Now I've highlighted Palo Alto Networks and Fortunet because I want to drill into those two firms as there's a valuation divergence going on between those two names. And I'll come back to that in just a minute. But first I want to make a few points about this data. Number one is there's definitely a proportional relationship between the growth rate and the revenue multiple or premium being paid for these companies. Generally growth ranges between one and a half to three times the revenue multiple being paid. CrowdStrike, for example, has a 39x revenue multiple and is growing at 110%. So they're at the high end of that range with a growth at 2.8 times their revenue multiple today. Second and related is you can see a wide range of revenue multiples based on these growth rates with CrowdStrike, Okta and now Zscaler as the standouts in this regard. And I have to call it Splunk as well. They're both large and they have high growth. Although they are moving beyond security, they're going into adjacencies and big data analytics, but you have to love the performance of Splunk. The third point is this is a lucrative market. You have several companies with valuations in the double digit billions and many with multi-billion dollar market values. Cyber chaos means cash for many of these companies and of course for their investors. Now Palo Alto throws some of these ratios out of whack, i.e. why the lower revenue multiple with that type of growth and it's because they've had some execution issues lately and this annual growth rate is really not the best reflection of the stock price today. That's really being driven by quarterly growth rates and less robust management guidance. So why don't we look into that a bit? What this chart shows is the one year relative stock prices of Palo Alto networks in the blue and compared to Fortinet in the red. Look at the divergence in the two stocks. Look how they traded in a range and then you saw the split when Palo Alto missed its quarter last year. So let me share what I think is happening. First, Palo Alto has been a very solid performer since an IPO in 2012. It's delivered more than four X returns to shareholders over that period. Now what they're trying to do is cloud proof their business. They're trying to transition more to an ARR model and rely less on appliance centric firewalls. Now firewalls are core part of their business and that has underperformed expectations lately. You can't just take legacy tech and cloud wash it and cloud native competitors like Zscaler are taking advantage of this and setting the narrative there. Now Palo Alto networks has also had some very tough compares in 2019 relative to 2018. That should somewhat abate this year. Also Palo Alto has said some execution issues during this transition especially related to sales and sales incentives and aligning that with this new world of cloud. And finally Palo Alto is in the process of digesting some acquisitions like Twistlock and PureSec and some others over the past year and that could be a distraction. Fortinet on the other hand is benefiting from a large portfolio refresh as capitalizing on the momentum that that's bringing. In fact all the companies I listed they may be undervalued despite of all the companies. Sorry that I listed. Fortinet may be undervalued despite the drop off from the four star list that I mentioned earlier. Fortinet is one of those companies with a large solution set that can cover a lot of market space. And while Fortinet faces similar headwinds as Palo Alto it seems to be executing better on the cloud transition. Now the last thing I want to share in this topic is some data from the ETR regression testing. What ETR does is their data scientists run regression regression models and fit a linear equation to determine whether Wall Street earnings consensus estimates are consistent with the ETR spending data. They sort of try to line those up and see what the divergence is. What this chart shows is the results of that regression analysis for both Fortinet and Palo Alto. And you can see the ETR spending data suggests that both companies could outperform somewhat expectations. Now I wouldn't run out and buy the stock based on this data as there's a lot more to this story but let's watch the earnings and see how this plays out. All right, I want to make a few comments about the sale of the RSA asset. EMC bought RSA for around the same number, roughly $2 billion that STG is paying Dell. So I'm obviously not impressed with the return that RSA has delivered since 2006. The interesting takeaway is that Dell is choosing liquidity over the RSA cybersecurity asset. So it says to me that their ability to pay down debt is much more important to Dell and their go forward plan. Remember for every $5 billion that Dell pays down in gross debt, it drops 25 cents to EPS. This is important for Dell to get back to investment grade debt, which will further lower its costs. It's a lever that Dell can turn. Now and also in thinking about this, it's interesting that VMware, which remember is acquiring security assets like crazy and most recently purchased carbon black and they're building out a security division. They obviously didn't pound the table fighting to roll RSA into that division. You know or maybe they did and the financial value of the cash to Dell was greater than the value of the RSA customers, the RSA product portfolio and of course the RSA conference. But my guess is Gelsinger and VMware didn't want the legacy tech. Gelsinger said many times that security is broken. It's his mission to fix it or die trying. So I would bet that he and VMware didn't see RSA as a path to fixing security. It's more likely that they saw it as a non-strategic shrinking asset that they didn't want any part of. Now for the record, and I'm not even going to bother showing you the data, but RSA and the ETR dataset is an unimpressive player in cybersecurity. Their market share or pervasiveness is middle of the pack, so it's okay, but their net score spending velocity is in the red and it's in the bottom 20th percentile of the dataset. But it is a known brand certainly within cyber. It's got a great conference and it's probably better than a PE company owns them than being a misfit toy inside a Dell. All right, it's time to summarize. As we've been stressing in our breaking analysis segments and on theCUBE, the adversaries are very capable and we should expect continued escalation. Venture capital is going to keep pouring into startups and that's going to lead to more fragmentation. But the market's going to remain ripe for M&A with valuations on the rise. The battle continues for best-of-breed tools from upstarts like CrowdStrike and Okta and Zscaler versus suites from big players like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet. Growth is going to continue to drive valuations and so let's keep our eyes on the cloud. It remains disruptive and for some provides momentum and for others provides friction. Security practitioners will continue to be well-paid because there's a skill shortage and that's not going away despite the push toward automation. Now we didn't talk about machine intelligence but AI and ML, those tools, they're two-edged sword as bad actors are leveraging installed infrastructure both tools and behaviors to so-called live off the land upping the stakes in the arms race. Okay, this is Dave Vellante for Wikibon's Cube Insights powered by ETR. Thanks for watching this breaking analysis and remember these episodes are all available as podcast at Spotify or wherever you listen. Connect with me at david.vellante at siliconangle.com or comment on my LinkedIn. I'm at D.Vellante on Twitter. Thanks for watching everybody. We'll see you next time.


Hey everybody, welcome back to my Star Wars channel. My name is David and today we're gonna look at taking the batteries out of your Kylo Ren lightsaber Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel. Thank you for being here Previously on the channel. We did an unboxing. This is the Force FX black series Kylo Ren lightsaber Did a whole walkthrough. So if you want to see the lightsaber in its unboxing action I can go check out that video, but in that video I did not talk to you about how to remove the batteries and so a couple things here my kids have the Galaxy's Edge lightsabers, okay, and I have the black series and they even asked me they said hey how come you didn't get a Galaxy's Edge lightsaber. I said well because I really wanted Kylo Ren's and I Like the fact that the batteries are so much easier to take out if you have one of the Galaxy's Edge savers, you know, there's a little bit more involved with taking the batteries out and I always encourage my kids To take the batteries out of theirs. I know it's really easy to leave our batteries in and then sometimes we forget about them, but a Good rule of thumb is if you're not going to touch it for let's say two months All right, you should really go and pull the batteries out Reason is because unused batteries will have a tendency to age and corrode over time And you really don't want to ruin your you know several hundred dollar at lightsaber So if you're not using it, right? If you're not actively Using it on a regular basis. I would take the batteries out. Okay It's going to be so much better in the long run Couple things if you have the stand you might remember There was a little coin in the stand that you could store right there You can pop that out and use that on the end or that little slot is but I don't even need to you can just grab it That's see. This is why I love this saber. It's this easy. So if you're jealous right now It's because you have the Galaxy's edge lightsaber. So no tool to take the battery compartment out. There it is. That is it. That was the whole tutorial kids So there's my batteries all I gotta do now is pop them out and Then I could put them back at a later date, but I I've been keeping this on the shelf since Halloween and Literally have been leaving the batteries in since Halloween since October and I haven't changed it out So that is bad.    It's gonna make your electronics last a long time What else can I tell you storage? Some people Of course have the stands and that's a good way to store it But if you like storing on the wall or you've seen people store them on the wall Especially the galaxy's edge sabers. They have the long, you know the blade and they store it mounted. Here's what they're using They're using this so this is something you can pick up on Amazon I think they come in packs of three, which is why I have an extra one But this is what you would put in your garage to store a broom So you'd clip a broom right in there, right? and I'll show you some pictures of my kids sabers stored in their room and You'd think it would slide right out, but it does not So make sure you test it first, right? Put it up on the wall about where it's going to be Kind of then make a pencil line just about there and then drill your holes and then slap your blade on And it's a nice safe place again. We're talking about safety Having it up on the wall is great because then it's not going to fall over No one's going to accidentally fall into it or step on it. The blade's not going to snap Keeping it up off the ground like that is a nice safe place So this is a really cheap investment Super cheap investment, you know, and you get a couple of these you can put all your sabers up on the wall the nice uh, this makes for a nice display for a star wars room and it keeps that Lightsaber out where everyone can see it instead of storing it in the black black the black bag that comes from galaxies edge So if you don't have a stand like I do I keep mine on the stand and I keep my blades in the box But if I if I didn't I would throw on the wall with this So that was my quick lightsaber tutorial for you guys and uh, keep coming back for more star wars content. May the force be with you I'll see you next time. Bye