fide_ a part of the living
body; and this aggression must inevitably come under the head of the
cutting and maiming act, which act, however, it must, with the same
candour which will ever guide our pen, be acknowledged, was not passed
until a much later period than that to the history of which our
narrative refers.

Having thus, with all deference, offered our humble opinion, we shall
revert to facts. Mr Vanslyperken went on shore, with the dog's tail in
his pocket. He walked with rapid strides towards the half-way houses, in
one of which was the room tenanted by his aged mother; for, to whom else
could he apply for consolation in this case of severe distress? That it
was Moggy Salisbury who gave the cruel blow, was a fact completely
substantiated by evidence; but that it was Smallbones who held the dog,
and who thereby became an active participator, and therefore equally
culpable, was a surmise to which the insinuations of the corporal had
given all the authority of direct evidence. And, as Mr Vanslyperken felt
that Moggy was not only out of his power, but even if in his power, that
he dare not retaliate upon her, for reasons which we have already
explained to our readers; it was, therefore, clear to him, that
Smallbones was the party upon whom his indignation could be the most
safely vented: and, moreover, that in so doing, he was only paying off a
long accumulating debt of hatred and ill-will. But, at the same time, Mr
Vanslyperken had made up his mind that a lad who could be floated out to
the Nab buoy and back again without sinking--who could have a bullet
through his head without a mark remaining--and who could swallow a whole
twopenny-worth of arsenic without feeling more than a twinge in his
stomach, was not so very easy to be made away with. That the corporal's
vision was no fiction, was evident--the lad was not to be hurt by mortal
man; but although the widow's arsenic had failed, Mr Vanslyperken, in
his superstition, accounted for it on the grounds that the woman was not
the active agent on the occasion, having only prepared the herring, it
not having been received from her hands by Smallbones. The reader may
recollect that, in the last interview between Vanslyperken and his
mother, the latter had thrown out hints that if she took Smallbones in
hand he would not have such miraculous escapes as he had had, as, in all
she undertook, she did her business thoroughly. Bearing this in mind, Mr
Vanslyperken went to