corporal's hand touched the lock of the door, Smallbones made
a hasty retreat.
Corporal Van Spitter went on the quarter-deck, which he found vacant; he
hauled up the boat to the counter, and by degrees lowered into it his
unwieldy carcass, which almost swamped the little conveyance. He then
waited a little, and with difficulty forced the boat up against the
strong flood-tide that was running, till at last he gained the chesstree
of the cutter, when he shortened in the painter (or rope that held the
boat), made it fast to a ringbolt without being perceived, and there he
lay concealed, not daring to move, for fear of making a noise.
Smallbones had, however, watched him carefully, and as the corporal sat
in the middle thwart, with his face turned aft, catching but imperfectly
the conversation of the men, the lad separated the painter with a sharp
knife, and at the same time dropping his foot down, gave the bow of the
boat a shove off, which made it round with the stream. The tide was then
running five or six miles an hour, and before the corporal, in the utter
darkness, could make out what had occurred, or raise his heavy carcass
to assist himself, he was whirled away by the current clear of the
vessel, and soon disappeared from the sight of Smallbones, who was
watching his progress.
It is true that the corporal shouted for assistance when he found
himself astern, and also that he was heard by the men, but Smallbones
had leaped among them, and in a few words told them what he had done; so
of course they took no notice, but rubbed their hands with delight at
the idea of the corporal being adrift like a bear in a washing-tub, and
they all prayed for a gale of wind to come on that he might be swamped,
and most of them remained on deck to hear what Mr Vanslyperken would say
and do when the corporal's absence was discovered. Mr Vanslyperken
remained nearly two hours without sending for the corporal; at last,
surprised at not seeing him return, he went on deck. The men on the
forecastle perceiving this, immediately disappeared gently down the
fore-hatchway. Mr Vanslyperken walked forward and found that every one
was, as he supposed, either in bed or below; for in harbour the corporal
kept one of the watches, and this night it was his first watch.
Vanslyperken looked over the side all round the cutter, and could see no
boat and no Corporal Van Spitter, and it immediately occurred to him
that the corporal must have gone adrif
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