a little disappointed when they found that instead
of several bushels of fine 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 good-will 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 a