The state of Mr Vanslyperken during the remainder of that night was
pitiable, but we must leave the reader to suppose, rather than attempt
to describe it.
In the morning the corporal came in, and after asking after his
superior's health, informed him that Smallbones had come on board, that
the lad said that the robbers had fired a pistol at him, and then
knocked him down with the butt end of it, and that he had escaped but
with the loss of the bag.
This was a great relief to the mind of Mr Vanslyperken, who had imagined
that he had been visited by the ghost of Smallbones during the night: he
expressed himself glad at his return, and a wish to be left alone, upon
which the corporal retired. As soon as Vanslyperken found out that
Smallbones was still alive, his desire to kill him returned; although,
when he supposed him dead, he would, to escape from his own feelings,
have resuscitated him. One chief idea now whirled in his brain, which
was, that the lad must have a charmed life; he had floated out to the
Nab buoy and back again, and now he had had a pistol-bullet passed
through his skull without injury.
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