Namur for our vantage-ground, and under the blessing of his holiness,
the banner under which I conquered the infidel, shall, sooner or
later, float victorious under this northern sky!'

"Such was the tenour of his discourse as we entered a wood, halfway
through which, the itinerary I had consulted informed me we had to
cross a branch of the Dyle. But on reaching the ferry-house of this
unfrequented track, we found only two sumpter-mules tied to a tree
near the hovel, and a boat chained to its stump beside the stream. In
answer to our shouts, no vestige of a ferryman appeared; and behold
the boat-chain was locked, and the current too deep and strong for
fording.

"Where there is smoke there is fire! No boat without a boatman!"
cried the Prince; and leaping from his horse, which he gave me to
hold, and renewing his vociferations, he was about to enter the
ferry-house, when, just as he reached the wooden porch, a young girl,
holding her finger to her lips in token of silence, appeared on the
threshold!"

"She of the turkois eyes and flaxen ringlets, for a hundred
pistoles!"--cried Gonzaga. "Such then was the bird's nest that made
him so mad a truant!"

"As she retreated into the house," resumed Nignio, without noticing
the interruption, "his highness followed, hat in hand, with the
deference due to a gouvernante of Flanders. But as the house was
little better than a shed of boards, by drawing a trifle nearer the
porch, not a syllable of their mutual explanation escaped me.