which was not
his custom, and see if they would attempt to come in. He did so, the
corporal was dismissed, and at twelve o'clock his door was tried and
tried again; but being fast, the party retreated. Vanslyperken waited
till two bells to ascertain if any more attempts would be made; but none
were, so he rose from his bed, where he had thrown himself with his
clothes on, and, opening the door softly, crept upon deck. The night was
very warm, but there was a light and increasing breeze, and the cutter
was standing in and close to the shore to make a long board upon next
tack. Vanslyperken passed the man at the helm, and walked aft to the
taffrail; he stood up on the choak to ascertain what way she was making
through the water, and he was meditating upon the best method of
proceeding. Had he known where Smallbones' hammock was hung, he would
have gone down with the view of ascertaining the fact; but with a crew
so evidently opposed to him, he could not see how even the ascertaining
that Smallbones was on board, would be productive of any good
consequences. The more Vanslyperken thought, the more he was puzzled.
The fact is, that he was between the horns of a dilemma; but the devil,
who always helps his favourites, came to the aid of Mr Vanslyperken. The
small boat was, as usual, hoisted up astern, and Mr Vanslyperken's eyes
were accidentally cast upon it. He perceived a black mass lying on the
thwarts, and he examined it more closely: he heard snoring; it was one
of the ship's company sleeping there against orders. He leant over the
taffrail, and putting aside the great-coat which covered the party, he
looked attentively on the face--there was no doubt it was Smallbones
himself. From a knowledge of the premises, Vanslyperken knew at once
that the lad was in his power.

The boat, after being hauled up with tackles, was hung by a single rope
at each davit. It was very broad in proportion to its length, and was
secured from motion by a single gripe, which confined it in its place,
bowsing it close to the stern of the cutter, and preventing it from
turning over bottom up, which, upon the least weight upon one gunnel or
the other, would be inevitably the case. Smallbones was lying close to
the gunnel next to the stern of the cutter. By letting go the gripe,
therefore, the boat would immediately turn bottom up, and Smallbones
would be dropped into the sea. Vanslyperken carefully examined the
fastenings of the gripe, found tha