"But this Schriften--you cannot well put him ashore at the Cape; being a Company's officer, you might send him home if you found a ship there homeward-bound; still, were I you, I would let destiny work. He is woven in with ours, that is certain. Courage, Philip, and let him remain." "Perhaps you are right, Amine; I may retard, but cannot escape, whatever may be my intended fate." "Let him remain, then, and let him do his worst. Treat him with kindness--who knows what we may gain from him?" "True, true, Amine; he has been my enemy without cause. Who can tell?--perhaps he may become my friend." "And if not, you will have done your duty. Send for him now." "No, not now--to-morrow; in the meantime, I will order him every comfort." "We are talking as if he were one of us, which I feel that he is not," replied Amine; "but still, mundane or not, we cannot but offer mundane kindness, and what this world, or rather what this ship affords. I long now to talk with him, to see if I can produce any effect upon his ice-like frame. Shall I make love to the ghoul?" and Amine burst into a bitter laugh. Here the conversation dropped, but its substance was not disregarded. The next morning, the surgeon having reported that Schriften was apparently quite recovered, he was summoned into the cabin. His frame was wasted away to a skeleton, but his motions and his language were as sharp and petulant as ever. "I have sent for you, Schriften, to know if there is anything that I can do to make you more comfortable. Is there anything that you want?" "Want?" replied Schriften, eyeing first Philip and then Amine.--"He! he! I think I want filling out a little." "That you will, I trust, in good time; my steward has my orders to take care of you." "Poor man," said Amine, with a look of pity, "how much he must have suffered! Is not this the man who brought you the letter from the Company, Philip?" "He! he! yes! Not very welcome, was it, lady?" "No, my good fellow, it's never a welcome message to a wife, that sends her husband away from her. But that was not your fault." "If a husband will go to sea and leave a handsome wife, when he has, as they say, plenty of money to live upon on shore, he! he!" "Yes, indeed, you may well say that," replied Amine. "Better give it up. All folly, all madness--eh, captain?" "I must finish this voyage, at all events," replied Philip to Amine, "whatever I may do afterwards. I have suffered much, and so have you, Schriften. You have been twice wrecked; now tell me what do you wish to do? Go home in the first ship, or go ashore at the Cape--or--" "Or do anything, so I get out of this ship--he! he!" "Not so. If you prefer sailing with me, as I know you are a good seaman, you shall have your rating and pay of pilot--that is, if you choose to follow my fortunes." "Follow?--Must follow. Yes! I'll sail with you, Mynheer Vanderdecken, I wish to be always near you--he! he!"