Captain Ortis Booty
Captain Ortis (the tale I tell
Petit told in his chronicle)
Gained from Alva, for service and duty
At Antwerp's capture, the strangest booty.
Then each captain chose, as I hear,
That for guerdon he held most dear,
Craved what in chief he set heart of his on
Out strode Ortis, and claimed . . . the prison!
Such a tumult! for, be assured,
Greatly the judges and priests demurred;
No mere criminals alone in that Stygian
Darkness died, but the foes of religion.
There lay heretics by the score,
Anabaptists, and many more,
Hard to catch! To let loose, when caught, your
Timid hares, to forego the torture—
Folly! Suddenly sank the noise.
Alva spoke in his steely voice:
"He's my soldier, sans flaw or blemish;
Let him burn as he likes these Flemish."
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