Chapter XIV
In which some new characters appear on the stage, although the corporal is not to be heard of
The loss of the boat was reported by Obadiah Coble at daylight, and Mr Vanslyperken immediately went on deck with his spy-glass to ascertain if he could distinguish the corporal coming down with the last of the ebb-tide but he was nowhere to be seen. Mr Vanslyperken went to the mast-head and surveyed in every direction, but he could neither see anything like the boat or Corporal Van Spitter. His anxiety betrayed to the men that he was a party to the corporal's proceedings, and they whispered among themselves. At last Mr Vanslyperken came down on deck, and desired Corporal Van Spitter to be sent to him. Of course, it was soon reported to him that Corporal Van Spitter was nowhere to be found, and Mr Vanslyperken pretended to be much astonished. As the lieutenant took it for granted that the boat had been swept out with the ebb, he determined to get under weigh in pursuance of his orders, pick up the corporal, if he could find him, and then proceed to Portsmouth, which was the port of his destination. Smallbones attended his master, and was so unusually active that the suspicious Mr Vanslyperken immediately decided that he had had a finger in the business; but he took no notice, resolving in his own mind that Smallbones should some day or another be adrift himself as the corporal was, but with this difference, that there should be no search made after him. As soon as the men had finished their breakfasts, the cutter was got under weigh and proceeded to sea. During the whole day Vanslyperken cruised in the Zuyder Zee looking for the boat, but without success, and at last he unwillingly shaped his course for England, much puzzled and perplexed, as now he had no one to act as his steward to whom he could confide, or by whose arrangements he could continue to defraud the ship's company; and, farther, he was obliged to put off for the present all idea of punishing Jemmy Ducks, for, without the corporal, the marines were afraid to move a step in defiance of the ship's company. The consequence was, that the three days that they were at sea, Mr Vanslyperken confined himself altogether to his cabin, for he was not without some fears for his own safety. On his arrival at Portsmouth, he delivered his letters to the admiral, and received orders to return to his cruising ground after the smugglers as soon as he had replaced his lost boat.
We have observed that Mr Vanslyperken had no relations on this side of the water; but in saying that, we referred to the epoch that he was in the service previous to the accession of King William. Since that, and about a year from the time we are now writing about, he had brought over his mother, whom he had not, till the peace, seen for years, and had established her in a small apartment in that part of the town now known by the name of the Halfway Houses. The old woman lived upon a small pension allowed by the Dutch court, having been employed for many years in a subordinate capacity in the king's household. She was said to have once been handsome, and when young, prodigal of her favours; at present she was a palsied old woman, bent double with age and infirmity, but with all her faculties as complete as if she was in her prime. Nothing could escape her little twinkling bloodshot eyes, or her acute ear; she could scarcely hobble fifty yards, but she kept no servant to assist her, for, like her son, she was avaricious in the extreme. What crime she had committed was not known, but that something lay heavy on her conscience was certain; but if there was guilt, there was no repentance, only fear of future punishment. Cornelius Vanslyperken was her only living child: she had been twice married. The old woman did not appear to be very fond of him, although she treated him still as a child, and executed her parental authority as if he were still in petticoats. Her coming over was a sort of mutual convenience. She had saved money, and Vanslyperken wished to secure that, and also have a home and a person to whom he could trust; and she was so abhorred, and the reports against her so shocking where she resided, that she was glad to leave a place where every one, as she passed, would get out of her way, as if to avoid contamination. Yet these reports were vague, although hinting at some horrid and appalling crimes. No one knew what they exactly were, for the old woman had outlived her contemporaries, and the tradition was imperfect, but she had been handed down to the next generation as one to be avoided as a basilisk.
It was to his mother's abode, one room on the second floor, to which Mr Vanslyperken proceeded as soon as he had taken the necessary steps for the replacing of the boat. As he ascended the stairs, the quick ear of the old woman heard his footstep, and recognised it. It must be observed, that all the conversation between Vanslyperken and his mother was carried on in Dutch, of which we, of course, give the translation.
"There you come, Cornelius Vanslyperken; I hear you, and by your hurried tread you are vexed. Well, why should you not be vexed as well as your mother, in this world of devils?"
This was a soliloquy of the old woman's before that Vanslyperken had entered the room, where he found his mother sitting over a few cinders half ignited in a very small grate. Parsimony would not allow her to use more fuel, although her limbs trembled as much from cold as palsy; her nose and chin nearly met; her lips were like old scars, and of an ashy white; and her sunken hollow mouth reminded you of a small, deep, dark sepulchre; teeth she had none.
"How fare you, mother?" said Vanslyperken on entering the room.
"I'm alive."
"And long may you live, dear mother."
"Ah," replied the woman, as if doubting.
"I am here but for a short time," continued Vanslyperken.
"Well, child, so much the better; when on board you save money, on shore you must spend some. Have you brought any with you?"
"I have, mother, which I must leave to your care."
"Give it me then."
Vanslyperken pulled out a bag and laid it on the lap of his mother, whose trembling hands counted it over.
"Gold, and good gold–while you live, my child, part not with gold. I'll not die yet–no, no, the devils may pull at me, and grin at me, but I'm not theirs yet."
Here the old woman paused, and rocked herself in her chair.
"Cornelius, lock this money up and give me the key:–there, now that is safe, you may talk, if you please, child: I can hear well enough."
Vanslyperken obeyed; he mentioned all the events of the last cruise, and his feelings against the widow, Smallbones, and Jemmy Ducks. The old woman never interrupted him, but sat with her arms folded up in her apron.
"Just so, just so," said she, at last, when he had done speaking; "I felt the same, but then you have not the soul to act as I did. I could do it, but you–you are a coward; no one dared cross my path, or if they did–ah, well, that's years ago, and I'm not dead yet."
All this was muttered by the old woman in a sort of half soliloquy: she paused and continued, "Better leave the boy alone,–get nothing by it;–the woman–there's work there, for there's money."
"But she refuses, mother, if I do not destroy the dog."
"Refuses–ah, well–let me see:–can't you ruin her character, blast her reputation; she is yours and her money too;–then, then–there will be money and revenge–both good;–but money–no–yes, money's best. The dog must live, to gnaw the Jezebel–gnaw her bones–but you, you are a coward–you dare do nothing."
"What do I fear, mother?"
"Man–the gallows, and death. I fear the last, but I shall not die yet:–no, no, I will live–I will not die. Ay, the corporal–lost in Zuyder Zee–dead men tell no tales; and he could tell many of you, my child. Let the fish fatten on him."
"I cannot do without him, mother."
"A hundred thousand devils!" exclaimed the old mother, "that I should have suffered such throes for a craven. Cornelius Vanslyperken, you are not like your mother:–your father, indeed"
"Who was my father?"
"Silence, child,–there, go away–I wish to be alone with memory."
Vanslyperken, who knew that resistance or remonstrance would be useless, and only lead to bitter cursing and imprecation on the part of the old woman, rose and walked back to the sallyport, where he slipped into his boat and pulled on board of the Yungfrau, which lay at anchor in the harbour, about a cable's length from the shore.
"Here he comes," cried a tall bony woman, with nothing on her head but a cap with green faded ribbons, who was standing on the forecastle of the cutter. "Here he comes;–he, the willain, as would have flogged my Jemmy." This was the wife of Jemmy Ducks, who lived at Portsmouth, and who, having heard what had taken place, vowed revenge.
"Silence, Moggy," said Jemmy, who was standing by her.
"Yes, I'll hold my tongue till the time comes, and then I'll sarve him out, the cheating wagabond."
"Silence, Moggy."
"And as for that 'peaching old Corporal Blubber, I'll Wan Spitter him if ever he turns up again to blow the gaff against my own dear Jemmy."
"Silence, Moggy–there's rowed of all, and a marine at your elbow."
"Let him take that for his trouble," cried Moggy, turning round, and delivering a swinging box of the ear upon the astonished marine, who not liking to encounter such an Amazon, made a hasty retreat down the fore-hatchway.
"So there you are, are you?" continued Moggy, as Vanslyperken stepped on the deck.
"Silence, Moggy."
"You, that would flog my own dear darling duck–my own Jemmy."
"Silence! Moggy, will you?" said Jemmy Ducks, in an angry tone, "or I'll smash your peepers."
"You must climb on the gun to reach them, my little man," replied his wife. "Well, the more I holds my tongue now, the more for him when I gets hold on him. Oh! he's gone to his cabin, has he, to kiss his Snarleyyow:–I'll make smallbones of that beast afore I'm done with him. Flog my Jemmy–my own, dear, darling Jemmy–a nasty lean–"
"Go down below, Moggy," said Jemmy Ducks, pushing her towards the hatchway.
"Snivelling, great-coated–"
"Go below," continued Jemmy, shoving her.
"Ferret-eyed, razor-nosed–"
"Go down below, will you?" cried Jemmy, pushing her near to the hatchway.
"Herring-gutted, bare-poled–"
"Confound it! go below."
"Cheating rip of a wagabond! Lord, Jemmy, if you a'n't a shoved me down the hatchway! Well, never mind, my darling, let's go to supper;" and Moggy caught hold of her husband as she was going down, and with surprising strength lifted him off his legs and carried him down in her arms as she would have done a child, much to the amusement of the men who were standing on the forecastle.
When it was dusk, a boat dropped alongside of the cutter, and a man stepped out of it on the deck, when he was met by Obadiah Coble, who asked him, "What's your pleasure?"
"I must speak with the commander of this vessel directly."
"Wait a moment, and I'll tell him what you say," replied Coble, who reported the message to Mr Vanslyperken.
"What sort of a person is he?" demanded the lieutenant.
"Oh, I don't know,–sort of half-bred, long-shore chap–looks something between a bumbailey and a bum-boatman."
"Well, you may show him down."
The man, who shortly after entered the cabin, was a short, punchy little fellow, with a red waistcoat, knee-breeches, and a round jacket of green cloth. His face was covered with carbuncles, some of them so large that his small pug-nose was nothing more in appearance than a larger blotch than the others. His eyes were small and keen, and his whiskers of a deep red. As soon as he entered the cabin, he very deliberately locked the door after him.
"Nothing like making sure," observed he.
"Why, what the devil do you want?" exclaimed Vanslyperken, rather alarmed; while Snarleyyow walked round and round the thick calves of the man's legs, growling, and in more than two minds to have a bite through his blue worsted stockings; and the peculiar obliquity with which he carried his head, now that he surveyed with only one eye, was by no means satisfactory.
"Take your cur away, and let us proceed to business, for there is no time to lose," said the man coolly, taking a chair. "Now there can be no eavesdropping, I trust, for my life may be forfeited, if I'm discovered."
"I cannot understand a word of all this," replied Vanslyperken, much surprised.
"In a few words, do you want to put some five thousand pounds in your pocket?"
At this question Vanslyperken became attentive. He beat off the dog, and took a chair by the side of the stranger.
"Ah! interest will always bring civility; so now to the point. You command this cutter, do you not?"
"I do," replied Vanslyperken.
"Well, you are about to cruise after the smugglers?"
"Yes."
"I can give information of a cargo to be landed on a certain night worth ten thousand pounds or more."
"Indeed!" replied Vanslyperken.
"Yes, and put your boats in such a position that they must seize the whole."
"I'm very much obliged to you. Will you take something, sir, any scheedam?" said Vanslyperken, unlocking one of his cupboards, and producing a large stone bottle, and a couple of glasses, which he filled.
"This is very good stuff," observed the man; "I'll trouble you for another glass."
This was one more than Mr Vanslyperken intended; but on second thoughts, it would make his new acquaintance more communicative, so another was filled, and as soon as it was filled, it was emptied.
"Capital stuff!" said he of the rubicund face, shoving his glass towards Vanslyperken, by way of hint; but the lieutenant would not take the hint, as his new guest had already swallowed as much as lasted himself for a week.
"But now," observed Vanslyperken, "where is this cargo to be seen, and when?"
"That's tellings," replied the man.
"I know that; but you have come to tell, or what the devil else?" replied Vanslyperken, who was getting angry.
"That's according," replied the man.
"According to what?"
"The snacks," replied the man. "What will you give up?"
"Give up! How do you mean?"
"What is my share to be?"
"Share! you can't share–you're not a king's officer."
"No, but I'm an informer, and that's the same thing."
"Well, depend upon it, I'll behave very liberally."
"How much, I ask?"
"We'll see to that afterwards; something handsome, depend upon it."
"That won't do. Wish you good-evening, sir. Many thanks for the scheedam–capital stuff!" and the man rose from his chair.
But Mr Vanslyperken had no intention to let him go; his avarice induced him at first to try if the man would be satisfied with his promise to reward him–a promise which would certainly never have been adhered to.
"Stop! my dear sir, do not be in such a hurry. Take another glass."
"With pleasure," replied the man, re-seating himself, and drinking off the scheedam. "That's really prime; I like it better every time I taste it. Now, then, shall we go to business again? I'll be plain with you. Half is my conditions, or I don't inform."
"Half!" exclaimed Vanslyperken; "half of ten thousand pounds? What, five thousands pounds?"
"Exactly so; half of ten is five, as you say."
"What, give you five thousand pounds?"
"I rather think it is I who offer you five thousand, for the devil a penny will you get without me. And that I will have, and this bond you must sign to that effect, or I'm off. You're not the only vessel in the harbour."
Vanslyperken tried for some time to reduce the terms, but the man was positive. Vanslyperken then tried if he could not make the man intoxicated, and thus obtain better terms; but fifteen glasses of his prime scheedam had no effect further than extorting unqualified praise as it was poured down, and at last Mr Vanslyperken unwillingly consented to the terms, and the bond was signed.
"We must weigh at the ebb," said the man, as he put the bond in his pocket. "I shall stay on board; we have a moonlight night, and if we had not, I could find my way out in a yellow fog. Please to get your boats all ready, manned and armed, for there may be a sharp tussle."
"But when do they run, and where?" demanded Vanslyperken.
"To-morrow night at the back of the Isle. Let me see," continued the man, taking out his watch; "mercy on me! how time has flown–that's the scheedam. In a couple of hours we must weigh. I'll go up and see if the wind holds in the same quarter. If you please, lieutenant, we'll just drink success to the expedition. Well, that's prime stuff, I do declare."
Chapter XV
In which the crew of the Yungfrau lose a good prize, and Snarleyyow loses his character
The next morning the Yungfrau was clear of St Helens, and sounding the eastern part of the Isle of Wight, after which she made sail into the offing, that she might not be suspected by those on shore waiting to receive the cargo. The weather was fine, and the water smooth, and as soon as she was well out, the cutter was hove-to. In the hurry of weighing, Mr Vanslyperken had not thought, or had not known perhaps, that the wife of Jemmy Ducks was still on board, and as he was turning up and down on the quarter-deck, he perceived her on the forecastle, laughing and talking with the men.
"What woman is that?" said he to Jansen, who was at the wheel.
"De frau, mynheer. Dat is de frau of Shimmy Duk."
"How dare she come on board? Send her aft here, marine."
The marine went forward and gave the order; and Jemmy, who expected a breeze, told his wife to behave herself quietly. His advice did not, however, appear to be listened to, as will be shown in the sequel.
"How came you on board, woman?" cried Vanslyperken, looking at her from top to toe several times, as usual, with his hands in his great-coat pockets, and his battered speaking-trumpet under his arm.
"How did I come on board! why, in a boat to be sure," replied Moggy, determined to have a breeze.
"Why did you not go on shore before the cutter sailed?" replied Vanslyperken, in an angry tone.
"Why, just for the contrary reason, because there was no boat."
"Well, I'll just tell you this, if ever I see you on board again, you'll take the consequences," retorted Vanslyperken.
"And I'll just tell you this," replied Moggy; "if ever you come on shore again you shall take the consequences. I'll have you–I give you warning. Flog my Jemmy, heh! my own dear darling Jemmy." Hereupon Moggy held out one arm bent, and with the palm of her other hand slapped her elbow–"There!" cried she.
What Jemmy's wife meant by this sign, it is impossible for us to say; but that it was a very significant one was certain, for Mr Vanslyperken foamed with rage, and all the cutter's crew were tittering and laughing. It was a species of free-masonry known only to the initiated at the Sallyport.
"Send the marines aft here. Take this woman below," cried Vanslyperken. "I shall put all this down to your husband's account, and give him a receipt in full, depend upon it."
"So you may. Marines, keep off, if you don't wish your heads broken; and I'll put all this down to your account; and as you say that you'll pay off on my pet, mark my words, if I don't pay off on yours–on your nasty cur there. I'll send him to cruise after Corporal Van Spitter. As sure as I stand here, if you dare to lay a finger on my Jemmy, I'll kill the brute wherever I find him, and make him into saussingers, just for the pleasure of eating him. I'll send you a pound as a present. You marine, don't be a fool–I can walk forward without your hoffering your arm, and be d–d to you." So saying, Moggy stalked forward and joined the men on the forecastle.
"D'ye know much of that strapping lass?" said Mr Vanslyperken's new acquaintance.
"Not I," replied Vanslyperken, not much pleased at the observation.
"Well, look out for squalls, she'll be as good as her word. We'll draw the foresheet, and stand in now, if you please."
It was about dusk, for the days were now short, and the cutter was eight miles off the land. By the directions of the informer, for we have no other name to give him, they now bore up and ran along the island until they were, by his calculations, for it then was dark, abreast of a certain point close to the Black Gang Chyne. Here they hove-to, hoisted out their boats, three in number, and the men were sent in, well armed with pistols and cutlasses. Short had the charge of one, Coble of the second, the stern-sheets of the third was occupied by Vanslyperken and the informer. As soon as all was ready, Jemmy Ducks, who, much against Vanslyperken's wish, was left in charge of the cutter, received his orders to lie-to where he was, and when the tide made flood, to stand close in-shore; and all was prepared for a start, when it occurred to Vanslyperken that to leave Snarleyyow, after the threat of Jemmy's wife, and the known animosity of Smallbones, would be his death-warrant. He determined, therefore, to take him in the boat. The informer protested against it, but Vanslyperken would not listen to his protestations. The dog was handed into the boat, and they shoved off. After they had pulled a quarter of an hour in-shore, they altered their course, and continued along the coast until the informer had made out exactly where he was. He then desired the other two boats to come alongside, told the crews that they must keep the greatest silence, as where they were about to proceed was directly under where the smugglers would have a party to receive the goods, and that the least alarm would prevent them from making the capture. The boats then pulled in to some large rocks, against which the waves hoarsely murmured, although the sea was still smooth, and passing between them, found themselves in a very small cove, where the water was still, and in which there was deep water.
The cove was not defended so much by the rocks above water, for the mouth of it was wide; but there appeared to be a ridge below, which broke off the swell of the ocean. Neither was it deep, the beach not being more than perhaps fifty feet from the entrance. The boats, which had pulled in with muffled oars, here lay quietly for nearly an hour, when a fog came on and obscured the view of the offing, which otherwise was extensive, as the moon was at her full, and had shone bright.
"This is all the better," whispered the informer, "they will fall into the trap at once. Hark! hist! I hear oars."
They all listened; it was true, the sound of oars was heard, and the men prepared their arms.
The splash of the oars was now more plain. "Be silent and ready," whispered the informer, and the whisper was passed round. In another minute a large lugger-built boat, evidently intended for sailing as well as pulling, was seen through the fog looming still larger from the mist, pulling into the cove.
"Silence, and not a word. Let her pass us," whispered the informer.
The boat approached rapidly–she was within ten fathoms of the entrance, when Snarleyyow, hearing the sound, darted forward under the thwarts, and jumping on the bow of the boat, commenced a most unusual and prolonged baying of Bow wow, bow wow wow wow!
At the barking of the dog the smugglers backed water to stop their way. They knew that there was no dog with those they expected to meet, it was therefore clear that the Philistines were at hand. The dog barked in spite of all attempts to prevent him, and acting upon this timely warning, the lugger-boat pulled short round, just as lights were shown from the cliffs to notify an enemy at hand, for the barking of the dog had not escaped the vigilance of those on shore, and in a few seconds she disappeared in the mist.
"Blast your cur! Five thousand pounds out of my pocket;" exclaimed the informer. "I told you so. Chuck him overboard, my men, for your pockets would have been lined."
Vanslyperken was as savage, and exclaimed, "Give way, my men, give way; we'll have them yet."
"Send a cow to chase a hare," replied the informer, throwing himself back in the stern-sheets of the boat. "I know better; you may save yourself the trouble, and the men the fatigue. May the devil take you, and your cursed dog with you! Who but a fool would have brought a dog upon such an occasion? Well, I've lost five thousand pounds; but there's one comfort, you've lost too. That will be a valuable beast, if you put all down to his account."
At this moment Vanslyperken was so much annoyed at the loss of what would have been a fortune to him, that he felt as angry as the informer. The boats' crew were equally enraged, the dog was pommelled, and kicked, and passed along from one to the other, until he at last gained the stern-sheets, and crouched between the legs of his master, who kicked him away in a rage, and he saved himself under the legs of the informer, who, seizing a pistol, struck him with the butt-end of it such a blow, that nothing but the very thick skull of the dog could have saved him. Snarleyyow was at a sad discount just then, but he very wisely again sought protection with his master, and this time he was not noticed.
"What are we to do now?" observed Vanslyperken.
"Go back again, like dogs with their tails between their legs; but observe, Mr Lieutenant, you have made me your enemy, and that is more serious than you think for."
"Silence, sir, you are in a king's boat."
"The king be d–d," replied the informer, falling back sulkily against the gunnel of the boat.
"Give way, men, and pull on board," said Vanslyperken, in equally bad humour.
In equally bad humour the men did give way, and in about an hour were on board of the cutter.
Every one was in a bad humour when the affair was made known; but Smallbones observed, "that the dog could be no such great friend, as supposed, of Vanslyperken's, to thwart his interests in that way; and certainly no imp sent by the devil to his assistance." The ship's company were consoled with this idea, and Jansen again repeated, "that the tog was but a tog, after all."