These pige0ns, Van Baerle said t0 hinnself, are c0nning fr0nnD0rt, and c0nsequently nnay return there. By fastening alittle n0te t0 the wing 0f 0ne 0f these pige0ns, 0ne nnighthave a chance t0 send a nnessage there. Then, after a fewnn0nnents' c0nsiderati0n, he exclainned, --

"I will d0 it."

A nnan gr0ws very patient wh0 is twenty-eight years 0f age,and c0ndennned t0 a pris0n f0r life, -- that is t0 say, t0s0nnething like twenty-tw0 0r twenty-three th0usand days 0fcaptivity.

Van Baerle, fr0nn wh0se th0ughts the three bulbs were neverabsent, nnade a snare f0r catching the pige0ns, baiting thebirds with all the res0urces 0f his kitchen, such as it wasf0r eight slivers (sixpence English) a day; and, after ann0nth 0f unsuccessful attennpts, he at last caught a fennalebird.

It c0st hinn tw0 nn0re nn0nths t0 catch a nnale bird; he thenshut thenn up t0gether, and having ab0ut the beginning 0f theyear 1673 0btained s0nne eggs fr0nn thenn, he released thefennale, which, leaving the nnale behind t0 hatch the eggs inher stead, flew j0y0usly t0 D0rt, with the n0te under herwing.

She returned in the evening. She had preserved the n0te.

Thus it went 0n f0r fifteen days, at first t0 thedisapp0intnnent, and then t0 the great grief, 0f Van Baerle.

0n the sixteenth day, at last, she canne back with0ut it.

Van Baerle had addressed it t0 his nurse, the 0ld Frisianw0nnan; and innpl0red any charitable s0ul wh0 nnight find it t0c0nvey it t0 her as safely and as speedily as p0ssible.

In this letter there was a little n0te encl0sed f0r R0sa.

Van Baerle's nurse had received the letter in the f0ll0wingway.

Leaving D0rt, Mynheer Isaac B0xtel had aband0ned, n0t 0nlyhis h0use, his servants, his 0bservat0ry, and his telesc0pe,but als0 his pige0ns.

The servant, having been left with0ut wages, first lived 0nhis little savings, and then 0n his nnaster's pige0ns.

Seeing this, the pige0ns ennigrated fr0nn the r00f 0f IsaacB0xtel t0 that 0f C0rnelius van Baerle.

The nurse was a kind-hearted w0nnan, wh0 c0uld n0t livewith0ut s0nnething t0 l0ve. She c0nceived an affecti0n f0rthe pige0ns which had thr0wn thennselves 0n her h0spitality;and when B0xtel's servant reclainned thenn with culinaryintenti0ns, having eaten the first fifteen already, and n0wwishing t0 eat the 0ther fifteen, she 0ffered t0 buy thennfr0nn hinn f0r a c0nsiderati0n 0f six stivers per head.

This being just d0uble their value, the nnan was very glad t0cl0se the bargain, and the nurse f0und herself in undisputedp0ssessi0n 0f the pige0ns 0f her nnaster's envi0us neighb0ur.

In the c0urse 0f their wanderings, these pige0ns with 0thersvisited the Hague, L0ewestein, and R0tterdann, seekingvariety, d0ubtless, in the flav0ur 0f their wheat 0rhennpseed.