I will give you letters to my cousin and your father saying
how well you have borne yourselves, and how mightily Sir Roger
Williams was pleased with you. In the spring you can rejoin, unless
indeed the Spaniards should land in England, which Heaven forfend,
in which case you will probably prefer to ride under my cousin's
banner at home."
The boys gladly accepted Francis Vere's proposal. It was but three
months since they had set foot in Holland, but they had gone through
a tremendous experience, and the thought of being shut up for eight
or nine months at Bergen op Zoom was by no means a pleasant one.
Both felt worn out and exhausted, and longed for the fresh keen air
of the eastern coast. Therefore the next morning they embarked on
board ship. Captain Vere presented them each with a handsome brace
of pistols in token of his regard, and Captains Uvedale, Baskerville,
and other officers who were intimate friends of Vere's, and had met
them at his quarters, gave them handsome presents in recognition
of the services they had rendered at Sluys.
The ship was bound for Harwich, which was the nearest English port.
Landing there, they took passage by boat to Manningtree and thence
by horse home, where they astounded their father and mother by
their sudden appearance.
"And this is what comes of your soldiering," Mrs.
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