Snarleyyow | Page 7

danced. Discovering that the
comfortably fat landlady was also very comfortably rich, Mr Vanslyperken had made
advances, with the hope of obtaining her hand and handling her money. The widow had,
however, no idea of accepting the offer, but was too wise to give him a decided refusal,
as she knew it would be attended with his preventing the crew of the cutter from
frequenting her house, and, thereby, losing much custom. Thus did she, at every return,
receive him kindly and give him hopes, but nothing more. Since the peace, as we before
observed, the cutter had been ordered for the prevention of smuggling.
[Footnote 1: Pleasure House.]
When and how Mr Vanslyperken had picked up his favourite Snarleyyow cannot be
discovered, and must remain a secret. The men said that the dog had appeared on the
deck of the cutter in a supernatural way, and most of them looked upon him with as much
awe as ill-will.
This is certain, that the cutter had been a little while before in a state of mutiny, and a
forcible entry attempted at night into the lieutenant's cabin. It is therefore not
unreasonable to suppose that Vanslyperken felt that a good watch-dog might be a very

useful appendage to his establishment, and had procured one accordingly. All the
affection he ever showed to anything living was certainly concentrated on this one animal,
and, next to his money, Snarleyyow had possession of his master's heart.
Poor Smallbones, cast on the world without father or mother, had become starved before
he was on board the cutter, and had been starved ever since. As the reader will perceive,
his allowance was mostly eaten up by the dog, and he was left to beg a precarious support
from the good-will and charity of his shipmates, all of whom were equally disgusted with
the commander's cruelty and the ungainly temper of his brute companion.
Having entered into this retrospect for the benefit of the reader, we will now proceed.
Mr Vanslyperken walked the deck for nearly a quarter of an hour without speaking: the
men had finished their breakfasts, and were lounging about the deck, for there was
nothing for them to do, except to look out for the return of the two boats which had been
sent away the night before. The lieutenant's thoughts were, at one minute, upon Mrs
Vandersloosh, thinking how he could persuade her, and, at another, upon Smallbones,
thinking how he could render the punishment adequate, in his opinion, to the magnitude
of the offence. While discussing these two important matters, one of the men reported the
boats ahead, and broke up the commander's reverie.
"How far off?" demanded Mr Vanslyperken.
"About two miles."
"Pulling or sailing?"
"Pulling, sir; we stand right for them."
But Mr Vanslyperken was in no pleasant humour, and ordered the cutter to be hove-to.
"I tink de men have pull enough all night," said Jansen, who had just been relieved at the
wheel, to Obadiah Coble, who was standing by him on the forecastle.
"I think so too: but there'll be a breeze, depend upon it--never mind, the devil will have
his own all in good time."
"Got for dam," said Jansen, looking at Beachy Head, and shaking his own.
"Why, what's the matter now, old Schnapps?" said Coble.
"Schnapps--yes--the tyfel--Schnapps, I think how the French schnapped us Dutchmen
here when you Englishmen wouldn't fight."
"Mind what you say, old twenty breeches--wouldn't fight--when wouldn't we fight?"
"Here, where we were now, by Got, you leave us all in the lurch, and not come down."
"Why, we couldn't come down."

"Bah!" replied Jansen, who referred to the defeat of the combined Dutch and English
fleet by the French off Beachy Head in 1690.
"We wouldn't fight, heh?" exclaimed Obadiah in scorn, "what do you say to the Hogue?"
"Yes, den you fought well--dat was good."
"And shall I tell you why we fought well at the Hogue--you Dutch porpoise--just because
we had no Dutchmen to help us."
"And shall I tell you why the Dutch were beat off this Head?--because the English
wouldn't come down to help us."
Here Obadiah put his tongue into his right cheek. Jansen in return threw his into his left,
and thus the argument was finished. These disputes were constant at the time, but seldom
proceeded further than words-- certainly not between Coble and Jansen, who were great
friends.
The boats were soon on board; from the time that the cutter had been hove-to, every
stroke of their oars having been accompanied with a nautical anathema from the crews
upon the head of their commander. The steersman and first officer, who had charge of the
boats, came over the gangway and went up to Vanslyperken. He was a thickset, stout man,
about five feet