Mr Vanslyperken had been so much upset by the events of the day, that
he had quite forgotten to deliver the letters entrusted to him to the
care of the Jew Lazarus; weighty indeed must have been the events which
could have prevented him from going to receive money.

He threw himself on his bed with combined feelings of rage and
mortification, and slept a feverish sleep in his clothes.

His dreams were terrifying, and he awoke in the morning unrefreshed.
The mutiny and defection of the ship's company, he ascribed entirely to
the machinations of Smallbones, whom he now hated with a feeling so
intense, that he felt he could have ordered him in the open day. Such
were the first impulses that his mind resorted to upon his waking, and
after some little demur, he sent for Corporal Van Spitter, to consult
with him. The corporal made his appearance, all humility and respect,
and was again sounded as to what could be done with Smallbones,
Vanslyperken hinting very clearly what his wishes tended to.

Corporal Van Spitter, who had made up his mind how to act after their
previous conference, hummed and hawed, and appeared unwilling to enter
upon the subject, until he was pushed by his commandant, when the
corporal observed there was something very strange about the lad, and
hinted at his being sent in the cutter on purpose to annoy his superior.

"That on that night upon which he had stated that he had seen the devil
three times, once it was sitting on the head-clew of Smallbones's
hammock, and at another time that he was evidently in converse with the
lad, and that there were strange stories among the ship's company, who
considered that both Smallbones and the dog were supernatural agents."

"My dog--Snarleyyow--a--what do you mean, corporal?"

The corporal then told Mr Vanslyperken that he had discovered that
several attempts had been made to drown the dog, but without success;
and that among the rest, he had been thrown by Smallbones into the
canal, tied up in a bread-bag, and had miraculously made his appearance
again.

"The villain!" exclaimed Vanslyperken. "That then was the paving-stone.
Now I've found it out, I'll cut his very soul out of his body."

But the corporal protested against open measures, as, although it was
known by his own confession to be the case, it could not be proved, as
none of the men would tell.

"Besides, he did not think that any further attempts would be made, as
Smallbones had been hear