Van Dyck cursed again. Had the governor and his wife discussed the girl? What was the relationship between Stuyvesant and his wife anyway? Who knew? But the threat to tell Margaretha was serious. It was one thing to leave her in doubt about where he was. But to have her know that he’d defied the governor, failed to protect his family—for that was what she’d say—all for the sake of his half-breed daughter … Such an accusation would be a serious matter. Margaretha wouldn’t let this go. God knows what it would do to his business, and his family life. Curse Peg Leg. Damn him. He nodded to his men.

“We’ll follow,” he said, resignedly.

The prow of the boat swung round, pointing once again down the flow of the stream.

Van Dyck stared ahead. What an exercise in futility! Was he condemned to follow Peg Leg all the way, now? The very thing he had been trying to avoid.

His hesitation had caused quite a distance to open up between his boat and the governor’s. He thought of the English fleet ahead, of the determined, wrong-headed governor, and of his wife’s hurt and angry face. He thought of his innocent, defenseless little daughter who had waited for him. The gray palisade of rock above him seemed to echo with a soundless lament as the water rushed by. He glanced back again. The village was out of sight, hidden by the trees. He had come to his daughter, then passed by on the other side.

“Turn back.”

“Boss?”

“We’re going back. Turn round,” he ordered them. The men were looking at each other, hesitating. “Do you want to fight the English, then?” he cried. The men glanced at each other again. And obeyed. The prow swung round toward the eastern bank.

Stuyvesant was still watching. He saw, and understood. And now his voice came up the stream in a great cry.

“Traitor!” The word reached van Dyck like a clap of thunder. And for all he knew, it went echoing up the great river, all the way to its origins in the distant north. “Traitor.”

He gazed toward the governor’s boat, but he did not alter his course. It was a parting of the ways, and they both knew it, as the great river swept Stuyvesant southward in its mighty current, and he, free for a moment at least, turned back to give the shining dollar to his daughter.

New York