The cork was barely sufficient to support his weight, but it
gave him a certain relief, and time to look about him, as the saying is.
The lad ran under the net and cork with his hands until he arrived at
the nearest shoal, for it was three or four hundred yards long. When he
arrived there, he contrived to bring some of the corks together, until
he had quite sufficient for his support, and then Smallbones voted
himself pretty comfortable after all, for the water was very warm, and
now quite smooth.
Smallbones, as the reader may have observed during the narration, was a
lad of most indisputable courage and of good principles. Had it been his
fortune to have been born among the higher classes, and to have had all
the advantages of education, he might have turned out a hero; as it was,
he did his duty well in that state of life to which he had been called,
and as he said in his speech to the men on the forecastle, he feared
God, honoured the king, and was the natural enemy to the devil.
The Chevalier Bayard was nothing more, only he had a wider field for his
exertions and his talents; but the armed and accoutred Bayard did not
show more courage and conduct when leading armies to victory, than did
the unarmed Smallbones against Vanslyperken and his dog.
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