oard, he hastened down into his
cabin, and throwing the money down on the table, feasted his eyes with
it, and remained for nearly half-an-hour in a state of deep cogitation,
during which he often asked himself the question, whether he had not
been a traitor to the king and country in whose pay he was employed. The
answer that he gave to himself was anything but satisfactory: but the
prospect of possessing the fair Portsmouth widow, and the gold displayed
upon the table, were very satisfactory, and the balance was on the
latter side: so Vanslyperken gradually recovered himself, and had risen
from his chair to collect the gold and deposit it in a place of safety,
when he was interrupted by a tap at the door. Hastily sweeping off the
gold pieces, he cried, "Come in;" when who, to his surprise, should
appear, in excellent condition and fresh as a peony, but the lost and
almost forgotten Corporal Van Spitter, who, raising his hand to his
forehead as usual, reported himself man-of-war fashion, "Vas come on
board, Mynheer Vanslyperken." But as the corporal did not tell all the
facts connected with his cruise in the jolly-boat to Mr Vanslyperken,
for reasons which will hereafter appear, we shall reserve the narrative
of what really did take place for another chapter.

Chapter XXI

In which are narrated the adventures which took place in the corporal's
cruise in the jolly-boat.

Corporal Van Spitter, so soon as he had expended all his breath in
shouting for help, sat down with such a flop of despair on the thwart of
the boat, as very nearly to swamp it. As it was, the water poured in
over the starboard-gunnel, until the boat was filled up to his ankles.
This alarmed him still more, and he remained mute as a stockfish for a
quarter of an hour, during which he was swept away by the tide until he
was unable to discover the lights on shore. The wind freshened, and the
water became more rough, the night was dark as pitch, and the corporal
skimmed along before the wind and tide. "A tousand tyfels!" at last
muttered the corporal, as the searching blast crept round his fat sides,
and made him shiver. Gust succeeded gust, and, at last, the corporal's
teeth chattered with the cold: he raised his feet out of the water at
the bottom of the boat, for his feet were like ice, but in so doing, the
weight of his body being above the centre of gravity, the boat careened
over, and with a "Mein Gott!" he hastily replaced them in the cold