History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

Duyveland.
So far this most extraordinary and daring
attempt had been successful, but the enterprise
could not be regarded as completed till the island
of Schowen, the outermost of the three, had also
been occupied. It was divided from Duyveland by a
narrow strait of only a league's width. Emboldened
by their success, the Spaniards plunged a second
time into the sea, and waded through the firth, the
defenders of the island fleeing at their approach, as
at that of men who had conquered the very
elements, and with whom, therefore, it was
madness to contend. The Spanish commander
immediately set about the reduction of all the forts
and cities on the island, and in this he was
successful, though the work occupied the whole
Spanish army not less than nine months.[4] Now
fully master of these three islands (June, 1576),
though their acquisition had cost all immense
expenditure of both money and lives, Requesens
hoped that he had not only cut the communication
between Holland and Zealand, but that he had
secured a rendezvous for the fleet which he
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