missed. When, therefore, the decks had been searched everywhere and
the lad was discovered not to be in the ship, the suspicion was very
great. No one had seen him go aft to sleep in the boat. The man who was
at the wheel stated that Mr Vanslyperken had sent him down for a glass
of grog, and had taken the helm for the time; but this proved nothing.
His disappearance was a mystery not to be unravelled. An appeal to Mr
Vanslyperken was, of course, impossible, for he did not know that the
lad was on board. The whole day was spent in surmises and suppositions;
but things all ended in the simple fact, that somehow or another
Smallbones had fallen overboard, and there was an end of the
poor fellow.

So soon as the cutter was at anchor, Mr Vanslyperken hastened to perform
his official duties, and anxious to learn how Smallbones had contrived
to escape the clutches of his mother, bent his steps towards the
half-way houses. He arrived at the door of his mother's room, and
knocked as usual, but there was no reply. It was now the latter end of
July, and although it was past seven o'clock it was full daylight.
Vanslyperken knocked again and again. His mother must be out, he
thought; and if so, she always took the key with her. He had nothing to
do but to wait for her return. The passage and staircase was dark, but
there was a broad light in the room from the casement, and this light
streamed from under the door of the room. A shade crossing the light
attracted Vanslyperken's attention, and to while away the tediousness of
waiting he was curious to see what it was; he knelt down, looked under
the door, and perceived the key which Smallbones had placed there; he
inserted his finger and drew it forth, imagining that his mother had
slid it beneath till her return.

He fitted it to the lock and opened the door, when his olfactory nerves
were offended with a dreadful stench, which surprised him the more as
the casement was open. Vanslyperken surveyed the room, he perceived that
the blood had been washed from the floor and sand strewed over it. Had
he not known that Smallbones had been on board of the cutter the day
before, he would have thought that it had been the smell of the dead
body not yet removed. This thought crossing his imagination, immediately
made the truth flash upon him, and, as if instinctively, he went up to
the bed and pulled down the clothes, when he recoiled back with horror
at uncovering the face of his mother, now o