ne fish, they had only caught a corporal
of marines; but they were kind-hearted, for they had known misery; and
Van Spitter was put into a bed, and covered up with all the blankets
they could collect, and very soon was able to drink some warm soup
offered to him. It was not, however, till long past noon that the
corporal was able to narrate what had taken place.

"Will your lieutenant pay us for saving you and bringing him his boat?"
demanded the men.

Now, it must be observed, that a great revolution had taken place in the
corporal's feelings since the horror and sufferings of the night. He
felt hatred towards Vanslyperken, and goodwill towards those whom he had
treated unkindly. The supernatural appearance of Smallbones, in which
he still believed, and which appeared to him as a warning--what he had
suffered from cold and exhaustion, which by him was considered as a
punishment for his treatment of the poor lad but the morning before--had
changed the heart of Corporal Van Spitter; so he replied in Dutch--

"He will give you nothing, good people, not even a glass of schnappes, I
tell you candidly--so keep the boat if you wish--I will not say a word
about it, except that it is lost, he is not likely to see it again.
Besides, you can alter it, and paint it."

This very generous present of his Majesty's property by the corporal was
very agreeable to the fishermen, as it amply repaid them for all their
trouble. The corporal put on his clothes, and ate a hearty meal, was
freely supplied with spirits, and went to bed quite recovered. The next
morning, the fishermen took him down to Amsterdam in their own boat,
when Van Spitter discovered that the Yungfrau had sailed: this was very
puzzling, and Corporal Van Spitter did not know what to do. After some
cogitation, it occurred to him that, for Vanslyperken's sake, he might
be well received at the Lust Haus by Widow Vandersloosh, little
imagining how much at a discount was his lieutenant in that quarter.

To the Frau Vandersloosh accordingly he repaired, and the first person
he met was Babette, who, finding that the corporal was a Dutchman, and
belonging to the Yungfrau, and who presumed that he had always felt the
same ill-will towards Vanslyperken and Snarleyyow as did the rest of the
ship's company, immediately entered into a narrative of the conduct of
Snarleyyow on the preceding night, the anger of her mistress, and every
other circumstance with which the reader is