Jemmy then raised his pipe to his lips, and sounded its loudest note:  the men gave him three cheers, and Mr Vanslyperken in a paroxysm of fury, ran down into his cabin.

Chapter XXV

In which Mr Vanslyperken proves that he has a great aversion to cold steel.

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 murdered him in the open day.  Such were the first impulses that his mind resorted to upon his awaking, 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 ha’ed, 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-clue of Smallbones’ 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 heard to laugh and say, ’that water would never hurt him or the dog,’ which observation of the lad’s had first made the ship’s company suspect.”