another be
adrift himself as the corporal was, but with this difference, that there
should be no search made after him. As soon as the men had finished
their breakfasts, the cutter was got under weigh and proceeded to sea.
During the whole day Vanslyperken cruised in the Zuyder Zee looking for
the boat, but without success, and at last he unwillingly shaped his
course for England, much puzzled and perplexed, as now he had no one to
act as his steward to whom he could confide, or by whose arrangements he
could continue to defraud the ship's company; and, farther, he was
obliged to put off for the present all idea of punishing Jemmy Ducks,
for, without the corporal, the marines were afraid to move a step in
defiance of the ship's company. The consequence was, that the three days
that they were at sea, Mr Vanslyperken confined himself altogether to
his cabin, for he was not without some fears for his own safety. On his
arrival at Portsmouth, he delivered his letters to the admiral, and
received orders to return to his cruising ground after the smugglers as
soon as he had replaced his lost boat.

We have observed that Mr Vanslyperken had no relations on this side of
the water; but in saying that, we referred to the epoch that he was in
the service previous to the accession of King William. Since that, and
about a year from the time we are now writing about, he had brought over
his mother, whom he had not, till the peace, seen for years, and had
established her in a small apartment in that part of the town now known
by the name of the Halfway Houses. The old woman lived upon a small
pension allowed by the Dutch court, having been employed for many years
in a subordinate capacity in the king's household. She was said to have
once been handsome, and when young, prodigal of her favours; at present
she was a palsied old woman, bent double with age and infirmity, but
with all her faculties as complete as if she was in her prime. Nothing
could escape her little twinkling bloodshot eyes, or her acute ear; she
could scarcely hobble fifty yards, but she kept no servant to assist
her, for, like her son, she was avaricious in the extreme. What crime
she had committed was not known, but that something lay heavy on her
conscience was certain; but if there was guilt, there was no repentance,
only fear of future punishment. Cornelius Vanslyperken was her only
living child: she had been twice married. The old woman did not appear
to be ver