Had the most skilful pilot in Zeeland held the helm of the 'Hope,' with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide.

Avoiding the raft which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most telling point.
She had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right moment.

All the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by the Mantuan wizard had come to pass.

The famous bridge was cleft through and through, and a thousand picked men--Parma's very "daintiest"-- were blown out of existence.

The Governor-General himself was lying stark and stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or his tomb.
His most distinguished officers were dead, and all the survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, convulsion.