September 1663 The packet-boat from Dordrecht was making its way up the Walcheren Canal towards Middleburg on the last leg of its journey, with the sun lying low on the horizon and making them all squint as they looked towards their first sight of the town. Balthasar, at last, was going home. Chilled from the long, cold journey threading through the islands of Zeeland, and uncertain in his mind, he looked up as the familiar defences of the Oostport came into view. He longed for home, and yet the thought of it appalled him. In the depths of the hold, roped and corded, were all his books and clothes from Leiden, together with his certificates of graduation as a doctor of medicine.