Die schwarze Galeere. English Read online

waves as befits a child ofGenoa. You'll fall asleep in the arms of Neptune's daughter."

  "Have pity on me, Lord, let me die. Save me, save me," whimperedthe despairing girl, but Leone, now drunk, laughed aloud shrilly.

  "Don't look at me like that, my queen--today you belong to me,tomorrow you'll belong to someone else--, that's war, that's life.Do you think I ought to mourn and mumble prayers like a priest overthe corpse of my friend? If we were on the shore of the LigurianSea, we'd weave roses and myrtle into our hair to celebrate thebeauty of the night! In the name of vengeance, in the name ofvictory, come into my arms, you wanton beggar woman, come and bemine, you pretty heretic."

  With a shrill cry Myga van Bergen clung to the post of the bed onwhich the pale and bloody body of Antonio Valani lay outstretched.She sought the protection of a dead man! But with a raucous cryLeone della Rota gathered up the unfortunate woman into his arms.He covered her mouth and her naked shoulders with burning kisses.Then there was a thud over his head, so that the lamp hanging fromthe ceiling shook with it. A shout! The sound of a struggle. Asecond thud. The stamping and tramping of several feet. A wildscream. The loud report of a musket. A fearsome, unsettling cry:

  "The beggars! The beggars! The beggars on board! Treachery!Treachery! All'arme! All'arme!"

  "What's that? Diavolo!" shouted Leone, letting go of the girl andreaching for his sword. Once more, from his bloody resting place,the body of Antonio Valani raised itself, once more his eyes openedwide to stare at his friend:

  "Protect the ship. Traitor! Vile good-for-nothing!"

  A stream of dark blood shot out of his mouth and Antonio Valanisank back. Now death truly had him in its grip.

  On deck the turmoil after the fall of the first sentry became evermore widespread and loud. The bewildered crew rushed out with thefirst weapons that had come to hand.

  "To arms! Treachery! The beggars!"

  The sound of oaths, groans, cries for mercy.

  Myga van Bergen fell to her knees once again, while Leone, as heunsheathed his sword, rushed up the cabin stairs. Once on deckhis foot bumped against corpses and the wounded. The fight washeaving wildly to and fro and a roar of triumph from the Dutchand the terrific war cry of the beggars: "Sultan before Pope!"were already beginning to drown out the battle cries of the sorudely awoken men of Genoa.

  And still their enemies were climbing like cats up the hull ofthe Andrea Doria. The merchant ships at anchor next to her andsmall warships seemed to be in the process of being captured forfrom them were coming battle cries and shots and numerous torcheswere visible.

  In desperation Leone della Rota hurled himself at his nearestenemy, encouraging his men to resistance with words and actions.In the sentry box on the quayside a drum came to life and beatout the Spanish call to arms.

  "The sea beggars! The sea beggars! The sea beggars at thegates of Antwerp! Treachery! Treachery! The sea beggars inthe town itself!"

  Torches were seen along the banks of the river and lights soonappeared in the houses behind the city walls.

  "Sultan before Pope! Victory! Victory! The black galley!The black galley! Victory! Victory!" Such were the shouts ofthe beggars on the Andrea Doria carrying all before them. Therewas no quarter given. What was not struck or hewn down wasthrown overboard. The very words black galley filled the heartsof the Italians with terror and broke their courage more thananything. Some of them fled to dry land, even more of them werehacked down in the first attack. Around the mainmast, in thecircle of light radiating from the ship's lantern, a group ofmen were desperately continuing to fight. Here Leone della Rotastood side by side with the bravest of his crew and the whole ofwhat was happening was finally concentrated in this area. Thedeck was already slippery with blood and littered with corpses.Many a wild sea beggar fell to Leone's sword.

  "Courage! Courage, brave comrades! To me! Help is coming fromdry land! Courage! Courage!" shouted Leone, striking down a manfrom Zeeland, but, where the latter had fallen, a new adversaryappeared, stepping over the fallen one.

  "Forward! Forward, you sea beggars! Down with foreign tyrants!Down with their flag of shame! Take it down from the mast! Doyou know me, you foreign devil, you cowardly abductor of women?"

  "Diavolo!" cried Leone, stiff with fright and astonishment, buthe composed himself immediately. "You're not drunk then, youbeggar? So much the better. Feed on this cold steel then.There!"

  "A hit! Myga! Myga! Salvation! Vengeance! Take that, youdog, to hell with you and greet your comrade-in-arms from me,Jan Norris, the sea beggar!"

  Leone della Rota from Genoa sank to the floor, drenched in hisown blood, and Jan Norris placed his foot on his fallen foe'schest and shouted in his face:

  "Myga has been rescued! The ship has been taken! Tell thatto them in hell!"

  With that he stabbed his deadly enemy through the neck with along knife.

  In the meantime the other Genoans, who had not saved themselvesby running away, had also been killed. The skirmish on theAndrea Doria was now at an end and already the sea beggars werebusy loosening the chains which bound the ship to the quayside.

  Myga van Bergen lay prostrate in the cabin in the arms of Janwho now carried his betrothed out of that terrible room, awayfrom the proximity of the dead body of Antonio Valani up intothe freedom of the upper air.

  Fighting was still going on on one of the sea-going vessels thathad fallen to the Dutch, but already some of her crew were slidinginto the water, pushed there by the hands of sea beggars andfiercely and harmoniously the song of the victors resounded throughthe night:

  William of Nassau,I am of German blood.Faithful to my fatherlandI shall remain till death.

  The black galley's bugler from the stern of the Andrea Doria wasnow blowing the same tune townwards and, revelling in the chorus,the galley's victorious crew sang for all they were worth:

  That you are by the Spaniards,Oh Netherlands of mine,Harmed and injured, just to think,It makes my poor heart bleed.

  Even mortally wounded beggars who could no longer sing sat up onthe ground, washed over by these harmonious and solemn sounds, andmoved their lips in time with the words of the song. Myga vanBergen too was recalled by them to life and she sang, laughingand crying, held in Jan's arms, the same song of freedom.

  "Look, Myga, how I keep my word--I'm taking you home with thesounds of cannon fire and jubilant bells and a flourish of trumpetsin my ear! Saved! Saved from a fate worse than death!" JanNorris was ecstatic.

  From the citadel there came the noise of one alarm signal afteranother. More and more drums sprang into life along the city'swalls and enclosures to call as many people as possible to thequayside. And the movements of the great Flanders town becamenoisier too and many an oppressed and angry heart beat faster atthe proud, forbidden sounds that rose in response to the Spanishdrumbeats and that grew more insistent as the latter strove todrown them out. Alarm bells rang from every steeple. And nowthere was a commotion in the town and another commotion emanatingout from the citadel towards the quayside. Troops moved alongthe city walls. Troops pushed down to the river.

  But louder than anything there arose above the tumult:

  My hope and my protectionAre you, oh God, my Lord.On you I want to build more.Never let me go.That I may nurture pietyAnd serve you all the whileBy driving out all tyrantsWho wound my loving heart.

  Thousands of such hearts heard behind the walls that Paciottihad built around the town of Antwerp these strains with delight.Thousands of eyes became moist on hearing their message.

  Now there could be no doubt of it. The black galley had performedits finest feat of arms and all that there was left to do now wasto bring its prize to a place of safety. Under covering fire fromthe black galley Jan Norris, now captain on board the Andrea Doria,reached the middle of the Scheldt and gradually sailed downstream.Seven smaller vessels taken as prizes sailed along with the beggars'ships--the black galley brought up the rear.

  There wa
s much shooting and firing from the walls of Antwerp anda return of fire from the beggars' ships and the Andrea Doria wasnow sailing downstream under the beggars' colours, its sailsjoyously expanded by the morning wind. Don Federigo Spinola wastearing his hair out at such an unheard of thing!

  There was passing fire from all the earthworks and forts alongthe river.

  Fortune smiled on the beggars! What affair was it of theirs ifthe Spaniards aimed well or badly? The wounded below deck, thedead overboard, the black galley's cannons were in action onceagain before Fort Felipe. Boom, boom. Kruisschanze on theBrabant side of the river.

  Now, you men of Holland, look to your laurels, for the last bolt,but also the strongest, needs to be drawn back.

  Down there in the morning mist lies Fort Liefkenhoek.

  Down there in the morning mist lies Fort Lillo.

  Now,