But if prepossessed in his favour before she saw him, what did she feel when she first beheld the substantial proportions of Corporal Van Spitter! There she beheld the beau idéal of her imagination — the very object of her widow’s dreams — the antipodes of Vanslyperken, and as superior as “Hyperion to a Satyr.” He had all the personal advantages, with none of the defects, of her late husband; he was quite as fleshy, but had at least six inches more in height, and, in the eyes of the widow, the Corporal Van Spitter was the finest man she ever had beheld, and she mentally exclaimed, “There is the man for my money;” and, at the same time, resolved that she would win him! Alas! how short-sighted are mortals; little did the corporal imagine that the most untoward event in his life would be the cause of his being possessed of ease and competence. The widow received him most graciously, spoke in no measured terms against Vanslyperken, at which the corporal raised his huge shoulders, as much as to say, “He is even worse than you think him,” was very violent against Snarleyyow, whom the corporal, aware that it was no mutiny, made no ceremony in “damning in heaps,” as the saying is.

  The widow begged that he would feel no uneasiness, as he should remain with her till the cutter returned; and an hour after the first introduction, Corporal Van Spitter had breakfasted with, and was actually sitting, by her request, on the little fubsy sofa, in the very place of Vanslyperken, with Frau Vandersloosh by his side.

  We must pass over the few days during which the cutter was away. Widows have not that maiden modesty to thwart their wishes, which so often prevents a true love-tale from being told. And all that the widow could not tell, Babette, duly instructed, told for her; and it was understood, before the cutter’s arrival, that Corporal Van Spitter was the accepted lover of the Frau Vandersloosh. But still it was necessary that there should be secrecy, not only on account of the corporal’s being under the command of the lieutenant, who, of course 2 would not allow himself to be crossed in love without resenting it, but also because it was not advisable that the crew of the Yungfrau should not be permitted to spend their money at the Lust Haus. It was therefore agreed that the lieutenant should be blinded as to the real nature of the intimacy, and that nothing should take place until the cutter was paid off, and Corporal Van Spitter should be a gentleman at large.

  Independent of the wisdom of the above proceedings, there was a secret pleasure to all parties in deceiving the deceiver Vanslyperken. But something else occurred which we must now refer to. The corporal’s residence at the widow’s house had not been unobserved by the Jesuit, who was the French agent in the house opposite, and it appeared to him, after the inquiries he had made, that Corporal Van Spitter might be made serviceable. He had been sent for and sounded, and it was canvassed with the widow whether he should accept the offers or not, and finally it was agreed that he should, as there would be little or no risk. Now, it so happened that the corporal had gone over to the Jesuit’s house to agree to the proposals, and was actually in the house conversing with him, when Vanslyperken arrived and knocked at the door. The corporal ascertaining who it was by a small clear spot left in the painted window for scrutiny, begged that he might be concealed, and was immediately shown into the next room by a door, which was hid behind a screen. The Jesuit did not exactly shut the door, as he supposed he did, and the corporal, who wondered what could have brought Vanslyperken there, kept it ajar during the whole of the interview and the counting out of the money. Vanslyperken left, and as he shut the other door, the corporal did the same with the one he held ajar, and took a seat at the other end of the room, that the Jesuit might not suspect his having overheard all that had passed.

  Now the Jesuit had made up his mind that it was better to treat with the principal than with a second, and therefore did not further require the services of Corporal Van Spitter. He told him that the lieutenant having received private information that one of the people of the cutter had been seen at his house, and knowing that he was the French agent, had come to inform him that if he attempted to employ any of his men in carrying letters, that he would inform against him to the authorities. That he was very sorry, but that after such a notice he was afraid that the arrangements could not proceed. The corporal appeared to be satisfied, and took his final leave. No wonder, therefore, that the widow and Babette were on the watch, when they saw Vanslyperken enter the house, at the very time the corporal was there also.

  The corporal went over to the widow’s, and narrated all that he had heard and seen.

  “Why, the traitor!” exclaimed the widow.

  “Yes, mein Gott!” repeated the corporal.

  “The villain to sell his country for gold.”

  “Yes, mein Gott!” repeated the corporal.

  “Fifty guineas, did you say, Mynheer Van Spitter?”

  “Yes, mein Gott!” repeated the corporal.

  “Oh, the wretch! — well,” continued the widow, “at all events he is in your power.”

  “Yes, mein Gott!”

  “You can hang him any day in the week.”

  “Yes mein Gott!”

  “Ho, ho! Mr Vanslyperken: — well, well, Mr Vanslyperken, we will see,” continued the widow, indignant at the lieutenant receiving so large a sum, which would otherwise have been, in all probability, made over to Corporal Van Spitter, with whom she now felt that their interests were in common.

  “Tousand tyfels!” roared the corporal, dashing his foot upon one of the flaps of the little table before them with so much force, that it was broken short off and fell down on the floor.

  “Hundred tousand tyfels!” continued the corporal, when he witnessed the effects of his violence.

  Although the widow lamented her table, she forgave the corporal with a smile; she liked such proofs of strength in her intended, and she, moreover, knew that the accident was occasioned by indignation at Vanslyperken.

  “Yes, yes, Mr Vanslyperken, you’ll pay me for that,” exclaimed she; “I prophesy that before long you and your nasty cur will both swing together.”

  The corporal now walked across the little parlour and back again, then turned to the widow Vandersloosh, and with a most expressive look slowly muttered: —

  “Yes, mein Gott!”

  After which he sat down again by the side of the widow, and they had a short consultation; before it was over, Corporal Spitter declared himself the deadly enemy of Lieutenant Vanslyperken; swore that he would be his ruin, and ratified the oath upon the widow’s lips. Alas! what changes there are in this world!

  After which solemn compact the corporal rose, took his leave, went on board, and reported himself, as we have stated in the preceding chapter.

  Chapter Twenty Two.

  In which Snarleyyow proves to be the Devil, and no Mistake.

  That the corporal mystified his lieutenant may easily be supposed; but the corporal had other work to do, and he did it immediately. He went up to Jemmy Ducks, who looked daggers at him, and said to him quietly, “That he had something to say to him as soon as it was dusk, and they would not be seen together.” Vanslyperken ordered the corporal to resume his office, and serve out the provisions that afternoon: and to the astonishment of the men, he gave them not only full, but overweight; and instead of abusing them, and being cross, he was good-humoured, and joked with them; and all the crew stared at each other, and wondered what could be the matter with Corporal Van Spitter. But what was their amazement, upon Snarleyyow’s coming up to him as he was serving out provisions, instead of receiving something from the hand of the corporal as usual, he, on the contrary, received a sound kick on the ribs from his foot which sent him yelping back into the cabin. Their astonishment could only be equalled by that of Snarleyyow himself. But that was not all; it appeared as if wonders would never cease, for when Smallbones came up to receive his master’s provisions, after the others had been served and gone away, the corporal not only kindly received him, but actually presented him with a stiff glass of grog mixed with the corporal’s own hand. When he offered it, the lad could not believe his eyes, and even when he had poured it down his throat, he would not believe his own mouth; and he ran away, leaving his provisions, chuckling along the lower deck, till he could gain the forecastle, and add this astonishing piece of intelligence to the other facts, which were already the theme of admiration.

  “There be odd chops and changes in this here world, for sartin,” observed Coble. (Exactly the same remark as we made at the end of the previous chapter.)

  “Mayn’t it all be gammon?” said Bill Spurey.

  “Gammon, for why?” replied Jemmy Ducks.

  “That’s the question,” rejoined Spurey.

  “It appears to me that he must have had a touch of conscience,” said Coble.

  “Or else he must have seen a ghost,” replied Smallbones.

  “I’ve heard of ghosts ashore, and sometimes on board of a ship, but I never heard of a ghost in a jolly-boat,” said Coble, spitting under the gun.

  “Specially when there were hardly room for the corporal,” added Spurey.

  “Yes,” observed Short.

  “Well, we shall know something about it to-night, for the corporal and I am to have a palaver.”

  “Mind he don’t circumwent you, Jimmy,” said Spurey.

  “It’s my opinion,” said Smallbones, “that he must be in real arnest, otherwise he would not ha’ come for to go for to give me a glass of grog — there’s no gammon in that; — and such a real stiff ‘un too,” continued Smallbones, who licked his lips at the bare remembrance of the unusual luxury.

  “True,” said Short.

  “It beats my comprehension altogether out of nothing,” observed Spurey. “There’s something very queer in the wind. I wonder where the corporal has been all this while.”

  “Wait till this evening,” observed Jemmy Ducks; and, as this was very excellent advice, it was taken, and the parties separated.

  In the despatches it had been requested, as important negotiations were going on, that the cutter might return immediately, as there were other communications to make to the States General on the part of the King of England; and a messenger now informed Vanslyperken that he might sail as soon as he pleased, as there was no reply to the despatches he had conveyed. This was very agreeable to Vanslyperken, who was anxious to return to the fair widow at Portsmouth, and also to avoid the Frau Vandersloosh. At dusk, he manned his boat and went on shore to the French agent, who had also found out that the cutter was ordered to return, and had his despatches nearly ready. Vanslyperken waited about an hour; when all was complete he received them, and then returned on board.

  As soon as he had quitted the vessel, Corporal Van Spitter went to Jemmy Ducks, and without letting him know how matters stood on shore, told him that he was convinced that Vanslyperken had sent him into the boat on purpose to lose him, and that the reason was, that he, Van Spitter, knew secrets which would at any time hang the lieutenant. That, in consequence, he had determined upon revenge, and in future would be heart and hand with the ship’s company; but that to secure their mutual object, it would be better that he should appear devoted to Vanslyperken as before, and at variance with the ship’s company.

  Now Jemmy, who was with all his wits at work, knew that it was Smallbones who cut the corporal adrift; but that did not alter the case, as the corporal did not know it. It was therefore advisable to leave him in that error. But he required proofs of the corporal’s sincerity, and he told him so.

  “Mein Gott! what proof will you have? De proof of de pudding is in de eating.”

  “Well, then,” replied Jemmy, “will you shy the dog overboard?”

  “Te tog? — in one minute — and de master after him.”

  Whereupon Corporal Van Spitter went down into the cabin, which Vanslyperken, trusting to his surveillance, had left unlocked, and seizing the cur by the neck, carried him on deck, and hurled him several yards over the cutter’s quarter.

  “Mein Gott! but dat is well done,” observed Jansen.

  “And he’ll not come back wid de tide. I know de tide, mein Gott!” observed the corporal, panting with the exertion.

  But here the corporal was mistaken. Snarleyyow did not make for the vessel, but for the shore, and they could not in the dark ascertain what became of him; neither was the tide strong, for the flood was nearly over; the consequence was, that the dog gained the shore, and landed at the same stairs where the boats land. The men were not in the boat, but waiting at a beer-shop a little above, which Vanslyperken must pass when he came down again. Recognising the boat, the cur leapt into it, and after a good shaking under the thwarts, crept forward to where the men had thrown their pea jackets under the bow-sheets, curled himself up, and went to sleep.

  Shortly afterwards the lieutenant came down with the men, and rowed on board; but the dog, which, exhausted with his exertion, was very comfortable where he was, did not come out, but remained in his snug berth.

  The lieutenant and men left the boat when they arrived on board, without discovering that the dog was a passenger. About ten minutes after the lieutenant had come on board, Snarleyyow jumped on deck, but, as all the men were forward in close consultation, and, in anticipation of Mr Vanslyperken’s discovery of his loss, the dog gained the cabin, unperceived not only by the ship’s company, but by Vanslyperken, who was busy locking up the letters entrusted to him by the French agent. Snarleyyow took his station under the table, and lay down to finish his nap, where we must leave him for the present in a sound sleep; and his snoring very soon reminded Vanslyperken of what he had, for a short time, unheeded, that his favourite was present.

  “Well, it’s very odd,” observed Spurey, “that he has been on board nearly half an hour, and not discovered that his dog is absent without leave.”

  “Yes,” said Short.

  “I know for why, mein Gott!” exclaimed the corporal, who shook his head very knowingly.

  “The corporal knows why,” observed Jemmy Ducks.

  “Then why don’t he say why?” retorted Bill Spurey, who was still a little suspicious of the corporal’s fidelity.

  “Because Mynheer Vanslyperken count his money — de guineas,” replied the corporal, writhing at the idea of what he had lost by his superior’s interference.

  “Ho, ho! his money; well, that’s a good reason, for he would skin a flint if he could,” observed Coble; “but that can’t last for ever.”

  “That depends how often he may count it over,” observed Jemmy Ducks— “but there’s his bell;” and soon after Corporal Van Spitter’s name was passed along the decks, to summon him into the presence of his commanding officer.

  “Now for a breeze,” said Coble, hitching up his trousers.

  “Yes,” replied Short.

  “For a regular shindy,” observed Spurey.

  “Hell to pay and no pitch hot,” added Jemmy, laughing; and they all remained in anxious expectation of the corporal’s return.

  Corporal Van Spitter had entered the cabin with the air of the profoundest devotion and respect — had raised his hand up as usual, but before the hand had arrive its destination, he beheld Vanslyperken seated on the locker, patting the head of Snarleyyow, as if nothing had happened. At this unexpected resuscitation, the corporal uttered a tremendous “Mein Gott!” and burst, like a mad bull, out of the cabin, sweeping down all who obstructed has passage on the lower deck, till he arrived at the fore-ladder, which he climbed up with tottering knees, and then sank down on the forecastle at the feet of Jemmy Ducks.

  “Mein Gott, mein Gott, mein Gott!” exclaimed the corporal, putting his hands to his eyes as if to shut out the horrid vision.

  “What the devil is the matter?” exclaimed Coble.

  “Ah! mein Gott, mein Gott!”

  As it was evident that something uncommon had happened, they all now crowded round the corporal, who, by degrees, recovered himself.

  “What is it, corporal?” inquired Jemmy Ducks.

  Before the corporal could reply, Smallbones, who had been summoned to the cabin on account of the corporal’s unaccountable exit, sprang up the ladder with one bound, his hair flying, his eyes goggling, and his mouth wide open: lifting his hands over his head, and pausing as if for breath, exclaimed with a solemn, sepulchral voice, “By all the devils in hell he’s com again!”

  “Who?” exclaimed several voices at once.

  “Snarleyyow,” replied Smallbones, mournfully.

  “Yes — mein Gott!” exclaimed Corporal Van Spitter, attempting to rise on his legs.

  “Whew!” whistled Jemmy Ducks — but nobody else uttered a sound; they all looked at one another, some with compressed lips, others with mouths open. At last one shook his head — then another. The corporal rose on his feet and shook himself like an elephant.

  “Dat tog is de tyfel’s imp, and dat’s de end on it,” said he, with alarm still painted on his countenance.

  “And is he really on board again?” inquired Coble, doubtingly.

  “As sartin as I stands on this here forecastle — a-kissing and slobbering the lieutenant for all the world like a Christian,” replied Smallbones, despondingly.

  “Then he flare fire on me wid his one eye,” said the corporal.

  “Warn’t even wet,” continued Smallbones.

  Here there was another summons for Corporal Van Spitter.

  “Mein Gott, I will not go,” exclaimed the corporal.

  “Yes, yes, go, corporal,” replied Smallbones; “it’s the best way to face the devil.”

  “Damn the devil! — and that’s not swearing,” exclaimed Short — such a long sentence out of his mouth was added to the marvels of the night — some even shrugged up their shoulders at that, as if it also were supernatural.