We will be just and candid in our opinion relative to the historical
facts which we are now narrating. Party spirit, and various other
feelings, independent of misrepresentation, do, at the time, induce
people to form their judgment, to say the best, harshly, and but too
often incorrectly. It is for posterity to calmly weigh the evidence
handed down, and to examine into the merits of a case divested of party
bias. Actuated by these feelings, we do not hesitate to assert, that,
in the point at question, Mr Vanslyperken had great cause for being
displeased; and that the conduct of Moggy Salisbury, in cutting off the
tail of Snarleyyow, was, in our opinion, not justifiable.
There is a respect for property, inculcated and protected by the law,
which should never be departed from; and, whatever may have been the
aggressions on the part of Mr Vanslyperken, or of the dog, still a tail
is a tail, and whether mangy or not, is _bona fide_ a part of the living
body; and this aggression must inevitably come under the head of the
cutting and maiming act, which act, however, it must, with the same
candour which will ever guide our pen, be acknowledged, was not passed
until a much later period than that to the history of which our
narrative refers.
Having thus, with all deference, offered our humble opinion, we shall
revert to facts. Mr Vanslyperken went on shore, with the dog's tail in
his pocket. He walked with rapid strides towards the half-way houses,
in one of which was the room tenanted by his aged mother; for, to whom
else could he apply for consolation in this case of severe distress?
That it was Moggy Salisbury who gave the cruel blow, was a fact
completely substantiated by evidence; but that it was Smallbones who
held the dog, and who thereby became a participator, and therefore
equally culpable, was a surmise to which the insinuations of the
corporal had given all the authority of direct evidence. And, as Mr
Vanslyperken felt that Moggy was not only out of his power, but even if
in his power, that he dare not retaliate upon her, for reasons which we
have already explained to our readers; it was, therefore, clear to him,
that Smallbones was the party upon whom his indignation could be the
most safely vented; and, moreover, that in so doing, he was only paying
off a long accumulating debt of hatred and ill-will. But, at the same
time, Mr Vanslyperken had made up his mind that a lad who could be
floated out to the Nab buoy and back again without sinking--who could
have a bullet through his head without a mark remaining--and who could
swallow a whole twopenny-worth of arsenic without feeling more than a
twinge in his stomach, was not so very easy to be made away with. That
the corporal's vision was no fiction, was evident--the lad was not to be
hurt by mortal man; but although the widow's arsenic had failed, Mr
Vanslyperken, in his superstition, accounted for it on the grounds that
the woman was not the active agent on the occasion, having only prepared
the herring, it not having been received from her hands by Smallbones.
The reader may recollect that, in the last interview between
Vanslyperken and his mother, the latter had thrown out hints that if she
took Smallbones in hand he would not have such miraculous escapes as he
had had, as, in all she undertook, she did her business thoroughly.
Bearing this in mind, Mr Vanslyperken went to pour forth his sorrows,
and to obtain the assistance of his much-to-be-respected and venerable
mother.
"Well, child, what is it--is it money you bring?" cried the old woman,
when Vanslyperken entered the room.
"No, mother," replied Vanslyperken, throwing himself on the only chair
in the room, except the one with the legs cut off half-way up, upon
which his mother was accustomed to rock herself before the grate.
"No, mother; but I have brought something--and I come to you for advice
and assistance."
"Brought no money--yet brought something!--well, child, what have you
brought?"
"This!" exclaimed Vanslyperken, throwing the dog's tail down upon the
table.
"This!" repeated the old beldame, lifting up the tail, and examining it
as well as she could, as the vibration of her palsied members were
communicated to the article--"and pray, child, what is this?"
"Are you blind, old woman," replied Vanslyperken in wrath, "not to
perceive that it is my poor dog's tail?"
"Blind old woman! and dog's tail, eh! Blind old woman, eh! Mr
Cornelius, you dare to call me a blind old woman, and to bring here the
mangy tail of a dog--and to lay it on my table! Is this your duty,
sirrah? How dare you take such liberties? There, sir," cried the hag
in a rage, catching hold of the tail, and sending it flying out of the
casement, which was open--"there, sir--and now you may follow your tail.
D'ye hear?--leave the room instantly, or I'll cleave your craven skull.
Blind old woman, forsooth--undutiful child--"
Vanslyperken, in spite of his mother's indignation, could not prevent
his eyes from following the tail of his dog, as it sailed through the
ambient air surrounding the half-way houses, and was glad to observe it
landed among some cabbage-leaves thrown into the road, without
attracting notice. Satisfied that he should regain his treasure when he
quitted the house, he now turned round to deprecate his mother's wrath,
who had not yet completed the sentence which we have quoted above.
"I supplicate your pardon, my dear mother," said Vanslyperken, who felt
that in her present humour he was not likely to gain the point with her
that he had in contemplation. "I was so vexed--so irritated--that I
knew not what I was saying."
"Blind old woman, indeed!" repeated the beldame.
"I again beg you to forgive me, dearest mother," continued Vanslyperken.
"All about a dog's tail cut off. Better off than on--so much the less
mange on the snarling cur."
This was touching up Vanslyperken on the raw; but he had a great object
in view, and he restrained his feelings.
"I was wrong, mother--very wrong--but I have done all I can, I have
begged your pardon. I came here for your advice and assistance."
"What advice or assistance can you expect from a blind old woman?"
retorted the old hag. "And what advice or assistance does so undutiful
a child deserve?"
It was some time before the ruffled temper of the beldame could be
appeased: at last, Vanslyperken succeeded. He then entered into a
detail of all that had passed, and concluded by observing, "that as
Smallbones was not to be injured by mortal man, he had come to her for
assistance."
"That is to say--you have come to me to ask me to knock the lad's brains
out--to take away his life--to murder him, in fact. Say, Cornelius, is
it not so?"
"It is exactly so, my dearest mother. I know your courage--your--"
"Yes, yes, I understand all that: but, now hear me, child. There are
deeds which are done, and which I have done, but those deeds are only
done upon strong impulses. Murder is one; but people murder for two
reasons only--for revenge and for gold. People don't do such acts as
are to torture their minds here, and perhaps be punished hereafter--that
is, if there be one, child. I say, people don't do such deeds as these,
merely because a graceless son comes to them, and says, `If you please,
mother.' Do you understand that, child? I've blood enough on my hands
already--good blood, too--they are not defiled with the scum of a parish
boy, nor shall they be, without--"
"Without what, mother?"
"Have I not told you, Cornelius, that there are but two great
excitements--revenge and gold? I have no revenge against the lad. If
you have--if you consider that a dog's tail demands a human victim--well
and good--do the deed yourself."
"I would," cried Vanslyperken, "but I have tried in vain. It must be
done by woman."
"Then hear me, Cornelius; if it must be done by woman, you must find a
woman to do it, and you must pay her for the deed. Murder is at a high
price. You apply to me--I am content to do the deed; but I must have
gold--and plenty too."
Vanslyperken paused before he replied. The old woman had charge of all
his money--she was on the verge of the grave--for what could she require
his gold?--could she be so foolish?--it was insanity. Vanslyperken was
right--it was insanity, for avarice is no better.
"Do you mean, mother," replied Vanslyperken, "that you want gold from
me?"
"From whom else?" demanded the old woman, sharply.
"Take it, then, mother--take as many pieces as you please."
"I must have all that there is in that chest, Cornelius."
"All, mother?"
"Yes, all; and what is it, after all? What price is too high for blood
which calls for retribution? Besides, Cornelius, it must be all yours
again when I die; but I shall not die yet--no, no."
"Well, mother," replied Vanslyperken, "if it must be so, it shall all be
yours--not that I can see what difference it makes, whether it is called
yours or mine."
"Then why not give it freely? Why do you hesitate to give to your poor
old mother what may be again yours before the leaf again falls? Ask
yourself why, Cornelius, and then you have my answer. The gold is here
in my charge, but it is not _my_ gold--it is yours. You little think
how often I've laid in bed and longed that it was all _mine_. Then I
would count it--count it again and again--watch over it, not as I do
now, as a mere deposit in my charge, but as a mother would watch and
smile upon her first-born child. There is a talisman in that word
_mine_, that not approaching _death_ can wean from _life_. It is our
natures, child--say, then, is all that gold _mine_?"
Vanslyperken paused; he also felt the magic of the word; and although it
was but a nominal and temporary divestment of the property, even that
gave him a severe struggle; but his avarice was overcome by his feelings
of revenge, and he answered solemnly, "As I hope for revenge, mother,
all that gold is _yours_, provided that you do the deed."
Here the old hag burst into a sort of shrieking laugh. "Send him here
child;" and the almost unearthly cachinnation was continued--"send him
here, child--I can't go to seek him--and it is done--only bring him
here."
So soon as this compact had been completed, Vanslyperken and his mother
had a consultation; and it was agreed, that it would be advisable not to
attempt the deed until the day before the cutter sailed, as it would
remove all suspicion, and be supposed that the boy had deserted. This
arrangement having been made, Vanslyperken made rather a hasty retreat.
The fact was, that he was anxious to recover the fragment of Snarleyyow
which his mother had so contemptuously thrown out of the casement.