e had better now directly sing the song over
again, all in chorus, and then we shall have damned the admiral a dozen
times over; and Vanslyperken will hear us, and say to himself, 'They
don't sing that song for nothing.' What do you say, Dick Short, you're
first hofficer?"
"Yes," replied Short.
"Hurrah! my lads, then," cried Bill Spurey; "now then, strike up, Jemmy,
and let us give it lots of mouth."
The song which our readers have already heard from the lips of Jemmy
Ducks, was then sung by the whole of the men, _con animo e strepito_,
and two verses had been roared out, when Corporal Van Spitter, in great
agitation, presented himself at the cabin door, where he found Mr
Vanslyperken very busy summing up his accounts.
"Mein Gott, sar! dere is de mutiny in de _Yungfrau_," cried the
corporal.
"Mutiny!" cried Vanslyperken, catching at his sword, which hung up on
the bulk-head.
"Yaw, mynheer--de mutiny--hear now de ship's company."
Vanslyperken lent his ears, when the astounding chorus came rolling aft
through the door of the cabin,
"I'll give you a bit of my mind, old hunks,
Port Admiral--you be d---d"
"Bow, wow, wow," barked Snarleyyow.
"Why, it's the whole ship's company!" cried Vanslyperken.
"All but de Corporal Van Spitter, and de six marines," replied the
corporal, raising his hand up to his head _a la militaire_.
"Shut the door, corporal. This is indeed mutiny and defiance," cried
Vanslyperken, jumping up from his chair.
"It is von tyfel of a song," replied the corporal.
"I must find out the ringleaders, corporal; do you think that you could
contrive to overhear what they say after the song is over? they will be
consulting together, and we might find out something."
"Mynheer, I'm not very small for to creep in and listen," replied the
corporal, casting his eyes down upon his huge carcass.
"Are they all forward?" inquired the lieutenant.
"Yes, mynheer--not one soul baft."
"There is the small boat astern; do you think you could get softly into
it, haul it up to the bows, and lie there quite still? You would then
hear what they said, without their thinking of it, now that it is dark."
"I will try, mynheer," replied the corporal, who quitted the cabin.
But there were others who condescended to listen as well as the
corporal, and in this instance, every word which had passed, had been
overheard by Smallbones, who had been for some hours out of his hammock.
When the
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