THE GHOST PIRATES

_"Strange as the glimmer of the ghastly light That shines from some vast crest of wave at night. "_

THE GHOST PIRATES

William Hope Hodgson

1909

_To Mary Whalley_

 "Olden memories that shine against death's night-- Quiet stars of sweet enchantments, That are seen In Life's lost distances... "

_The World of Dreams_

Author's Preface

This book forms the last of three. The first published was "_The Boatsof the 'Glen Carrig'_"; the second, "_The House on the Borderland_";this, the third, completes what, perhaps, may be termed a trilogy; for, though very different in scope, each of the three books deals withcertain conceptions that have an elemental kinship. With this book, theauthor believes that he closes the door, so far as he is concerned, on aparticular phase of constructive thought. 

The Hell O! O! Chaunty

Chaunty Man . . Man the capstan, bullies!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o! Ha!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Capstan-bars, you tarry souls!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o! Ha!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Take a turn!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Stand by to fleet!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Stand by to surge!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Ha!--o-o-o-o!Men . . . . . . TRAMP! And away we go!Chaunty Man . . Hark to the tramp of the bearded shellbacks!Men . . . . . . Hush! O hear 'em tramp!Chaunty Man . . Tramping, stamping-- treading, vamping, While the cable comes in ramping. Men . . . . . . Hark! O hear 'em stamp!Chaunty Man . . Surge when it rides! Surge when it rides! Round-o-o-o handsome as it slacks!Men . . . . . . Ha!-o-o-o-o! hear 'em ramp! Ha!-oo-o-o! hear 'em stamp! Ha!-o-o-o-o-oo! Ha!-o-o-o-o-o-o!Chorus . . . . They're shouting now; oh! hear 'em A-bellow as they stamp:-- Ha!-o-o-o! Ha!-o-o-o! Ha!-o-o-o! A-shouting as they tramp!Chaunty Man . . O hark to the haunting chorus of the capstan and the bars! Chaunty-o-o-o and rattle crash-- Bash against the stars!Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o-o! Tramp and go! Ha-a!-o-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Hear the pawls a-ranting: with the bearded men a-chaunting; While the brazen dome above 'em Bellows back the 'bars. 'Men . . . . . . Hear and hark! O hear 'em! Ha-a!-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Hurling songs towards the heavens--!Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Hush! O hear 'em! Hark! O hear 'em! Hurling oaths among their spars!Men . . . . . . Hark! O hear 'em! Hush! O hear 'em!Chaunty Man . . Tramping round between the bars!Chorus . . . . They're shouting now; oh! hear A-bellow as they stamp:-- Ha-a!-o-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o-o! A-shouting as they tramp!Chaunty Man . . O do you hear the capstan-chaunty! Thunder round the pawls!Men . . . . . . Click a-clack, a-clatter Surge! And scatter bawls!Chaunty Man . . Click-a-clack, my bonny boys, while it comes in handsome!Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Hear 'em clack!Chaunty Man . . Ha-a!-o-o! Click-a-clack!Men . . . . . . Hush! O hear 'em pant! Hark! O hear 'em rant!Chaunty Man . . Click, a-clitter, clicker-clack. Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Tramp and go!Chaunty Man . . Surge! And keep away the slack!Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Away the slack: Ha-a!-o-o! Click-a-clackChaunty Man . . Bustle now each jolly Jack. Surging easy! Surging e-a-s-y!!Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Surging easyChaunty Man . . Click-a-clatter-- Surge; and steady! Man the stopper there! All ready?Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Click-a-clack, my bouncing boys:Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Tramp and go!Chaunty Man . . Lift the pawls, and come back easy. Men . . . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Steady-o-o-o-o!Chaunty Man . . Vast the chaunty! Vast the capstan! Drop the pawls! Be-l-a-y!Chorus . . . . Ha-a!-o-o! Unship the bars! Ha-a!-o-o! Tramp and go! Ha-a!-o-o! Shoulder bars! Ha-a!-o-o! And away we blow! Ha-a!-o-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o-o-o! Ha-a!-o-o-o-o-o!

I

_The Figure Out of the Sea_

He began without any circumlocution. 

I joined the _Mortzestus_ in 'Frisco. I heard before I signed on, thatthere were some funny yarns floating round about her; but I was prettynearly on the beach, and too jolly anxious to get away, to worry abouttrifles. Besides, by all accounts, she was right enough so far as gruband treatment went. When I asked fellows to give it a name, theygenerally could not. All they could tell me, was that she was unlucky, and made thundering long passages, and had no more than a fair share ofdirty weather. Also, that she had twice had the sticks blown out of her, and her cargo shifted. Besides all these, a heap of other things thatmight happen to any packet, and would not be comfortable to run into. Still, they were the ordinary things, and I was willing enough to riskthem, to get home. All the same, if I had been given the chance, Ishould have shipped in some other vessel as a matter of preference. 

When I took my bag down, I found that they had signed on the rest of thecrowd. You see, the "home lot" cleared out when they got into 'Frisco, that is, all except one young fellow, a cockney, who had stuck by theship in port. He told me afterwards, when I got to know him, that heintended to draw a pay-day out of her, whether any one else did, or not. 

The first night I was in her, I found that it was common talk among theother fellows, that there was something queer about the ship. They spokeof her as if it were an accepted fact that she was haunted; yet they alltreated the matter as a joke; all, that is, except the young cockney--Williams--who, instead of laughing at their jests on the subject, seemedto take the whole matter seriously. 

This made me rather curious. I began to wonder whether there was, afterall, some truth underlying the vague stories I had heard; and I took thefirst opportunity to ask him whether he had any reasons for believingthat there was anything in the yarns about the ship. 

At first he was inclined to be a bit offish; but, presently, he cameround, and told me that he did not know of any particular incident whichcould be called unusual in the sense in which I meant. Yet that, at thesame time, there were lots of little things which, if you put themtogether, made you think a bit. For instance, she always made such longpassages and had so much dirty weather--nothing but that and calms andhead winds. Then, other things happened; sails that he knew, himself, had been properly stowed, were always blowing adrift _at night_. Andthen he said a thing that surprised me. 

"There's too many bloomin' shadders about this 'ere packet; they getsonter yer nerves like nothin' as ever I seen before in me nat'ral. "

He blurted it all out in a heap, and I turned round and looked at him. 

"Too many shadows!" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" But he refusedto explain himself or tell me anything further--just shook his head, stupidly, when I questioned him. He seemed to have taken a sudden, sulkyfit. I felt certain that he was acting dense, purposely. I believe thetruth of the matter is that he was, in a way, ashamed of having lethimself go like he had, in speaking out his thoughts about "shadders. "That type of man may think things at times; but he doesn't often putthem into words. Anyhow, I saw it was no use asking any furtherquestions; so I let the matter drop there. Yet, for several daysafterwards, I caught myself wondering, at times, what the fellow hadmeant by "shadders. "

We left 'Frisco next day, with a fine, fair wind, that seemed a bit likeputting the stopper on the yarns I had heard about the ship's ill luck. And yet--

He hesitated a moment, and then went on again. 

For the first couple of weeks out, nothing unusual happened, and thewind still held fair. I began to feel that I had been rather lucky, after all, in the packet into which I had been shunted. Most of theother fellows gave her a good name, and there was a pretty generalopinion growing among the crowd, that it was all a silly yarn about herbeing haunted. And then, just when I was settling down to things, something happened that opened my eyes no end. 

It was in the eight to twelve watch, and I was sitting on the steps, onthe starboard side, leading up to the fo'cas'le head. The night was fineand there was a splendid moon. Away aft, I heard the timekeeper strikefour bells, and the look-out, an old fellow named Jaskett, answered him. As he let go the bell lanyard, he caught sight of me, where I satquietly, smoking. He leant over the rail, and looked down at me. 

"That you, Jessop?" he asked. 

"I believe it is, " I replied. 

"We'd 'ave our gran'mothers an' all the rest of our petticoatedrelash'ns comin' to sea, if 'twere always like this, " he remarked, reflectively--indicating, with a sweep of his pipe and hand, thecalmness of the sea and sky. 

I saw no reason for denying that, and he continued:

"If this ole packet is 'aunted, as some on 'em seems to think, well allas I can say is, let me 'ave the luck to tumble across another of thesame sort. Good grub, an' duff fer Sundays, an' a decent crowd of 'emaft, an' everythin' comfertable like, so as yer can feel yer knows whereyer are. As fer 'er bein' 'aunted, that's all 'ellish nonsense. I'vecomed 'cross lots of 'em before as was said to be 'aunted, an' so someon 'em was; but 'twasn't with ghostesses. One packet I was in, they wasthat bad yer couldn't sleep a wink in yer watch below, until yer'd 'adevery stitch out yer bunk an' 'ad a reg'lar 'unt. Sometimes--" At thatmoment, the relief, one of the ordinary seamen, went up the other ladderon to the fo'cas'le head, and the old chap turned to ask him "Why the'ell" he'd not relieved him a bit smarter. The ordinary made some reply;but what it was, I did not catch; for, abruptly, away aft, my rathersleepy gaze had lighted on something altogether extraordinary andoutrageous. It was nothing less than the form of a man stepping inboardover the starboard rail, a little abaft the main rigging. I stood up, and caught at the handrail, and stared. 

Behind me, someone spoke. It was the look-out, who had come down off thefo'cas'le head, on his way aft to report the name of his relief to thesecond mate. 

"What is it, mate?" he asked, curiously, seeing my intent attitude. 

The thing, whatever it was, had disappeared into the shadows on the leeside of the deck. 

"Nothing!" I replied, shortly; for I was too bewildered then, at what myeyes had just shown me, to say any more. I wanted to think. 

The old shellback glanced at me; but only muttered something, and wenton his way aft. 

For a minute, perhaps, I stood there, watching; but could see nothing. Then I walked slowly aft, as far as the after end of the deck house. From there, I could see most of the main deck; but nothing showed, except, of course, the moving shadows of the ropes and spars and sails, as they swung to and fro in the moonlight. 

The old chap who had just come off the look-out, had returned forrardagain, and I was alone on that part of the deck. And then, all at once, as I stood peering into the shadows to leeward, I remembered whatWilliams had said about there being too many "shadders. " I had beenpuzzled to understand his real meaning, then. I had no difficulty _now_. There _were_ too many shadows. Yet, shadows or no shadows, I realisedthat for my own peace of mind, I must settle, once and for all, whetherthe thing I had seemed to see stepping aboard out of the ocean, had beena reality, or simply a phantom, as you might say, of my imagination. Myreason said it was nothing more than imagination, a rapid dream--I musthave dozed; but something deeper than reason told me that this was notso. I put it to the test, and went straight in amongst the shadows--There was nothing. 

I grew bolder. My common sense told me I must have fancied it all. Iwalked over to the mainmast, and looked behind the pinrail that partlysurrounded it, and down into the shadow of the pumps; but here again wasnothing. Then I went in under the break of the poop. It was darker underthere than out on deck. I looked up both sides of the deck, and saw thatthey were bare of anything such as I looked for. The assurance wascomforting. I glanced at the poop ladders, and remembered that nothingcould have gone up there, without the Second Mate or the Time-keeperseeing it. Then I leant my back up against the bulkshead, and thoughtthe whole matter over, rapidly, sucking at my pipe, and keeping myglance about the deck. I concluded my think, and said "No!" out loud. Then something occurred to me, and I said "Unless--" and went over tothe starboard bulwarks, and looked over and down into the sea; but therewas nothing but sea; and so I turned and made my way forrard. My commonsense had triumphed, and I was convinced that my imagination had beenplaying tricks with me. 

I reached the door on the portside, leading into the fo'cas'le, and wasabout to enter, when something made me look behind. As I did so, I had ashaker. Away aft, a dim, shadowy form stood in the wake of a swayingbelt of moonlight, that swept the deck a bit abaft the main-mast. 

It was the same figure that I had just been attributing to my fancy. Iwill admit that I felt more than startled; I was quite a bit frightened. I was convinced now that it was no mere imaginary thing. It was a humanfigure. And yet, with the flicker of the moonlight and the shadowschasing over it, I was unable to say more than that. Then, as I stoodthere, irresolute and funky, I got the thought that someone was actingthe goat; though for what reason or purpose, I never stopped toconsider. I was glad of any suggestion that my common sense assured mewas not impossible; and, for the moment, I felt quite relieved. Thatside to the question had not presented itself to me before. I began topluck up courage. I accused myself of getting fanciful; otherwise Ishould have tumbled to it earlier. And then, funnily enough, in spite ofall my reasoning, I was still afraid of going aft to discover who thatwas, standing on the lee side of the maindeck. Yet I felt that if Ishirked it, I was only fit to be dumped overboard; and so I went, thoughnot with any great speed, as you can imagine. 

I had gone half the distance, and still the figure remained there, motionless and silent--the moonlight and the shadows playing over itwith each roll of the ship. I think I tried to be surprised. If it wereone of the fellows playing the fool, he must have heard me coming, andwhy didn't he scoot while he had the chance? And where could he havehidden himself, before? All these things, I asked myself, in a rush, with a queer mixture of doubt and belief; and, you know, in themeantime, I was drawing nearer. I had passed the house, and was nottwelve paces distant; when, abruptly, the silent figure made three quickstrides to the port rail, and _climbed over it into the sea_. 

I rushed to the side, and stared over; but nothing met my gaze, exceptthe shadow of the ship, sweeping over the moonlit sea. 

How long I stared down blankly into the water, it would be impossible tosay; certainly for a good minute. I felt blank--just horribly blank. Itwas such a beastly confirmation of the _unnaturalness_ of the thing Ihad concluded to be only a sort of brain fancy. I seemed, for thatlittle time, deprived, you know, of the power of coherent thought. Isuppose I was dazed--mentally stunned, in a way. 

As I have said, a minute or so must have gone, while I had been staringinto the dark of the water under the ship's side. Then, I came suddenlyto my ordinary self. The Second Mate was singing out: "Lee fore brace. "

I went to the braces, like a chap in a dream. 

II

What Tammy the 'Prentice Saw

The next morning, in my watch below, I had a look at the places wherethat strange thing had come aboard, and left the ship; but I foundnothing unusual, and no clue to help me to understand the mystery of thestrange man. 

For several days after that, all went quietly; though I prowled aboutthe decks at night, trying to discover anything fresh that might tend tothrow some light on the matter. I was careful to say nothing to any oneabout the thing I had seen. In any case, I felt sure I should only havebeen laughed at. 

Several nights passed away in this manner, and I was no nearer to anunderstanding of the affair. And then, in the middle watch, somethinghappened. 

It was my wheel. Tammy, one of the first voyage 'prentices, was keepingtime--walking up and down the lee side of the poop. The Second Mate wasforrard, leaning over the break of the poop, smoking. The weather stillcontinued fine, and the moon, though declining, was sufficientlypowerful to make every detail about the poop, stand out distinctly. Three bells had gone, and I'll admit I was feeling sleepy. Indeed, Ibelieve I must have dozed, for the old packet steered very easily, andthere was precious little to do, beyond giving her an odd spoke now andagain. And then, all at once, it seemed to me that I heard someonecalling my name, softly. I could not be certain; and first I glancedforrard to where the Second stood, smoking, and from him, I looked intothe binnacle. The ship's head was right on her course, and I felteasier. Then, suddenly, I heard it again. There was no doubt about itthis time, and I glanced to leeward. There I saw Tammy reaching over thesteering gear, his hand out, in the act of trying to touch my arm. I wasabout to ask him what the devil he wanted, when he held up his fingerfor silence, and pointed forrard along the lee side of the poop. In thedim light, his face showed palely, and he seemed much agitated. For afew seconds, I stared in the direction he indicated, but could seenothing. 

"What is it?" I asked in an undertone, after a couple of moments'further ineffectual peering. "I can't see anything. "

"H'sh!" he muttered, hoarsely, without looking in my direction. Then, all at once, with a quick little gasp, he sprang across the wheel-box, and stood beside me, trembling. His gaze appeared to follow themovements of something I could not see. 

I must say that I was startled. His movement had shown such terror; andthe way he stared to leeward made me think he saw something uncanny. 

"What the deuce is up with you?" I asked, sharply. And then I rememberedthe Second Mate. I glanced forrard to where he lounged. His back wasstill towards us, and he had not seen Tammy. Then I turned to the boy. 

"For goodness sake, get to looard before the Second sees you!" I said. "If you want to say anything, say it across the wheel-box. You've beendreaming. "

Even as I spoke, the little beggar caught at my sleeve with one hand;and, pointing across to the log-reel with the other, screamed: "He'scoming! He's coming----" At this instant, the Second Mate came runningaft, singing out to know what was the matter. Then, suddenly, crouchingunder the rail near the log-reel, I saw something that looked like aman; but so hazy and unreal, that I could scarcely say I saw anything. Yet, like a flash, my thoughts ripped back to the silent figure I hadseen in the flicker of the moonlight, a week earlier. 

The Second Mate reached me, and I pointed, dumbly; and yet, as I did so, it was with the knowledge that _he_ would not be able to see what I saw. (Queer, wasn't it?) And then, almost in a breath, I lost sight of thething, and became aware that Tammy was hugging my knees. 

The Second continued to stare at the log-reel for a brief instant; thenhe turned to me, with a sneer. 

"Been asleep, the pair of you, I suppose!" Then, without waiting for mydenial, he told Tammy to go to hell out of it and stop his noise, orhe'd boot him off the poop. 

After that, he walked forward to the break of the poop, and lit hispipe, again--walking forward and aft every few minutes, and eyeing me, at times, I thought, with a strange, half-doubtful, half-puzzled look. 

Later, as soon as I was relieved, I hurried down to the 'Prentice'sberth. I was anxious to speak to Tammy. There were a dozen questionsthat worried me, and I was in doubt what I ought to do. I found himcrouched on a sea-chest, his knees up to his chin, and his gaze fixed onthe doorway, with a frightened stare. I put my head into the berth, andhe gave a gasp; then he saw who it was, and his face relaxed somethingof its strained expression. 

He said: "Come in, " in a low voice, which he tried to steady; and Istepped over the wash-board, and sat down on a chest, facing him. 

"What was _it?_" he asked; putting his feet down on to the deck, andleaning forward. "For God's sake, tell me what it was!"

His voice had risen, and I put up my hand to warn him. 

"H'sh!" I said. "You'll wake the other fellows. "

He repeated his question, but in a lower tone. I hesitated, beforeanswering him. I felt, all at once, that it might be better to deny allknowledge--to say I hadn't seen anything unusual. I thought quickly, andmade answer on the turn of the moment. 

"What was _what?_" I said. "That's just the thing I've come to ask you. A pretty pair of fools you made of the two of us up on the poop justnow, with your hysterical tomfoolery. "

I concluded my remark in a tone of anger. 

"I didn't!" he answered, in a passionate whisper. "You know I didn't. You know _you_ saw it yourself. You pointed it out to the Second Mate. Isaw you. "

The little beggar was nearly crying between fear, and vexation at myassumed unbelief. 

"Rot!" I replied. "You know jolly well you were sleeping in yourtime-keeping. You dreamed something and woke up suddenly. You were offyour chump. "

I was determined to reassure him, if possible; though, goodness! Iwanted assurance myself. If he had known of that other thing, I had seendown on the maindeck, what then?

"I wasn't asleep, any more than you were, " he said, bitterly. "And youknow it. You're just fooling me. The ship's haunted. "

"What!" I said, sharply. 

"She's haunted, " he said, again. "She's haunted. "

"Who says so?" I inquired, in a tone of unbelief. 

"I do! And you _know_ it. Everybody knows it; but they don't more thanhalf believe it ... I didn't, until tonight. "

"Damned rot!" I answered. "That's all a blooming old shellback's yarn. She's no more haunted than I am. "

"It's not damned rot, " he replied, totally unconvinced. "And it's not anold shellback's yarn ... Why won't you say you saw it?" he cried, growing almost tearfully excited, and raising his voice again. 

I warned him not to wake the sleepers. 

"Why won't you say that you saw it?" he repeated. 

I got up from the chest, and went towards the door. 

"You're a young idiot!" I said. "And I should advise you not to gogassing about like this, round the decks. Take my tip, and turn-in andget a sleep. You're talking dotty. Tomorrow you'll perhaps feel what anunholy ass you've made of yourself. "

I stepped over the washboard, and left him. I believe he followed me tothe door to say something further; but I was half-way forward by then. 

For the next couple of days, I avoided him as much as possible, takingcare never to let him catch me alone. I was determined, if possible, toconvince him that he had been mistaken in supposing that he had seenanything that night. Yet, after all, it was little enough use, as youwill soon see. For, on the night of the second day, there was a furtherextraordinary development, that made denial on my part useless. 

III

The Man up the Main

It occurred in the first watch, just after six bells. I was forward, sitting on the fore-hatch. No one was about the maindeck. The night wasexceedingly fine; and the wind had dropped away almost to nothing, sothat the ship was very quiet. 

Suddenly, I heard the Second Mate's voice--

"In the main-rigging, there! Who's that going aloft?"

I sat up on the hatch, and listened. There succeeded an intense silence. Then the Second's voice came again. He was evidently getting wild. 

"Do you damn well hear me? What the hell are you doing up there? Comedown!"

I rose to my feet, and walked up to wind'ard. From there, I could seethe break of the poop. The Second Mate was standing by the starboardladder. He appeared to be looking up at something that was hidden fromme by the topsails. As I stared, he broke out again:

"Hell and damnation, you blasted sojer, come down when I tell you!"

He stamped on the poop, and repeated his order, savagely. But there wasno answer. I started to walk aft. What had happened? Who had gone aloft?Who would be fool enough to go, without being told? And then, all atonce, a thought came to me. The figure Tammy and I had seen. Had theSecond Mate seen something--someone? I hurried on, and then stopped, suddenly. In the same moment there came the shrill blast of the Second'swhistle; he was whistling for the watch, and I turned and ran to thefo'cas'le to rouse them out. Another minute, and I was hurrying aft withthem to see what was wanted. 

His voice met us half-way:

"Up the main some of you, smartly now, and find out who that damned foolis up there. See what mischief he's up to. "

"i, i, Sir, " several of the men sung out, and a couple jumped into theweather rigging. I joined them, and the rest were proceeding to follow;but the Second shouted for some to go up to leeward--in case the fellowtried to get down that side. 

As I followed the other two aloft, I heard the Second Mate tell Tammy, whose time-keeping it was, to get down on to the maindeck with the other'prentice, and keep an eye on the fore and aft stays. 

"He may try down one of them if he's cornered, " I heard him explain. "Ifyou see anything, just sing out for me, right away. "

Tammy hesitated. 

"Well?" said the Second Mate, sharply. 

"Nothing, Sir, " said Tammy, and went down on to the maindeck. 

The first man to wind'ard had reached the futtock shrouds; his head wasabove the top, and he was taking a preliminary look, before venturinghigher. 

"See anythin', Jock?" asked Plummer, the man next above me. 

"Na'!" said Jock, tersely, and climbed over the top, and so disappearedfrom my sight. 

The fellow ahead of me, followed. He reached the futtock rigging, andstopped to expectorate. I was close at his heels, and he looked down tome. 

"What's up, anyway?" he said. "What's 'e seen? 'oo're we chasin' after?"

I said I didn't know, and he swung up into the topmast rigging. Ifollowed on. The chaps on the lee side were about level with us. Underthe foot of the topsail, I could see Tammy and the other 'prentice downon the maindeck, looking upwards. 

The fellows were a bit excited in a sort of subdued way; though I aminclined to think there was far more curiosity and, perhaps, a certainconsciousness of the strangeness of it all. I know that, looking toleeward, there was a tendancy to keep well together, in which Isympathised. 

"Must be a bloomin' stowaway, " one of the men suggested. 

I grabbed at the idea, instantly. Perhaps--And then, in a moment, Idismissed it. I remembered how that first thing had stepped over therail _into the sea. That_ matter could not be explained in such amanner. With regard to this, I was curious and anxious. I had seennothing this time. What could the Second Mate have seen? I wondered. Were we chasing fancies, or was there really someone--something real, among the shadows above us? My thoughts returned to that thing, Tammyand I had seen near the log-reel. I remembered how incapable the SecondMate had been of seeing anything then. I remembered how natural it hadseemed that he should not be able to see. I caught the word "stowaway"again. After all, that might explain away _this_ affair. It would----

My train of thought was broken suddenly. One of the men was shouting andgesticulating. 

"I sees 'im! I sees 'im!" He was pointing upwards over our heads. 

"Where?" said the man above me. "Where?"

I was looking up, for all that I was worth. I was conscious of a certainsense of relief. "It is _real_ then, " I said to myself. I screwed myhead round, and looked along the yards above us. Yet, still I could seenothing; nothing except shadows and patches of light. 

Down on deck, I caught the Second Mate's voice. 

"Have you got him?" he was shouting. 

"Not yet, Zur, " sung out the lowest man on the lee side. 

"We sees 'im, Sir, " added Quoin. 

"I don't!" I said. 

"There 'e is agen, " he said. 

We had reached the t'gallant rigging, and he was pointing up to theroyal yard. 

"Ye're a fule, Quoin. That's what ye are. "

The voice came from above. It was Jock's, and there was a burst oflaughter at Quoin's expense. 

I could see Jock now. He was standing in the rigging, just below theyard. He had gone straight away up, while the rest of us were mooningover the top. 

"Ye're a fule, Quoin, " he said, again, "And I'm thinking the Second'sjuist as saft. "

He began to descend. 

"Then there's no one?" I asked. 

"Na', " he said, briefly. 

As we reached the deck, the Second Mate ran down off the poop. He cametowards us, with an expectant air. 

"You've got him?" he asked, confidently. 

"There wasn't anyone, " I said. 

"What!" he nearly shouted. "You're hiding something!" he continued, angrily, and glancing from one to another. "Out with it. Who was it?"

"We're hiding nothing, " I replied, speaking for the lot. "There's no oneup there. "

The Second looked round upon us. 

"Am I a fool?" he asked, contemptuously. 

There was an assenting silence. 

"I saw him myself, " he continued. "Tammy, here, saw him. He wasn't overthe top when I first spotted him. There's no mistake about it. It's alldamned rot saying he's not there. "

"Well, he's not, Sir, " I answered. "Jock went right up to the royalyard. "

The Second Mate said nothing, in immediate reply; but went aft a fewsteps and looked up the main. Then he turned to the two 'prentices. 

"Sure you two boys didn't see anyone coming down from the main?" heinquired, suspiciously. 

"Yes, Sir, " they answered together. 

"Anyway, " I heard him mutter to himself, "I'd have spotted him myself, if he had. "

"Have you any idea, Sir, who it was you saw?" I asked, at this juncture. 

He looked at me, keenly. 

"No!" he said. 

He thought for a few moments, while we all stood about in silence, waiting for him to let us go. 

"By the holy poker!" he exclaimed, suddenly. "But I ought to havethought of that before. "

He turned, and eyed us individually. 

"You're all here?" he asked. 

"Yes, Sir, " we said in a chorus. I could see that he was counting us. Then he spoke again. 

"All of you men stay here where you are. Tammy, you go into _your_ placeand see if the other fellows are in their bunks. Then come and tell me. Smartly now!"

The boy went, and he turned to the other 'prentice. 

"You get along forrard to the fo'cas'le, " he said. "Count the otherwatch; then come aft and report to me. "

As the youngster disappeared along the deck to the fo'cas'le, Tammyreturned from his visit to the Glory Hole, to tell the Second Mate thatthe other two 'prentices were sound asleep in their bunks. Whereupon, the Second bundled him off to the Carpenter's and Sailmaker's berth, tosee whether they were turned-in. 

While he was gone, the other boy came aft, and reported that all the menwere in their bunks, and asleep. 

"Sure?" the Second asked him. 

"Quite, Sir, " he answered. 

The Second Mate made a quick gesture. 

"Go and see if the Steward is in his berth, " he said, abruptly. It wasplain to me that he was tremendously puzzled. 

"You've something to learn yet, Mr. Second Mate, " I thought to myself. Then I fell to wondering to what conclusions he would come. 

A few seconds later, Tammy returned to say that the Carpenter, Sailmakerand "Doctor" were all turned-in. 

The Second Mate muttered something, and told him to go down into thesaloon to see whether the First and Third Mates, by any chance, were notin their berths. 

Tammy started off; then halted. 

"Shall I have a look into the Old Man's place, Sir, while I'm downthere?" he inquired. 

"No!" said the Second Mate. "Do what I told you, and then come and tellme. If anyone's to go into the Captain's cabin, it's got to be me. "

Tammy said "i, i, Sir, " and skipped away, up on to the poop. 

While he was gone, the other 'prentice came up to say that the Stewardwas in his berth, and that he wanted to know what the hell he wasfooling round his part of the ship for. 

The Second Mate said nothing, for nearly a minute. Then he turned to us, and told us we might go forrard. 

As we moved off in a body, and talking in undertones, Tammy came downfrom the poop, and went up to the Second Mate. I heard him say that thetwo Mates were in their berths, asleep. Then he added, as if it were anafterthought--

"So's the Old Man. "

"I thought I told you--" the Second Mate began. 

"I didn't, Sir, " Tammy said. "His cabin door was open. "

The Second Mate started to go aft. I caught a fragment of a remark hewas making to Tammy. 

"--accounted for the whole crew. I'm--"

He went up on to the poop. I did not catch the rest. 

I had loitered a moment; now, however, I hurried after the others. As weneared the fo'cas'le, one bell went, and we roused out the other watch, and told them what jinks we had been up to. 

"I rec'on 'e must be rocky, " one of the men remarked. 

"Not 'im, " said another, "'e's bin 'avin' forty winks on the break, an'dreemed 'is mother-en-lore 'ad come on 'er visit, friendly like. "

There was some laughter at this suggestion, and I caught myself smilingalong with the rest; though I had no reason for sharing their belief, that there was nothing in it all. 

"Might 'ave been a stowaway, yer know, " I heard Quoin, the one who hadsuggested it before, remark to one of the A. B's named Stubbins--a short, rather surly-looking chap. 

"Might have been hell!" returned Stubbins. "Stowaways hain't such foolsas all that. "

"I dunno, " said the first. "I wish I 'ad arsked the Second what 'ethought about it. "

"I don't think it was a stowaway, somehow, " I said, chipping in. "Whatwould a stowaway want aloft? I guess he'd be trying more for theSteward's pantry. "

"You bet he would, hevry time, " said Stubbins. He lit his pipe, andsucked at it, slowly. 

"I don't hunderstand it, all ther same, " he remarked, after a moment'ssilence. 

"Neither do I, " I said. And after that I was quiet for a while, listening to the run of conversation on the subject. 

Presently, my glance fell upon Williams, the man who had spoken to meabout "shadders. " He was sitting in his bunk, smoking, and making noeffort to join in the talk. 

I went across to him. 

"What do you think of it, Williams?" I asked. "Do _you_ think the SecondMate really saw anything?"

He looked at me, with a sort of gloomy suspicion; but said nothing. 

I felt a trifle annoyed by his silence; but took care not to show it. After a few moments, I went on. 

"Do you know, Williams, I'm beginning to understand what you meant thatnight, when you said there were too many shadows. "

"Wot yer mean?" he said, pulling his pipe from out of his mouth, andfairly surprised into answering. 

"What I say, of course, " I said. "There _are_ too many shadows. "

He sat up, and leant forward out from his bunk, extending his hand andpipe. His eyes plainly showed his excitement. 

"'ave yer seen--" he hesitated, and looked at me, struggling inwardly toexpress himself. 

"Well?" I prompted. 

For perhaps a minute he tried to say something. Then his expressionaltered suddenly from doubt, and something else more indefinite, to apretty grim look of determination. 

He spoke. 

"I'm blimed, " he said, "ef I don't tike er piy-diy out of 'er, shaddersor no shadders. "

I looked at him, with astonishment. 

"What's it got to do with your getting a pay-day out of her?" I asked. 

He nodded his head, with a sort of stolid resolution. 

"Look 'ere, " he said. 

I waited. 

"Ther crowd cleared"; he indicated with his hand and pipe towards thestern. 

"You mean in 'Frisco?" I said. 

"Yus, " he replied; "'an withart er cent of ther piy. I styied. "

I comprehended him suddenly. 

"You think they saw, " I hesitated; then I said "shadows?"

He nodded; but said nothing. 

"And so they all bunked?"

He nodded again, and began tapping out his pipe on the edge of hisbunk-board. 

"And the officers and the Skipper?" I asked. 

"Fresh uns, " he said, and got out of his bunk; for eight bells wasstriking. 

IV

_The Fooling with the Sail_

It was on the Friday night, that the Second Mate had the watch aloftlooking for the man up the main; and for the next five days little elsewas talked about; though, with the exception of Williams, Tammy andmyself, no one seemed to think of treating the matter seriously. PerhapsI should not exclude Quoin, who still persisted, on every occasion, thatthere was a stowaway aboard. As for the Second Mate, I have very littledoubt _now_, but that he was beginning to realise there was somethingdeeper and less understandable than he had at first dreamed of. Yet, allthe same, I know he had to keep his guesses and half-formed opinionspretty well to himself; for the Old Man and the First Mate chaffed himunmercifully about his "bogy. " This, I got from Tammy, who had heardthem both ragging him during the second dog-watch the following day. There was another thing Tammy told me, that showed how the Second Matebothered about his inability to understand the mysterious appearance anddisappearance of the man he had seen go aloft. He had made Tammy givehim every detail he could remember about the figure we had seen by thelog-reel. What is more, the Second had not even affected to treat thematter lightly, nor as a thing to be sneered at; but had listenedseriously, and asked a great many questions. It is very evident to methat he was reaching out towards the only possible conclusion. Though, goodness knows, it was one that was impossible and improbable enough. 

It was on the Wednesday night, after the five days of talk I havementioned, that there came, to me and to those who _knew_, anotherelement of fear. And yet, I can quite understand that, at _that_ time, those who had seen nothing, would find little to be afraid of, in allthat I am going to tell you. Still, even they were much puzzled andastonished, and perhaps, after all, a little awed. There was so much inthe affair that was inexplicable, and yet again such a lot that wasnatural and commonplace. For, when all is said and done, it was nothingmore than the blowing adrift of one of the sails; yet accompanied bywhat were really significant details--significant, that is, in the lightof that which Tammy and I and the Second Mate knew. 

Seven bells, and then one, had gone in the first watch, and our side wasbeing roused out to relieve the Mate's. Most of the men were already outof their bunks, and sitting about on their sea-chests, getting intotheir togs. 

Suddenly, one of the 'prentices in the other watch, put his head inthrough the doorway on the port side. 

"The Mate wants to know, " he said, "which of you chaps made fast thefore royal, last watch. "

"Wot's 'e want to know that for?" inquired one of the men. 

"The lee side's blowing adrift, " said the 'prentice. "And he says thatthe chap who made it fast is to go up and see to it as soon as the watchis relieved. "

"Oh! does 'e? Well 'twasn't me, any'ow, " replied the man. "You'd betterarsk sum of t'others. "

"Ask what?" inquired Plummer, getting out of his bunk, sleepily. 

The 'prentice repeated his message. 

The man yawned and stretched himself. 

"Let me see, " he muttered, and scratched his head with one hand, whilehe fumbled for his trousers with the other. "'oo made ther fore r'yalfast?" He got into his trousers, and stood up. "Why, ther Or'nary, ercourse; 'oo else do yer suppose?"

"That's all I wanted to know!" said the 'prentice, and went away. 

"Hi! Tom!" Stubbins sung out to the Ordinary. "Wake up, you lazy youngdevil. Ther Mate's just sent to hinquire who it was made the fore royalfast. It's all blowin' adrift, and he says you're to get along up assoon as eight bells goes, and make it fast again. "

Tom jumped out of his bunk, and began to dress, quickly. 

"Blowin' adrift!" he said. "There ain't all that much wind; and I tuckedthe ends of the gaskets well in under the other turns. "

"P'raps one of ther gaskets is rotten, and given way, " suggestedStubbins. "Anyway, you'd better hurry up, it's just on eight bells. "

A minute later, eight bells went, and we trooped away aft for roll-call. As soon as the names were called over, I saw the Mate lean towards theSecond and say something. Then the Second Mate sung out:

"Tom!"

"Sir!" answered Tom. 

"Was it you made fast that fore royal, last watch?"

"Yes, Sir. "

"How's that it's broken adrift?"

"Carn't say, Sir. "

"Well, it has, and you'd better jump aloft and shove the gasket round itagain. And mind you make a better job of it this time. "

"i, i, Sir, " said Tom, and followed the rest of us forrard. Reaching thefore rigging, he climbed into it, and began to make his way leisurelyaloft. I could see him with a fair amount of distinctness, as the moonwas very clear and bright, though getting old. 

I went over to the weather pin-rail, and leaned up against it, watchinghim, while I filled my pipe. The other men, both the watch on deck andthe watch below, had gone into the fo'cas'le, so that I imagined I wasthe only one about the maindeck. Yet, a minute later, I discovered thatI was mistaken; for, as I proceeded to light up, I saw Williams, theyoung cockney, come out from under the lee of the house, and turn andlook up at the Ordinary as he went steadily upwards. I was a littlesurprised, as I knew he and three of the others had a "poker fight" on, and he'd won over sixty pounds of tobacco. I believe I opened my mouthto sing out to him to know why he wasn't playing; and then, all at once, there came into my mind the memory of my first conversation with him. Iremembered that he had said sails were always blowing adrift _at night_. I remembered the, then, unaccountable emphasis he had laid on those twowords; and remembering that, I felt suddenly afraid. For, all at once, the absurdity had struck me of a sail--even a badly stowed one--blowingadrift in such fine and calm weather as we were then having. I wonderedI had not seen before that there was something queer and unlikely aboutthe affair. Sails don't blow adrift in fine weather, with the sea calmand the ship as steady as a rock. I moved away from the rail and wenttowards Williams. He knew something, or, at least, he guessed atsomething that was very much a blankness to me at that time. Up above, the boy was climbing up, to what? That was the thing that made me feelso frightened. Ought I to tell all I knew and guessed? And then, whoshould I tell? I should only be laughed at--I--

Williams turned towards me, and spoke. 

"Gawd!" he said, "it's started agen!"

"What?" I said. Though I knew what he meant. 

"Them syles, " he answered, and made a gesture towards the fore royal. 

I glanced up, briefly. All the lee side of the sail was adrift, from thebunt gasket outwards. Lower, I saw Tom; he was just hoisting himselfinto the t'gallant rigging. 

Williams spoke again. 

"We lost two on 'em just sime way, comin' art. "

"Two of the men!" I exclaimed. 

"Yus!" he said tersely. 

"I can't understand, " I went on. "I never heard anything about it. "

"Who'd yer got ter tell yer abart it?" he asked. 

I made no reply to his question; indeed, I had scarcely comprehended it, for the problem of what I ought to do in the matter had risen again inmy mind. 

"I've a good mind to go aft and tell the Second Mate all I know, " Isaid. "He's seen something himself that he can't explain away, and--andanyway I can't stand this state of things. If the Second Mate knew all--"

"Garn!" he cut in, interrupting me. "An' be told yer're a blastidhidiot. Not yer. Yer sty were yer are. "

I stood irresolute. What he had said, was perfectly correct, and I waspositively stumped what to do for the best. That there was danger aloft, I was convinced; though if I had been asked my reasons for supposingthis, they would have been hard to find. Yet of its existence, I was ascertain as though my eyes already saw it. I wondered whether, being soignorant of the form it would assume, I could stop it by joining Tom onthe yard? This thought came as I stared up at the royal. Tom had reachedthe sail, and was standing on the foot-rope, close in to the bunt. Hewas bending over the yard, and reaching down for the slack of the sail. And then, as I looked, I saw the belly of the royal tossed up and downabruptly, as though a sudden heavy gust of wind had caught it. 

"I'm blimed--!" Williams began, with a sort of excited expectation. Andthen he stopped as abruptly as he had begun. For, in a moment, the sailhad thrashed right over the after side of the yard, apparently knockingTom clean from off the foot-rope. 

"My God!" I shouted out loud. "He's gone!"

For an instant there was a blur over my eyes, and Williams was singingout something that I could not catch. Then, just as quickly, it went, and I could see again, clearly. 

Williams was pointing, and I saw something black, swinging below theyard. Williams called out something fresh, and made a run for the forerigging. I caught the last part----

"--ther garskit. "

Straightway, I knew that Tom had managed to grab the gasket as he fell, and I bolted after Williams to give him a hand in getting the youngsterinto safety. 

Down on deck, I caught the sound of running feet, and then the SecondMate's voice. He was asking what the devil was up; but I did not troubleto answer him then. I wanted all my breath to help me aloft. I knew verywell that some of the gaskets were little better than old shakins; and, unless Tom got hold of something on the t'gallant yard below him, hemight come down with a run any moment. I reached the top, and liftedmyself over it in quick time. Williams was some distance above me. Inless than half a minute, I reached the t'gallant yard. Williams had goneup on to the royal. I slid out on to the t'gallant foot-rope until I wasjust below Tom; then I sung out to him to let himself down to me, and Iwould catch him. He made no answer, and I saw that he was hanging in acuriously limp fashion, and by one hand. 

Williams's voice came down to me from the royal yard. He was singing outto me to go up and give him a hand to pull Tom up on to the yard. When Ireached him, he told me that the gasket had hitched itself round thelad's wrist. I bent beside the yard, and peered down. It was as Williamshad said, and I realised how near a thing it had been. Strangely enough, even at that moment, the thought came to me how little wind there was. Iremembered the wild way in which the sail had lashed at the boy. 

All this time, I was busily working, unreeving the port buntline. I tookthe end, made a running bowline with it round the gasket, and let theloop slide down over the boy's head and shoulders. Then I took a strainon it and tightened it under his arms. A minute later we had him safelyon the yard between us. In the uncertain moonlight, I could just makeout the mark of a great lump on his forehead, where the foot of the sailmust have caught him when it knocked him over. 

As we stood there a moment, taking our breath, I caught the sound of theSecond Mate's voice close beneath us. Williams glanced down; then helooked up at me and gave a short, grunting laugh. 

"Crikey!" he said. 

"What's up?" I asked, quickly. 

He jerked his head backwards and downwards. I screwed round a bit, holding the jackstay with one hand, and steadying the insensibleOrdinary with the other. In this way I could look below. At first, Icould see nothing. Then the Second Mate's voice came up to me again. 

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing?"

I saw him now. He was standing at the foot of the weather t'gallantrigging, his face was turned upwards, peering round the after side ofthe mast. It showed to me only as a blurred, pale-coloured oval in themoonlight. 

He repeated his question. 

"It's Williams and I, Sir, " I said. "Tom, here, has had an accident. "

I stopped. He began to come up higher towards us. From the rigging toleeward there came suddenly a buzz of men talking. 

The Second Mate reached us. 

"Well, what's up, anyway?" he inquired, suspiciously. "What's happened?"

He had bent forward, and was peering at Tom. I started to explain; buthe cut me short with:

"Is he dead?"

"No, Sir, " I said. "I don't think so; but the poor beggar's had a badfall. He was hanging by the gasket when we got to him. The sail knockedhim off the yard. "

"What?" he said, sharply. 

"The wind caught the sail, and it lashed back over the yard--"

"What wind?" he interrupted. "There's no wind, scarcely. " He shifted hisweight on to the other foot. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say, Sir. The wind brought the foot of the sail over thetop of the yard and knocked Tom clean off the foot-rope. Williams and Iboth saw it happen. "

"But there's no wind to do such a thing; you're talking nonsense!"

It seemed to me that there was as much of bewilderment as anything elsein his voice; yet I could tell that he was suspicious--though, of what, I doubted whether he himself could have told. 

He glanced at Williams, and seemed about to say something. Then, seemingto change his mind, he turned, and sung out to one of the men who hadfollowed him aloft, to go down and pass out a coil of new, three-inchmanilla, and a tailblock. 

"Smartly now!" he concluded. 

"i, i, Sir, " said the man, and went down swiftly. 

The Second Mate turned to me. 

"When you've got Tom below, I shall want a better explanation of allthis, than the one you've given me. It won't wash. "

"Very well, Sir, " I answered. "But you won't get any other. "

"What do you mean?" he shouted at me. "I'll let you know I'll have noimpertinence from you or any one else. "

"I don't mean any impertinence, Sir--I mean that it's the onlyexplanation there is to give. "

"I tell you it won't wash!" he repeated. "There's something too damnedfunny about it all. I shall have to report the matter to the Captain. Ican't tell him that yarn--" He broke off abruptly. 

"It's not the only damned funny thing that's happened aboard this oldhooker, " I answered. "You ought to know that, Sir. "

"What do you mean?" he asked, quickly. 

"Well, Sir, " I said, "to be straight, what about that chap you sent ushunting after up the main the other night? That was a funny enoughaffair, wasn't it? This one isn't half so funny. "

"That will do, Jessop!" he said, angrily. "I won't have any back talk. "Yet there was something about his tone that told me I had got one in onmy own. He seemed all at once less able to appear confident that I wastelling him a fairy tale. 

After that, for perhaps half a minute, he said nothing. I guessed he wasdoing some hard thinking. When he spoke again it was on the matter ofgetting the Ordinary down on deck. 

"One of you'll have to go down the lee side and steady him down, " heconcluded. 

He turned and looked downwards. 

"Are you bringing that gantline?" he sang out. 

"Yes, Sir, " I heard one of the men answer. 

A moment later, I saw the man's head appear over the top. He had thetail-block slung round his neck, and the end of the gantline over hisshoulder. 

Very soon we had the gantline rigged, and Tom down on deck. Then we tookhim into the fo'cas'le and put him in his bunk. The Second Mate had sentfor some brandy, and now he started to dose him well with it. At thesame time a couple of the men chafed his hands and feet. In a little, hebegan to show signs of coming round. Presently, after a sudden fit ofcoughing, he opened his eyes, with a surprised, bewildered stare. Thenhe caught at the edge of his bunk-board, and sat up, giddily. One of themen steadied him, while the Second Mate stood back, and eyed him, critically. The boy rocked as he sat, and put up his hand to his head. 

"Here, " said the Second Mate, "take another drink. "

Tom caught his breath and choked a little; then he spoke. 

"By gum!" he said, "my head does ache. "

He put up his hand, again, and felt at the lump on his forehead. Then hebent forward and stared round at the men grouped about his bunk. 

"What's up?" he inquired, in a confused sort of way, and seeming as ifhe could not see us clearly. 

"What's up?" he asked again. 

"That's just what I want to know!" said the Second Mate, speaking forthe first time with some sternness. 

"I ain't been snoozin' while there's been a job on?" Tom inquired, anxiously. 

He looked round at the men appealingly. 

"It's knocked 'im dotty, strikes me, " said one of the men, audibly. 

"No, " I said, answering Tom's question, "you've had--"

"Shut that, Jessop!" said the Second Mate, quickly, interrupting me. "Iwant to hear what the boy's got to say for himself. "

He turned again to Tom. 

"You were up at the fore royal, " he prompted. 

"I carn't say I was, Sir, " said Tom, doubtfully. I could see that he hadnot gripped the Second Mate's meaning. 

"But you were!" said the Second, with some impatience. "It was blowingadrift, and I sent you up to shove a gasket round it. "

"Blowin' adrift, Sir?" said Tom, dully. 

"Yes! blowing adrift. Don't I speak plainly?"

The dullness went from Tom's face, suddenly. 

"So it was, Sir, " he said, his memory returning. "The bloomin' sail gotchock full of wind. It caught me bang in the face. "

He paused a moment. 

"I believe--" he began, and then stopped once more. 

"Go on!" said the Second Mate. "Spit it out!"

"I don't know, Sir, " Tom said. "I don't understand--"

He hesitated again. 

"That's all I can remember, " he muttered, and put his hand up to thebruise on his forehead, as though trying to remember something. 

In the momentary silence that succeeded, I caught the voice of Stubbins. 

"There hain't hardly no wind, " he was saying, in a puzzled tone. 

There was a low murmur of assent from the surrounding men. 

The Second Mate said nothing, and I glanced at him, curiously. Was hebeginning to see, I wondered, how useless it was to try to find anysensible explanation of the affair? Had he begun at last to couple itwith that peculiar business of the man up the main? I am inclined _now_to think that this was so; for, after staring a few moments at Tom, in adoubtful sort of way, he went out of the fo'cas'le, saying that he wouldinquire further into the matter in the morning. Yet, when the morningcame, he did no such thing. As for his reporting the affair to theSkipper, I much doubt it. Even did he, it must have been in a verycasual way; for we heard nothing more about it; though, of course, wetalked it over pretty thoroughly among ourselves. 

With regard to the Second Mate, even now I am rather puzzled by hisattitude to us aloft. Sometimes I have thought that he must havesuspected us of trying to play off some trick on him--perhaps, at thetime, he still half suspected one of us of being in some way connectedwith the other business. Or, again, he may have been trying to fightagainst the conviction that was being forced upon him, that there wasreally something impossible and beastly about the old packet. Of course, these are only suppositions. 

And then, close upon this, there were further developments. 

V

_The End of Williams_

As I have said, there was a lot of talk, among the crowd of us forrard, about Tom's strange accident. None of the men knew that Williams and Ihad seen it _happen_. Stubbins gave it as his opinion that Tom had beensleepy, and missed the foot-rope. Tom, of course, would not have this byany means. Yet, he had no one to appeal to; for, at that time, he wasjust as ignorant as the rest, that we had seen the sail flap up over theyard. 

Stubbins insisted that it stood to reason it couldn't be the wind. Therewasn't any, he said; and the rest of the men agreed with him. 

"Well, " I said, "I don't know about all that. I'm a bit inclined tothink Tom's yarn is the truth. "

"How do you make that hout?" Stubbins asked, unbelievingly. "There haintnothin' like enough wind. "

"What about the place on his forehead?" I inquired, in turn. "How areyou going to explain that?"

"I 'spect he knocked himself there when he slipped, " he answered. 

"Likely 'nuffli, " agreed old Jaskett, who was sitting smoking on a chestnear by. 

"Well, you're both a damn long way out of it!" Tom chipped in, prettywarm. "I wasn't asleep; an' the sail did bloomin' well hit me. "

"Don't you be impertinent, young feller, " said Jaskett. 

I joined in again. 

"There's another thing, Stubbins, " I said. "The gasket Tom was hangingby, was on the after side of the yard. That looks as if the sail mighthave flapped it over? If there were wind enough to do the one, it seemsto me that it might have done the other. "

"Do you mean that it was hunder ther yard, or hover ther top?" he asked. 

"Over the top, of course. What's more, the foot of the sail was hangingover the after part of the yard, in a bight. "

Stubbins was plainly surprised at that, and before he was ready with hisnext objection, Plummer spoke. 

"'oo saw it?" he asked. 

"I saw it!" I said, a bit sharply. "So did Williams; so--for thatmatter--did the Second Mate. "

Plummer relapsed into silence; and smoked; and Stubbins broke outafresh. 

"I reckon Tom must have had a hold of the foot and the gasket, andpulled 'em hover the yard when he tumbled. "

"No!" interrupted Tom. "The gasket was under the sail. I couldn't evensee it. An' I hadn't time to get hold of the foot of the sail, before itup and caught me smack in the face. "

"'ow did yer get 'old er ther gasket, when yer fell, then?" askedPlummer. 

"He didn't get hold of it, " I answered for Tom. "It had taken a turnround his wrist, and that's how we found him hanging. "

"Do you mean to say as 'e 'adn't got 'old of ther garsket?, " Quoininquired, pausing in the lighting of his pipe. 

"Of course, I do, " I said. "A chap doesn't go hanging on to a rope whenhe's jolly well been knocked senseless. "

"Ye're richt, " assented Jock. "Ye're quite richt there, Jessop. "

Quoin concluded the lighting of his pipe. 

"I dunno, " he said. 

I went on, without noticing him. 

"Anyway, when Williams and I found him, he was hanging by the gasket, and it had a couple of turns round his wrist. And besides that, as Isaid before, the foot of the sail was hanging over the after side of theyard, and Tom's weight on the gasket was holding it there. "

"It's damned queer, " said Stubbins, in a puzzled voice. "There don'tseem to be no way of gettin' a proper hexplanation to it. "

I glanced at Williams, to suggest that I should tell all that we hadseen; but he shook his head, and, after a moment's thought, it seemed tome that there was nothing to be gained by so doing. We had no very clearidea of the thing that had happened, and our half facts and guesseswould only have tended to make the matter appear more grotesque andunlikely. The only thing to be done was to wait and watch. If we couldonly get hold of something tangible, then we might hope to tell all thatwe knew, without being made into laughing-stocks. 

I came out from my think, abruptly. 

Stubbins was speaking again. He was arguing the matter with one of theother men. 

"You see, with there bein' no wind, scarcely, ther thing's himpossible, an' yet--"

The other man interrupted with some remark I did not catch. 

"No, " I heard Stubbins say. "I'm hout of my reckonin'. I don't savvy itone bit. It's too much like a damned fairy tale. "

"Look at his wrist!" I said. 

Tom held out his right hand and arm for inspection. It was considerablyswollen where the rope had been round it. 

"Yes, " admitted Stubbins. "That's right enough; but it don't tell younothin'. "

I made no reply. As Stubbins said, it told you "nothin'. " And there Ilet it drop. Yet, I have told you this, as showing how the matter wasregarded in the fo'cas'le. Still, it did not occupy our minds very long;for, as I have said, there were further developments. 

The three following nights passed quietly; and then, on the fourth, allthose curious signs and hints culminated suddenly in somethingextraordinarily grim. Yet, everything had been so subtle and intangible, and, indeed, so was the affair itself, that only those who had actuallycome in touch with the invading fear, seemed really capable ofcomprehending the terror of the thing. The men, for the most part, beganto say the ship was unlucky, and, of course, as usual! there was sometalk of there being a Jonah in the ship. Still, I cannot say that noneof the men realised there was anything horrible and frightening in itall; for I am sure that some did, a little; and I think Stubbins wascertainly one of them; though I feel certain that he did not, at thattime, you know, grasp a quarter of the real significance that underlaythe several queer matters that had disturbed our nights. He seemed tofail, somehow, to grasp the element of personal danger that, to me, wasalready plain. He lacked sufficient imagination, I suppose, to piece thethings together--to trace the natural sequence of the events, and theirdevelopment. Yet I must not forget, of course, that he had no knowledgeof those two first incidents. If he had, perhaps he might have stoodwhere I did. As it was, he had not seemed to reach out at all, you know, not even in the matter of Tom and the fore royal. Now, however, afterthe thing I am about to tell you, he seemed to see a little way into thedarkness, and realise possibilities. 

I remember the fourth night, well. It was a clear, star-lit, moonlesssort of night: at least, I think there was no moon; or, at any rate, themoon could have been little more than a thin crescent, for it was nearthe dark time. 

The wind had breezed up a bit; but still remained steady. We wereslipping along at about six or seven knots an hour. It was our middlewatch on deck, and the ship was full of the blow and hum of the windaloft. Williams and I were the only ones about the maindeck. He wasleaning over the weather pin-rail, smoking; while I was pacing up anddown, between him and the fore hatch. Stubbins was on the look-out. 

Two bells had gone some minutes, and I was wishing to goodness that itwas eight, and time to turn-in. Suddenly, overhead, there sounded asharp crack, like the report of a rifle shot. It was followed instantlyby the rattle and crash of sailcloth thrashing in the wind. 

Williams jumped away from the rail, and ran aft a few steps. I followedhim, and, together, we stared upwards to see what had gone. Indistinctly, I made out that the weather sheet of the fore t'gallanthad carried away, and the clew of the sail was whirling and bangingabout in the air, and, every few moments, hitting the steel yard a blow, like the thump of a great sledge hammer. 

"It's the shackle, or one of the links that's gone, I think, " I shoutedto Williams, above the noise of the sail. "That's the spectacle that'shitting the yard. "

"Yus!" he shouted back, and went to get hold of the clewline. I ran togive him a hand. At the same moment, I caught the Second Mate's voiceaway aft, shouting. Then came the noise of running feet, and the rest ofthe watch, and the Second Mate, were with us almost at the same moment. In a few minutes we had the yard lowered and the sail clewed up. ThenWilliams and I went aloft to see where the sheet had gone. It was muchas I had supposed; the spectacle was all right, but the pin had gone outof the shackle, and the shackle itself was jammed into the sheavehole inthe yard arm. 

Williams sent me down for another pin, while he unbent the clewline, andoverhauled it down to the sheet. When I returned with the fresh pin, Iscrewed it into the shackle, clipped on the clewline, and sung out tothe men to take a pull on the rope. This they did, and at the secondheave the shackle came away. When it was high enough, I went up on tothe t'gallant yard, and held the chain, while Williams shackled it intothe spectacle. Then he bent on the clewline afresh, and sung out to theSecond Mate that we were ready to hoist away. 

"Yer'd better go down an' give 'em a 'aul, " he said. "I'll sty an' lightup ther syle. "

"Right ho, Williams, " I said, getting into the rigging. "Don't let theship's bogy run away with you. "

This remark I made in a moment of light-heartedness, such as will cometo anyone aloft, at times. I was exhilarated for the time being, andquite free from the sense of fear that had been with me so much of late. I suppose this was due to the freshness of the wind. 

"There's more'n one!" he said, in that curiously short way of his. 

"What?" I asked. 

He repeated his remark. 

I was suddenly serious. The _reality_ of all the impossible details ofthe past weeks came back to me, vivid, and beastly. 

"What do you mean, Williams?" I asked him. 

But he had shut up, and would say nothing. 

"What do you know--how much do you know?" I went on, quickly. "Why didyou never tell me that you--"

The Second Mate's voice interrupted me, abruptly:

"Now then, up there! Are you going to keep us waiting all night? One ofyou come down and give us a pull with the ha'lyards. The other stay upand light up the gear. "

"i, i, Sir, " I shouted back. 

Then I turned to Williams, hurriedly. 

"Look here, Williams, " I said. "If you think there is _really_ a dangerin your being alone up here--" I hesitated for words to express what Imeant. Then I went on. "Well, I'll jolly well stay up with you. "

The Second Mate's voice came again. 

"Come on now, one of you! Make a move! What the hell are you doing?"

"Coming, Sir!" I sung out. 

"Shall I stay?" I asked definitely. 

"Garn!" he said. "Don't yer fret yerself. I'll tike er bloomin' piy-diyout of 'er. Blarst 'em. I ain't funky of 'em. "

I went. That was the last word Williams spoke to anyone living. 

I reached the decks, and tailed on to the haulyards. 

We had nearly mast-headed the yard, and the Second Mate was looking upat the dark outline of the sail, ready to sing out "Belay"; when, all atonce, there came a queer sort of muffled shout from Williams. 

"Vast hauling, you men, " shouted the Second Mate. 

We stood silent, and listened. 

"What's that, Williams?" he sung out. "Are you all clear?"

For nearly half a minute we stood, listening; but there came no reply. Some of the men said afterwards that they had noticed a curious rattlingand vibrating noise aloft that sounded faintly above the hum and swirlof the wind. Like the sound of loose ropes being shaken and slattedtogether, you know. Whether this noise was really heard, or whether itwas something that had no existence outside of their imaginations, Icannot say. I heard nothing of it; but then I was at the tail end of therope, and furthest from the fore rigging; while those who heard it wereon the fore part of the haulyards, and close up to the shrouds. 

The Second Mate put his hands to his mouth. 

"Are you all clear there?" he shouted again. 

The answer came, unintelligible and unexpected. It ran like this:

"Blarst yer ... I've styed ... Did yer think ... Drive ... Bl--ypiy-diy. " And then there was a sudden silence. 

I stared up at the dim sail, astonished. 

"He's dotty!" said Stubbins, who had been told to come off the look-outand give us a pull. 

"'e's as mad as a bloomin' 'atter, " said Quoin, who was standingforeside of me. "'e's been queer all along. "

"Silence there!" shouted the Second Mate. Then:

"Williams!"

No answer. 

"Williams!" more loudly. 

Still no answer. 

Then:

"Damn you, you jumped-up cockney crocodile! Can't you hear? Are youblooming-well deaf?"

There was no answer, and the Second Mate turned to me. 

"Jump aloft, smartly now, Jessop, and see what's wrong!"

"i, i, Sir, " I said and made a run for the rigging. I felt a bit queer. Had Williams gone mad? He certainly always had been a bit funny. Or--andthe thought came with a jump--had he seen--I did not finish. Suddenly, up aloft, there sounded a frightful scream. I stopped, with my hand onthe sheerpole. The next instant, something fell out of the darkness--aheavy body, that struck the deck near the waiting men, with a tremendouscrash and a loud, ringing, wheezy sound that sickened me. Several of themen shouted out loud in their fright, and let go of the haulyards; butluckily the stopper held it, and the yard did not come down. Then, forthe space of several seconds, there was a dead silence among the crowd;and it seemed to me that the wind had in it a strange moaning note. 

The Second Mate was the first to speak. His voice came so abruptly thatit startled me. 

"Get a light, one of you, quick now!"

There was a moment's hesitation. 

"Fetch one of the binnacle lamps, you, Tammy. "

"i, i, Sir, " the youngster said, in a quavering voice, and ran aft. 

In less than a minute I saw the light coming towards us along the deck. The boy was running. He reached us, and handed the lamp to the SecondMate, who took it and went towards the dark, huddled heap on the deck. He held the light out before him, and peered at the thing. 

"My God!" he said. "It's Williams!"

He stooped lower with the light, and I saw details. It was Williamsright enough. The Second Mate told a couple of the men to lift him andstraighten him out on the hatch. Then he went aft to call the Skipper. He returned in a couple of minutes with an old ensign which he spreadover the poor beggar. Almost directly, the Captain came hurrying forwardalong the decks. He pulled back one end of the ensign, and looked; thenhe put it back quietly, and the Second Mate explained all that we knew, in a few words. 

"Would you leave him where he is, Sir?" he asked, after he had toldeverything. 

"The night's fine, " said the Captain. "You may as well leave the poordevil there. "

He turned, and went aft, slowly. The man who was holding the light, swept it round so that it showed the place where Williams had struck thedeck. 

The Second Mate spoke abruptly. 

"Get a broom and a couple of buckets, some of you. "

He turned sharply, and ordered Tammy on to the poop. 

As soon as he had seen the yard mast-headed, and the ropes cleared up, he followed Tammy. He knew well enough that it would not do for theyoungster to let his mind dwell too much on the poor chap on the hatch, and I found out, a little later, that he gave the boy something tooccupy his thoughts. 

After they had gone aft, we went into the fo'cas'le. Every one was moodyand frightened. For a little while, we sat about in our bunks and on thechests, and no one said a word. The watch below were all asleep, and notone of them knew what had happened. 

All at once, Plummer, whose wheel it was, stepped over the starboardwashboard, into the fo'cas'le. 

"What's up, anyway?" he asked. "Is Williams much 'urt?"

"Sh!" I said. "You'll wake the others. Who's taken your wheel?"

"Tammy--ther Second sent 'im. 'e said I could go forrard an' 'ave ersmoke. 'e said Williams 'ad 'ad er fall. "

He broke off, and looked across the fo'cas'le. 

"Where is 'e?" he inquired, in a puzzled voice. 

I glanced at the others; but no one seemed inclined to start yarningabout it. 

"He fell from the t'gallant rigging!" I said. 

"Where is 'e?" he repeated. 

"Smashed up, " I said. "He's lying on the hatch. "

"Dead?" he asked. 

I nodded. 

"I guessed 'twere somethin' pretty bad, when I saw the Old Man comeforrard. 'ow did it 'appen?"

He looked round at the lot of us sitting there silent and smoking. 

"No one knows, " I said, and glanced at Stubbins. I caught him eyeing me, doubtfully. 

After a moment's silence, Plummer spoke again. 

"I 'eard 'im screech, when I was at ther wheel. 'e must 'ave got 'urt upaloft. "

Stubbins struck a match and proceeded to relight his pipe. 

"How d'yer mean?" he asked, speaking for the first time. 

"'ow do I mean? Well, I can't say. Maybe 'e jammed 'is fingers betweenther parrel an' ther mast. "

"What about 'is swearin' at ther Second Mate? Was that 'cause 'e'djammed 'is fingers?" put in Quoin. 

"I never 'eard about that, " said Plummer. "'oo 'eard 'im?

"I should think heverybody in ther bloomin' ship heard him, " Stubbinsanswered. "All ther same, I hain't sure he _was_ swearin' at ther SecondMate. I thought at first he'd gone dotty an' was cussin' him; butsomehow it don't seem likely, now I come to think. It don't stand toreason he should go to cuss ther man. There was nothin' to go cussin'about. What's more, he didn't seem ter be talkin' down to us on deck--what I could make hout. 'sides, what would he want ter go talkin' tother Second about his pay-day?"

He looked across to where I was sitting. Jock, who was smoking, quietly, on the chest next to me, took his pipe slowly out from between histeeth. 

"Ye're no far oot, Stubbins, I'm thinkin'. Ye're no far oot, " he said, nodding his head. 

Stubbins still continued to gaze at me. 

"What's your idee?" he said, abruptly. 

It may have been my fancy, but it seemed to me that there was somethingdeeper than the mere sense the question conveyed. 

I glanced at him. I couldn't have said, myself, just what my idea was. 

"I don't know!" I answered, a little adrift. "He didn't strike me ascursing at the Second Mate. That is, I should say, after the firstminute. "

"Just what I say, " he replied. "Another thing--don't it strike you asbein' bloomin' queer about Tom nearly comin' down by ther run, an' then_this?_"

I nodded. 

"It would have been all hup with Tom, if it hadn't been for thergasket. "

He paused. After a moment, he went on again. 

"That was honly three or four nights ago!"

"Well, " said Plummer. "What are yer drivin' at?"

"Nothin', " answered Stubbins. "Honly it's damned queer. Looks as thoughther ship might be unlucky, after all. "

"Well, " agreed Plummer. "Things 'as been a bit funny lately; and thenthere's what's 'appened ter-night. I shall 'ang on pretty tight thernext time I go aloft. "

Old Jaskett took his pipe from his mouth, and sighed. 

"Things is going wrong 'most every night, " he said, almost pathetically. "It's as diff'rent as chalk 'n' cheese ter what it were w'en we startedthis 'ere trip. I thought it were all 'ellish rot about 'er bein''aunted; but it's not, seem'ly. "

He stopped and expectorated. 

"She hain't haunted, " said Stubbins. "Leastways, not like you mean--"

He paused, as though trying to grasp some elusive thought. 

"Eh?" said Jaskett, in the interval. 

Stubbins continued, without noticing the query. He appeared to beanswering some half-formed thought in his own brain, rather thanJaskett:

"Things is queer--an' it's been a bad job tonight. I don't savvy one bitwhat Williams was sayin' of hup aloft. I've thought sometimes he'dsomethin' on 'is mind--"

Then, after a pause of about half a minute, he said this:

"_Who_ was he sayin' that to?"

"Eh?" said Jaskett, again, with a puzzled expression. 

"I was thinkin', " said Stubbins, knocking out his pipe on the edge ofthe chest. "P'raps you're right, hafter all. "

VI

_Another Man to the Wheel_

The conversation had slacked off. We were all moody and shaken, and Iknow I, for one, was thinking some rather troublesome thoughts. 

Suddenly, I heard the sound of the Second's whistle. Then his voice camealong the deck:

"Another man to the wheel!"

"'e's singin' out for some one to go aft an' relieve ther wheel, " saidQuoin, who had gone to the door to listen. "Yer'd better 'urry up, Plummer. "

"What's ther time?" asked Plummer, standing up and knocking out hispipe. "Must be close on ter four bells, 'oo's next wheel is it?"

"It's all right, Plummer, " I said, getting up from the chest on which Ihad been sitting. "I'll go along. It's my wheel, and it only wants acouple of minutes to four bells. "

Plummer sat down again, and I went out of the fo'cas'le. Reaching thepoop, I met Tammy on the lee side, pacing up and down. 

"Who's at the wheel?" I asked him, in astonishment. 

"The Second Mate, " he said, in a shaky sort of voice. "He's waiting tobe relieved. I'll tell you all about it as soon as I get a chance. "

I went on aft to the wheel. 

"Who's that?" the Second inquired. 

"It's Jessop, Sir, " I answered. 

He gave me the course, and then, without another word, went forrardalong the poop. On the break, I heard him call Tammy's name, and thenfor some minutes he was talking to him; though what he was saying, Icould not possibly hear. For my part, I was tremendously curious to knowwhy the Second Mate had taken the wheel. I knew that if it were just amatter of bad steering on Tammy's part, he would not have dreamt ofdoing such a thing. There had been something queer happening, aboutwhich I had yet to learn; of this, I felt sure. 

Presently, the Second Mate left Tammy, and commenced to walk the weatherside of the deck. Once he came right aft, and, stooping down, peeredunder the wheel-box; but never addressed a word to me. Sometime later, he went down the weather ladder on to the main-deck. Directlyafterwards, Tammy came running up to the lee side of the wheel-box. 

"I've seen it again!" he said, gasping with sheer nervousness. 

"What?" I said. 

"That _thing_, " he answered. Then he leant across the wheel-box, andlowered his voice. 

"It came over the lee rail--_up out of the sea_, " he added, with an airof telling something unbelievable. 

I turned more towards him; but it was too dark to see his face with anydistinctness. I felt suddenly husky. "My God!" I thought. And then Imade a silly effort to protest; but he cut me short with a certainimpatient hopelessness. 

"For God's sake, Jessop, " he said, "do stow all that! It's no good. Imust have someone to talk to, or I shall go dotty. "

I saw how useless it was to pretend any sort of ignorance. Indeed, really, I had known it all along, and avoided the youngster on that veryaccount, as you know. 

"Go on, " I said. "I'll listen; but you'd better keep an eye for theSecond Mate; he may pop up any minute. "

For a moment, he said nothing, and I saw him peering stealthily aboutthe poop. 

"Go on, " I said. "You'd better make haste, or he'll be up before you'rehalf-way through. What was he doing at the wheel when I came up torelieve it? Why did he send you away from it?"

"He didn't, " Tammy replied, turning his face towards me. "I bunked awayfrom it. "

"What for?" I asked. 

"Wait a minute, " he answered, "and I'll tell you the whole business. Youknow the Second Mate sent me to the wheel, after _that_--" He nodded hishead forrard. 

"Yes, " I said. 

"Well, I'd been here about ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, and Iwas feeling rotten about Williams, and trying to forget it all and keepthe ship on her course, and all that; when, all at once, I happened toglance to loo'ard, and there I saw it climbing over the rail. My God! Ididn't know what to do. The Second Mate was standing forrard on thebreak of the poop, and I was here all by myself. I felt as if I werefrozen stiff. When it came towards me, I let go of the wheel, and yelledand bunked forrard to the Second Mate. He caught hold of me and shookme; but I was so jolly frightened, I couldn't say a word. I could onlykeep on pointing. The Second kept asking me 'Where?' And then, all atonce, I found I couldn't see the thing. I don't know whether he saw it. I'm not at all certain he did. He just told me to damn well get back tothe wheel, and stop making a damned fool of myself. I said out straightI wouldn't go. So he blew his whistle, and sung out for someone to comeaft and take it. Then he ran and got hold of the wheel himself. You knowthe rest. "

"You're quite sure it wasn't thinking about Williams made you imagineyou saw something?" I said, more to gain a moment to think, than becauseI believed that it was the case. 

"I thought you were going to listen to me, seriously!" he said, bitterly. "If you won't believe me; what about the chap the Second Matesaw? What about Tom? What about Williams? For goodness sake! don't tryto put me off like you did last time. I nearly went cracked with wantingto tell someone who would listen to me, and wouldn't laugh. I couldstand anything, but this being alone. There's a good chap, don't pretendyou don't understand. Tell me what it all means. What is this horribleman that I've twice seen? You know you know something, and I believeyou're afraid to tell anyone, for fear of being laughed at. Why don'tyou tell me? You needn't be afraid of my laughing. "

He stopped, suddenly. For the moment, I said nothing in reply. 

"Don't treat me like a kid, Jessop!" he exclaimed, quite passionately. 

"I won't, " I said, with a sudden resolve to tell him everything. "I needsomeone to talk to, just as badly as you do. "

"What does it all mean, then?" he burst out. "Are they real? I alwaysused to think it was all a yarn about such things. "

"I'm sure I don't know what it all means, Tammy, " I answered. "I'm justas much in the dark, there, as you are. And I don't know whether they'rereal--that is, not as we consider things real. You don't know that I sawa queer figure down on the maindeck, several nights before you saw thatthing up here. "

"Didn't you see this one?" he cut in, quickly. 

"Yes, " I answered. 

"Then, why did you pretend not to have?" he said, in a reproachfulvoice. "You don't know what a state you put me into, what with my beingcertain that I had seen it and then you being so jolly positive thatthere had been nothing. At one time I thought I was going clean off mydot--until the Second Mate saw that man go up the main. Then, I knewthat there must be something in the thing I was certain I'd seen. "

"I thought, perhaps, that if I told you I hadn't seen it, you wouldthink you'd been mistaken, " I said. "I wanted you to think it wasimagination, or a dream, or something of that sort. "

"And all the time, you knew about that other thing you'd seen?" heasked. 

"Yes, " I replied. 

"It was thundering decent of you, " he said. "But it wasn't any good. "

He paused a moment. Then he went on:

"It's terrible about Williams. Do you think he saw something, up aloft?"

"I don't know, Tammy, " I said. "It's impossible to say. It _may_ havebeen only an accident. " I hesitated to tell him what I really thought. 

"What was he saying about his pay-day? Who was he saying it to?"

"I don't know, " I said, again. "He was always cracked about taking apay-day out of her. You know, he stayed in her, on purpose, when all theothers left. He told me that he wasn't going to be done out of it, foranyone. "

"What did the other lot leave for?" he asked. Then, as the idea seemedto strike him--"Jove! do you think they saw something, and got scared?It's quite possible. You know, we only joined her in 'Frisco. She had no'prentices on the passage out. Our ship was sold; so they sent us aboardhere to come home. "

"They may have, " I said. "Indeed, from things I've heard Williams say, I'm pretty certain, he for one, guessed or knew a jolly sight more thanwe've any idea of. "

"And now he's dead!" said Tammy, solemnly. "We'll never be able to findout from him now. "

For a few moments, he was silent. Then he went off on another track. 

"Doesn't anything ever happen in the Mate's watch?"

"Yes, " I answered. "There's several things happened lately, that seempretty queer. Some of his side have been talking about them. But he'stoo jolly pig-headed to see anything. He just curses his chaps, and putsit all down to them. "

"Still, " he persisted, "things seem to happen more in our watch than inhis--I mean, bigger things. Look at tonight. "

"We've no proof, you know, " I said. 

He shook his head, doubtfully. 

"I shall always funk going aloft, now. "

"Nonsense!" I told him. "It may only have been an accident. "

"Don't!" he said. "You know you don't think so, really. "

I answered nothing, just then; for I knew very well that he was right. We were silent for a couple of moments. 

Then he spoke again:

"Is the ship haunted?"

For an instant I hesitated. 

"No, " I said, at length. "I don't think she is. I mean, not in thatway. "

"What way, then?"

"Well, I've formed a bit of a theory, that seems wise one minute, andcracked the next. Of course, it's as likely to be all wrong; but it'sthe only thing that seems to me to fit in with all the beastly thingswe've had lately. "

"Go on!" he said, with an impatient, nervous movement. 

"Well, I've an idea that it's nothing _in_ the ship that's likely tohurt us. I scarcely know how to put it; but, if I'm right in what Ithink, it's the ship herself that's the cause of everything. "

"What do you mean?" he asked, in a puzzled voice. "Do you mean that theship _is_ haunted, after all?"

"No!" I answered. "I've just told you I didn't. Wait until I've finishedwhat I was going to say. "

"All right!" he said. 

"About that thing you saw tonight, " I went on. "You say it came over thelee rail, up on to the poop?"

"Yes, " he answered. 

"Well, the thing I saw, _came up out of the sea, and went back into thesea_. "

"Jove!" he said; and then: "Yes, go on!"

"My idea is, that this ship is open to be boarded by those things, " Iexplained. "What they are, of course I don't know. They look like men--in lots of ways. But--well, the Lord knows what's in the sea. Though wedon't want to go imagining silly things, of course. And then, again, youknow, it seems fat-headed, calling anything silly. That's how I keepgoing, in a sort of blessed circle. I don't know a bit whether they'reflesh and blood, or whether they're what we should call ghosts orspirits. "

"They can't be flesh and blood, " Tammy interrupted. "Where would theylive? Besides, that first one I saw, I thought I could see through it. And this last one--the Second Mate would have seen it. And they woulddrown--"

"Not necessarily, " I said. 

"Oh, but I'm sure they're not, " he insisted. "It's impossible--"

"So are ghosts--when you're feeling sensible, " I answered. "But I'm notsaying they _are_ flesh and blood; though, at the same time, I'm notgoing to say straight out they're ghosts--not yet, at any rate. "

"Where do they come from?" he asked, stupidly enough. 

"Out of the sea, " I told him. "You saw for yourself!"

"Then why don't other vessels have them coming aboard?" he said. "How doyou account for that?"

"In a way--though sometimes it seems cracky--I think I can, according tomy idea, " I answered. 

"How?" he inquired again. 

"Why, I believe that this ship is open, as I've told you--exposed, unprotected, or whatever you like to call it. I should say it'sreasonable to think that all the things of the material world arebarred, as it were, from the immaterial; but that in some cases thebarrier may be broken down. That's what may have happened to this ship. And if it has, she may be naked to the attacks of beings belonging tosome other state of existence. "

"What's made her like that?" he asked, in a really awed sort of tone. 

"The Lord knows!" I answered. "Perhaps something to do with magneticstresses; but you'd not understand, and I don't, really. And, I suppose, inside of me, I don't believe it's anything of the kind, for a minute. I'm not built that way. And yet I don't know! Perhaps, there may havebeen some rotten thing done aboard of her. Or, again, it's a heap morelikely to be something quite outside of anything I know. "

"If they're immaterial then, they're spirits?" he questioned. 

"I don't know, " I said. "It's so hard to say what I really think, youknow. I've got a queer idea, that my head-piece likes to think good; butI don't believe my tummy believes it. "

"Go on!" he said. 

"Well, " I said. "Suppose the earth were inhabited by two kinds of life. We're one, and _they're_ the other. "

"Go on!" he said. 

"Well, " I said. "Don't you see, in a normal state we may not be capableof appreciating the _realness_ of the other? But they may be just as_real_ and material to _them_, as _we_ are to _us_. Do you see?"

"Yes, " he said. "Go on!"

"Well, " I said. "The earth may be just as _real_ to them, as to us. Imean that it may have qualities as material to them, as it has to us;but neither of us could appreciate the other's realness, or the qualityof realness in the earth, which was real to the other. It's so difficultto explain. Don't you understand?"

"Yes, " he said. "Go on!"

"Well, if we were in what I might call a healthy atmosphere, they wouldbe quite beyond our power to see or feel, or anything. And the same withthem; but the more we're like _this_, the more _real_ and actual theycould grow _to us_. See? That is, the more we should become able toappreciate their form of materialness. That's all. I can't make it anyclearer. "

"Then, after all, you _really_ think they're ghosts, or something ofthat sort?" Tammy said. 

"I suppose it does come to that, " I answered. "I mean that, anyway, Idon't think they're our ideas of flesh and blood. But, of course, it'ssilly to say much; and, after all, you must remember that I may be allwrong. "

"I think you ought to tell the Second Mate all this, " he said. "If it'sreally as you say, the ship ought to be put into the nearest port, andjolly well burnt. "

"The Second Mate couldn't do anything, " I replied. "Even if he believedit all; which we're not certain he would. "

"Perhaps not, " Tammy answered. "But if you could get him to believe it, he might explain the whole business to the Skipper, and then somethingmight be done. It's not safe as it is. "

"He'd only get jeered at again, " I said, rather hopelessly. 

"No, " said Tammy. "Not after what's happened tonight. "

"Perhaps not, " I replied, doubtfully. And just then the Second Mate cameback on to the poop, and Tammy cleared away from the wheel-box, leavingme with a worrying feeling that I ought to do something. 

VII

_The Coming of the Mist and That Which It Ushered_

We buried Williams at midday. Poor beggar! It had been so sudden. Allday the men were awed and gloomy, and there was a lot of talk aboutthere being a Jonah aboard. If they'd only known what Tammy and I, andperhaps the Second Mate, knew!

And then the next thing came--the mist. I cannot remember now, whetherit was on the day we buried Williams that we first saw it, or the dayafter. 

When first I noticed it, like everybody else aboard, I took it to besome form of haze, due to the heat of the sun; for it was broad daylightwhen the thing came. 

The wind had died away to a light breeze, and I was working at the mainrigging, along with Plummer, putting on seizings. 

"Looks as if 'twere middlin' 'ot, " he remarked. 

"Yes, " I said; and, for the time, took no further notice. 

Presently he spoke again:

"It's gettin' quite 'azy!" and his tone showed he was surprised. 

I glanced up, quickly. At first, I could see nothing. Then, I saw whathe meant. The air had a wavy, strange, unnatural appearance; somethinglike the heated air over the top of an engine's funnel, that you canoften see when no smoke is coming out. 

"Must be the heat, " I said. "Though I don't remember ever seeinganything just like it before. "

"Nor me, " Plummer agreed. 

It could not have been a minute later when I looked up again, and wasastonished to find that the whole ship was surrounded by a thinnish hazethat quite hid the horizon. 

"By Jove! Plummer, " I said. "How queer!"

"Yes, " he said, looking round. "I never seen anythin' like it before--not in these parts. "

"Heat wouldn't do that!" I said. 

"N--no, " he said, doubtfully. 

We went on with our work again--occasionally exchanging an odd word ortwo. Presently, after a little time of silence, I bent forward and askedhim to pass me up the spike. He stooped and picked it up from the deck, where it had tumbled. As he held it out to me, I saw the stolidexpression on his face, change suddenly to a look of complete surprise. He opened his mouth. 

"By gum!" he said. "It's gone. "

I turned quickly, and looked. And so it had--the whole sea showing clearand bright, right away to the horizon. 

I stared at Plummer, and he stared at me. 

"Well, I'm blowed!" he exclaimed. 

I do not think I made any reply; for I had a sudden, queer feeling thatthe thing was not right. And then, in a minute, I called myself an ass;but I could not really shake off the feeling. I had another good look atthe sea. I had a vague idea that something was different. The sea lookedbrighter, somehow, and the air clearer, I thought, and I missedsomething; but not much, you know. And it was not until a couple of dayslater, that I knew that it was several vessels on the horizon, which hadbeen quite in sight before the mist, and now were gone. 

During the rest of the watch, and indeed all day, there was no furthersign of anything unusual. Only, when the evening came (in the seconddog-watch it was) I saw the mist rise faintly--the setting sun shiningthrough it, dim and unreal. 

I knew then, as a certainty, that it was not caused by heat. 

And that was the beginning of it. 

The next day, I kept a pretty close watch, during all my time on deck;but the atmosphere remained clear. Yet, I heard from one of the chaps inthe Mate's watch, that it had been hazy during part of the time he wasat the wheel. 

"Comin' an' goin', like, " he described it to me, when I questioned himabout it. He thought it might be heat. 

But though I knew otherwise, I did not contradict him. At that time, noone, not even Plummer, seemed to think very much of the matter. And whenI mentioned it to Tammy, and asked him whether he'd noticed it, he onlyremarked that it must have been heat, or else the sun drawing up water. I let it stay at that; for there was nothing to be gained by suggestingthat the thing had more to it. 

Then, on the following day, something happened that set me wonderingmore than ever, and showed me how right I had been in feeling the mistto be something unnatural. It was in this way. 

Five bells, in the eight to twelve morning watch, had gone. I was at thewheel. The sky was perfectly clear--not a cloud to be seen, even on thehorizon. It was hot, standing at the wheel; for there was scarcely anywind, and I was feeling drowsy. The Second Mate was down on the maindeckwith the men, seeing about some job he wanted done; so that I was on thepoop alone. 

Presently, with the heat, and the sun beating right down on to me, Igrew thirsty; and, for want of something better, I pulled out a bit ofplug I had on me, and bit off a chew; though, as a rule, it is not ahabit of mine. After a little, naturally enough, I glanced round for thespittoon; but discovered that it was not there. Probably it had beentaken forrard when the decks were washed, to give it a scrub. So, asthere was no one on the poop, I left the wheel, and stepped aft to thetaffrail. It was thus that I came to see something altogether unthoughtof--a full-rigged ship, close-hauled on the port tack, a few hundredyards on our starboard quarter. Her sails were scarcely filled by thelight breeze, and flapped as she lifted to the swell of the sea. Sheappeared to have very little way through the water, certainly not morethan a knot an hour. Away aft, hanging from the gaff-end, was a stringof flags. Evidently, she was signalling to us. All this, I saw in aflash, and I just stood and stared, astonished. I was astonished becauseI had not seen her earlier. In that light breeze, I knew that she musthave been in sight for at least a couple of hours. Yet I could think ofnothing rational to satisfy my wonder. There she was--of that much, Iwas certain. And yet, how had she come there without my seeing her, before?

All at once, as I stood, staring, I heard the wheel behind me, spinrapidly. Instinctively, I jumped to get hold of the spokes; for I didnot want the steering gear jammed. Then I turned again to have anotherlook at the other ship; but, to my utter bewilderment, _there was nosign of her_--nothing but the calm ocean, spreading away to the distanthorizon. I blinked my eyelids a bit, and pushed the hair off myforehead. Then, I stared again; but there was no vestige of her--nothing, you know; and absolutely nothing unusual, except a faint, tremulous quiver in the air. And the blank surface of the sea reachingeverywhere to the empty horizon. 

Had she foundered? I asked myself, naturally enough; and, for themoment, I really wondered. I searched round the sea for wreckage; butthere was nothing, not even an odd hen-coop, or a piece of deckfurniture; and so I threw away that idea, as impossible. 

Then, as I stood, I got another thought, or, perhaps, an intuition and Iasked myself seriously whether this disappearing ship might not be insome way connected with the other queer things. It occurred to me then, that the vessel I had seen was nothing real, and, perhaps, did not existoutside of my own brain. I considered the idea, gravely. It helped toexplain the thing, and I could think of nothing else that would. Had shebeen real, I felt sure that others aboard us would have been bound tohave seen her long before I had--I got a bit muddled there, with tryingto think it out; and then, abruptly, the reality of the other ship, cameback to me--every rope and sail and spar, you know. And I remembered howshe had lifted to the heave of the sea, and how the sails had flapped inthe light breeze. And the string of flags! She had been signalling. Atthat last, I found it just as impossible to believe that she had notbeen real. 

I had reached to this point of irresolution, and was standing with myback, partly turned to the wheel. I was holding it steady with my lefthand, while I looked over the sea, to try to find something to help meto understand. 

All at once, as I stared, I seemed to see the ship again. 

She was more on the beam now, than on the quarter; but I thought littleof that, in the astonishment of seeing her once more. It was only aglimpse, I caught of her--dim and wavering, as though I looked at herthrough the convolutions of heated air. Then she grew indistinct, andvanished again; but I was convinced now that she was real, and had beenin sight all the time, if I could have seen her. That curious, dim, wavering appearance had suggested something to me. I remembered thestrange, wavy look of the air, a few days previously, just before themist had surrounded the ship. And in my mind, I connected the two. Itwas nothing about the other packet that was strange. The strangeness waswith us. It was something that was about (or invested) our ship thatprevented me--or indeed, any one else aboard from seeing that other. Itwas evident that she had been able to see us, as was proved by hersignalling. In an irrelevant sort of way, I wondered what the peopleaboard of her thought of our apparently intentional disregard of theirsignals. 

After that, I thought of the strangeness of it all. Even at that minute, they could see us, plainly; and yet, so far as we were concerned, thewhole ocean seemed empty. It appeared to me, at that time, to be theweirdest thing that could happen to us. 

And then a fresh thought came to me. How long had we been like that? Ipuzzled for a few moments. It was now that I recollected that we hadsighted several vessels on the morning of the day when the mistappeared; and since then, we had seen nothing. This, to say the least, should have struck me as queer; for some of the other packets werehomeward bound along with us, and steering the same course. Consequently, with the weather being fine, and the wind next to nothing, they should have been in sight all the time. This reasoning seemed to meto show, unmistakably, some connection between the coming of the mist, and our inability to _see_. So that it is possible we had been in thatextraordinary state of blindness for nearly three days. 

In my mind, the last glimpse of that ship on the quarter, came back tome. And, I remember, a curious thought got me, that I had looked at herfrom out of some other dimension. For a while, you know, I reallybelieved the mystery of the idea, and that it might be the actual truth, took me; instead of my realising just all that it might mean. It seemedso exactly to express all the half-defined thoughts that had come, sinceseeing that other packet on the quarter. 

Suddenly, behind me, there came a rustle and rattle of the sails; and, in the same instant, I heard the Skipper saying:

"Where the devil have you got her to, Jessop?"

I whirled round to the wheel. 

"I don't know--Sir, " I faltered. 

I had forgotten even that I was at the wheel. 

"Don't know!" he shouted. "I should damned well think you don't. Starboard your helm, you fool. You'll have us all aback!"

"i, i, Sir, " I answered, and hove the wheel over. I did it almostmechanically; for I was still dazed, and had not yet had time to collectmy senses. 

During the following half-minute, I was only conscious, in a confusedsort of way, that the Old Man was ranting at me. This feeling ofbewilderment passed off, and I found that I was peering blankly into thebinnacle, at the compass-card; yet, until then, entirely without beingaware of the fact. Now, however, I saw that the ship was coming back onto her course. Goodness knows how much she had been off!

With the realisation that I had let the ship get almost aback, therecame a sudden memory of the alteration in the position of the othervessel. She had appeared last on the beam, instead of on the quarter. Now, however, as my brain began to work, I saw the cause of thisapparent and, until then, inexplicable change. It was due, of course, toour having come up, until we had brought the other packet on to thebeam. 

It is curious how all this flashed through my mind, and held myattention--although only momentarily--in the face of the Skipper'sstorming. I think I had hardly realised he was still singing out at me. Anyhow, the next thing I remember, he was shaking my arm. 

"What's the matter with you, man?" he was shouting. And I just staredinto his face, like an ass, without saying a word. I seemed stillincapable, you know, of actual, reasoning speech. 

"Are you damned well off your head?" he went on shouting. "Are you alunatic? Have you had sunstroke? Speak, you gaping idiot!"

I tried to say something; but the words would not come clearly. 

"I--I--I--" I said, and stopped, stupidly. I was all right, really; butI was so bewildered with the thing I had found out; and, in a way, Iseemed almost to have come back out of a distance, you know. 

"You're a lunatic!" he said, again. He repeated the statement severaltimes, as if it were the only thing that sufficiently expressed hisopinion of me. Then he let go of my arm, and stepped back a couple ofpaces. 

"I'm not a lunatic!" I said, with a sudden gasp. "I'm not a lunatic, Sir, any more than you are. "

"Why the devil don't you answer my questions then?" he shouted, angrily. "What's the matter with you? What have you been doing with the ship?Answer me now!"

"I was looking at that ship away on the starboard quarter, Sir, " Iblurted out. "She's been signalling--"

"What!" he cut me short with disbelief. "What ship?"

He turned, quickly, and looked over the quarter. Then he wheeled roundto me again. 

"There's no ship! What do you mean by trying to spin up a cuffer likethat?"

"There is, Sir, " I answered. "It's out there--" I pointed. 

"Hold your tongue!" he said. "Don't talk rubbish to me. Do you think I'mblind?"

"I saw it, Sir, " I persisted. 

"Don't you talk back to me!" he snapped, with a quick burst of temper. "I won't have it!"

Then, just as suddenly, he was silent. He came a step towards me, andstared into my face. I believe the old ass thought I was a bit mad;anyway, without another word, he went to the break of the poop. 

"Mr. Tulipson, " he sung out. 

"Yes, Sir, " I heard the Second Mate reply. 

"Send another man to the wheel. "

"Very good, Sir, " the Second answered. 

A couple of minutes later, old Jaskett came up to relieve me. I gave himthe course, and he repeated it. 

"What's up, mate?" he asked me, as I stepped off the grating. 

"Nothing much, " I said, and went forrard to where the Skipper wasstanding on the break of the poop. I gave him the course; but the crabbyold devil took no notice of me, whatever. When I got down on to themaindeck, I went up to the Second, and gave it to him. He answered mecivilly enough, and then asked me what I had been doing to put the OldMan's back up. 

"I told him there's a ship on the starboard quarter, signalling us, " Isaid. 

"There's no ship out there, Jessop, " the Second Mate replied, looking atme with a queer, inscrutable expression. 

"There is, Sir, " I began. "I--"

"That will do, Jessop!" he said. "Go forrard and have a smoke. I shallwant you then to give a hand with these foot-ropes. You'd better bring aserving-mallet aft with you, when you come. "

I hesitated a moment, partly in anger; but more, I think, in doubt. 

"i, i, Sir, " I muttered at length, and went forrard. 

VIII

_After the Coming of the Mist_

After the coming of the mist, things seemed to develop pretty quickly. In the following two or three days a good deal happened. 

On the night of the day on which the Skipper had sent me away from thewheel, it was our watch on deck from eight o' clock to twelve, and mylook-out from ten to twelve. 

As I paced slowly to and fro across the fo'cas'le head, I was thinkingabout the affair of the morning. At first, my thoughts were about theOld Man. I cursed him thoroughly to myself, for being a pig-headed oldfool, until it occurred to me that if I had been in his place, and comeon deck to find the ship almost aback, and the fellow at the wheelstaring out across the sea, instead of attending to his business, Ishould most certainly have kicked up a thundering row. And then, I hadbeen an ass to tell him about the ship. I should never have done such athing, if I had not been a bit adrift. Most likely the old chap thoughtI was cracked. 

I ceased to bother my head about him, and fell to wondering why theSecond Mate had looked at me so queerly in the morning. Did he guessmore of the truth than I supposed? And if that were the case, why had herefused to listen to me?

After that, I went to puzzling about the mist. I had thought a greatdeal about it, during the day. One idea appealed to me, very strongly. It was that the actual, visible mist was a materialised expression of anextraordinarily subtle atmosphere, in which we were moving. 

Abruptly, as I walked backwards and forwards, taking occasional glancesover the sea (which was almost calm), my eye caught the glow of a lightout in the darkness. I stood still, and stared. I wondered whether itwas the light of a vessel. In that case we were no longer enveloped inthat extraordinary atmosphere. I bent forward, and gave the thing mymore immediate attention. I saw then that it was undoubtedly the greenlight of a vessel on our port bow. It was plain that she was bent oncrossing our bows. What was more, she was dangerously near--the size andbrightness of her light showed that. She would be close-hauled, while wewere going free, so that, of course, it was our place to get out of herway. Instantly, I turned and, putting my hands up to my mouth, hailedthe Second Mate:

"Light on the port bow, Sir. "

The next moment his hail came back:

"Whereabouts?"

"He must be blind, " I said to myself. 

"About two points on the bow, Sir, " I sung out. 

Then I turned to see whether she had shifted her position at all. Yet, when I came to look, there was no light visible. I ran forrard to thebows, and leant over the rail, and stared; but there was nothing--absolutely nothing except the darkness all about us. For perhaps a fewseconds I stood thus, and a suspicion swept across me, that the wholebusiness was practically a repetition of the affair of the morning. Evidently, the impalpable something that invested the ship, had thinnedfor an instant, thus allowing me to see the light ahead. Now, it hadclosed again. Yet, whether I could see, or not, I did not doubt the factthat, there was a vessel ahead, and very close ahead, too. We might runon top of her any minute. My only hope was that, seeing we were notgetting out of her way, she had put her helm up, so as to let us pass, with the intention of then crossing under our stern. I waited, prettyanxiously, watching and listening. Then, all at once, I heard stepscoming along the deck, forrard, and the 'prentice, whose time-keeping itwas, came up on to the fo'cas'le head. 

"The Second Mate says he can't see any light Jessop, " he said, comingover to where I stood. "Whereabouts is it?"

"I don't know, " I answered. "I've lost sight of it myself. It was agreen light, about a couple of points on the port bow. It seemed fairlyclose. "

"Perhaps their lamp's gone out, " he suggested, after peering out prettyhard into the night for a minute or so. 

"Perhaps, " I said. 

I did not tell him that the light had been so close that, even in thedarkness, we should _now_ have been able to see the ship herself. 

"You're quite sure it was a light, and not a star?" he asked, doubtfully, after another long stare. 

"Oh! no, " I said. "It may have been the moon, now I come to think aboutit. "

"Don't rot, " he replied. "It's easy enough to make a mistake. What shallI say to the Second Mate?"

"Tell him it's disappeared, of course!"

"Where to?" he asked. 

"How the devil should I know?" I told him. "Don't ask silly questions!"

"All right, keep your rag in, " he said, and went aft to report to theSecond Mate. 

Five minutes later, it might have been, I saw the light again. It wasbroad on the bow, and told me plainly enough that she had up with herhelm to escape being run down. I did not wait a moment; but sung out tothe Second Mate that there was a green light about four points on theport bow. By Jove! it must have been a close shave. The light did not_seem_ to be more than about a hundred yards away. It was fortunate thatwe had not much way through the water. 

"Now, " I thought to myself, "the Second will see the thing. And perhapsMr. Blooming 'prentice will be able to give the star its proper name. "

Even as the thought came into my head, the light faded and vanished; andI caught the Second Mate's voice. 

"Whereaway?" he was singing out. 

"It's gone again, Sir, " I answered. 

A minute later, I heard him coming along the deck. 

He reached the foot of the starboard ladder. 

"Where are you, Jessop?" he inquired. 

"Here, Sir, " I said, and went to the top of the weather ladder. 

He came up slowly on to the fo'cas'le head. 

"What's this you've been singing out about a light?" he asked. "Justpoint out exactly where it was you last saw it. "

This I did, and he went over to the port rail, and stared away into thenight; but without seeing anything. 

"It's gone, Sir, " I ventured to remind him. "Though I've seen it twicenow--once, about a couple of points on the bow, and this last time, broad away on the bow; but it disappeared both times, almost at once. "

"I don't understand it at all, Jessop, " he said, in a puzzled voice. "Are you sure it was a ship's light?"

"Yes, Sir. A green light. It was quite close. "

"I don't understand, " he said again. "Run aft and ask the 'prentice topass you down my night glasses. Be as smart as you can. "

"i, i, Sir, " I replied, and ran aft. 

In less than a minute, I was back with his binoculars; and, with them, he stared for some time at the sea to leeward. 

All at once he dropped them to his side, and faced round on me with asudden question:

"Where's she gone to? If she's shifted her bearing as quickly as allthat, she must be precious close. We should be able to see her spars andsails, or her cabin light, or her binnacle light, or something!"

"It's queer, Sir, " I assented. 

"Damned queer, " he said. "So damned queer that I'm inclined to thinkyou've made a mistake. "

"No, Sir. I'm certain it was a light. "

"Where's the ship then?" he asked. 

"I can't say, Sir. That's just what's been puzzling me. "

The Second said nothing in reply; but took a couple of quick turnsacross the fo'cas'le head--stopping at the port rail, and taking anotherlook to leeward through his night glasses. Perhaps a minute he stoodthere. Then, without a word, he went down the lee ladder, and away aftalong the main deck to the poop. 

"He's jolly well puzzled, " I thought to myself. "Or else he thinks I'vebeen imagining things. " Either way, I guessed he'd think that. 

In a little, I began to wonder whether, after all, he had any idea ofwhat might be the truth. One minute, I would feel certain he had; andthe next, I was just as sure that he guessed nothing. I got one of myfits of asking myself whether it would not have been better to have toldhim everything. It seemed to me that he must have seen sufficient tomake him inclined to listen to me. And yet, I could not by any means becertain. I might only have been making an ass of myself, in his eyes. Orset him thinking I was dotty. 

I was walking about the fo'cas'le head, feeling like this, when I sawthe light for the third time. It was very bright and big, and I couldsee it move, as I watched. This again showed me that it must be veryclose. 

"Surely, " I thought, "the Second Mate must see it now, for himself. "

I did not sing out this time, right away. I thought I would let theSecond see for himself that I had not been mistaken. Besides, I was notgoing to risk its vanishing again, the instant I had spoken. For quitehalf a minute, I watched it, and there was no sign of its disappearing. Every moment, I expected to hear the Second Mate's hail, showing that hehad spotted it at last; but none came. 

I could stand it no longer, and I ran to the rail, on the after part ofthe fo'cas'le head. 

"Green light a little abaft the beam, Sir!" I sung out, at the top of myvoice. 

But I had waited too long. Even as I shouted, the light blurred andvanished. 

I stamped my foot and swore. The thing was making a fool of me. Yet, Ihad a faint hope that those aft had seen it just before it disappeared;but this I knew was vain, directly I heard the Second's voice. 

"Light be damned!" he shouted. 

Then he blew his whistle, and one of the men ran aft, out of thefo'cas'le, to see what it was he wanted. 

"Whose next look-out is it?" I heard him ask. 

"Jaskett's, Sir. "

"Then tell Jaskett to relieve Jessop at once. Do you hear?"

"Yes, Sir, " said the man, and came forrard. 

In a minute, Jaskett stumbled up onto the fo'cas'le head. 

"What's up, mate?" he asked sleepily. 

"It's that fool of a Second Mate!" I said, savagely. "I've reported alight to him three times, and, because the blind fool can't see it, he'ssent you up to relieve me!"

"Where is it, mate?" he inquired. 

He looked round at the dark sea. 

"I don't see no light, " he remarked, after a few moments. 

"No, " I said. "It's gone. "

"Eh?" he inquired. 

"It's gone!" I repeated, irritably. 

He turned and regarded me silently, through the dark. 

"I'd go an' 'ave a sleep, mate, " he said, at length. "I've been that waymeself. Ther's nothin' like a snooze w'en yer gets like that. "

"What!" I said. "Like what?"

"It's all right, mate. Yer'll be all right in ther mornin'. Don't yerworry 'bout me. " His tone was sympathetic. 

"Hell!" was all I said, and walked down off the fo'cas'le head. Iwondered whether the old fellow thought I was going silly. 

"Have a sleep, by Jove!" I muttered to myself. "I wonder who'd feel likehaving a sleep after what I've seen and stood today!"

I felt rotten, with no one understanding what was really the matter. Iseemed to be all alone, through the things I had learnt. Then thethought came to me to go aft and talk the matter over with Tammy. I knewhe would be able to understand, of course; and it would be such arelief. 

On the impulse, I turned and went aft, along the deck to the 'prentices'berth. As I neared the break of the poop, I looked up and saw the darkshape of the Second Mate, leaning over the rail above me. 

"Who's that?" he asked. 

"It's Jessop, Sir, " I said. 

"What do you want in this part of the ship?" he inquired. 

"I'd come aft to speak to Tammy, Sir, " I replied. 

"You go along forrard and turn-in, " he said, not altogether unkindly. "Asleep will do you more good than yarning about. You know, you're gettingto fancy things too much!"

"I'm sure I'm not, Sir! I'm perfectly well. I--"

"That will do!" he interrupted, sharply. "You go and have a sleep. "

I gave a short curse, under my breath, and went slowly forrard. I wasgetting maddened with being treated as if I were not quite sane. 

"By God!" I said to myself. "Wait till the fools know what I know--justwait!"

I entered the fo'cas'le, through the port doorway, and went across to mychest, and sat down. I felt angry and tired, and miserable. 

Quoin and Plummer were sitting close by, playing cards, and smoking. Stubbins lay in his bunk, watching them, and also smoking. As I satdown, he put his head forward over the bunk-board, and regarded me in acurious, meditative way. 

"What's hup with ther Second hoffìcer?" he asked, after a short stare. 

I looked at him, and the other two men looked up at me. I felt I shouldgo off with a bang, if I did not say something, and I let out prettystiffly, telling them the whole business. Yet, I had seen enough to knowthat it was no good trying to explain things; so I just told them theplain, bold facts, and left explanations as much alone as possible. 

"Three times, you say?" said Stubbins when I had finished. 

"Yes, " I assented. 

"An' ther Old Man sent yer from ther wheel this mornin', 'cause yer'appened ter see a ship 'e couldn't, " Plummer added in a reflectivetone. 

"Yes, " I said, again. 

I thought I saw him look at Quoin, significantly; but Stubbins, Inoticed, looked only at me. 

"I reckon ther Second thinks you're a bit hoff colour, " he remarked, after a short pause. 

"The Second Mate's a fool!" I said, with some bitterness. "A confoundedfool!"

"I hain't so sure about that, " he replied. "It's bound ter seem queerter him. I don't understand it myself--"

He lapsed into silence, and smoked. 

"I carn't understand 'ow it is ther Second Mate didn't 'appen to spotit, " Quoin said, in a puzzled voice. 

It seemed to me that Plummer nudged him to be quiet. It looked as ifPlummer shared the Second Mate's opinion, and the idea made me savage. But Stubbins's next remark drew my attention. 

"I don't hunderstand it, " he said, again; speaking with deliberation. "All ther same, ther Second should have savvied enough not to have slungyou hoff ther look-hout. "

He nodded his head, slowly, keeping his gaze fixed on my face. 

"How do you mean?" I asked, puzzled; yet with a vague sense that the manunderstood more, perhaps, than I had hitherto thought. 

"I mean what's ther Second so blessed cocksure about?"

He took a draw at his pipe, removed it, and leant forward somewhat, overhis bunk-board. 

"Didn't he say nothin' ter you, after you came hoff ther look-hout?" heasked. 

"Yes, " I replied; "he spotted me going aft. He told me I was getting toimagining things too much. He said I'd better come forrard and get asleep. "

"An' what did you say?"

"Nothing. I came forrard. "

"Why didn't you bloomin' well harsk him if he weren't doin' therimaginin' trick when he sent us chasin' hup ther main, hafter thatbogyman of his?"

"I never thought of it, " I told him. 

"Well, yer ought ter have. "

He paused, and sat up in his bunk, and asked for a match. 

As I passed him my box, Quoin looked up from his game. 

"It might 'ave been a stowaway, yer know. Yer carn't say as it's everbeen proved as it wasn't. "

Stubbins passed the box back to me, and went on without noticing Quoin'sremark:

"Told you to go an' have a snooze, did he? I don't hunderstand what he'sbluffin' at. "

"How do you mean, bluffing?" I asked. 

He nodded his head, sagely. 

"It's my hidea he knows you saw that light, just as bloomin' well as Ido. "

Plummer looked up from his game, at this speech; but said nothing. 

"Then _you_ don't doubt that I really saw it?" I asked, with a certainsurprise. 

"Not me, " he remarked, with assurance. "You hain't likely ter make thatkind of mistake three times runnin'. "

"No, " I said. "I _know_ I saw the light, right enough; but"--I hesitateda moment--"it's blessed queer. "

"It _is_ blessed queer!" he agreed. "It's damned queer! An' there's alot of other damn queer things happenin' aboard this packet lately. "

He was silent for a few seconds. Then he spoke suddenly:

"It's not nat'ral, I'm damned sure of that much. "

He took a couple of draws at his pipe, and in the momentary silence, Icaught Jaskett's voice, above us. He was hailing the poop. 

"Red light on the starboard quarter, Sir, " I heard him sing out. 

"There you are, " I said with a jerk of my head. "That's about where thatpacket I spotted, ought to be by now. She couldn't cross our bows, soshe up helm, and let us pass, and now she's hauled up again and goneunder our stern. "

I got up from the chest, and went to the door, the other threefollowing. As we stepped out on deck, I heard the Second Mate shoutingout, away aft, to know the whereabouts of the light. 

"By Jove! Stubbins, " I said. "I believe the blessed thing's gone again. "

We ran to the starboard side, in a body, and looked over; but there wasno sign of a light in the darkness astern. 

"I carn't say as _I_ see any light, " said Quoin. 

Plummer said nothing. 

I looked up at the fo'cas'le head. There, I could faintly distinguishthe outlines of Jaskett. He was standing by the starboard rail, with hishands up, shading his eyes, evidently staring towards the place where hehad last seen the light. 

"Where's she got to, Jaskett?" I called out. 

"I can't say, mate, " he answered. "It's the most 'ellishly funny thingI've ever comed across. She were there as plain as me 'att one minnit, an' ther next she were gone--clean gone. "

I turned to Plummer. 

"What do you think about it, _now_?" I asked him. 

"Well, " he said. "I'll admit I thought at first 'twere somethin' an'nothin'. I thought yer was mistaken; but it seems yer did seesomethin'. "

Away aft, we heard the sound of steps, along the deck. 

"Ther Second's comin' forrard for a hexplanation, Jaskett, " Stubbinssung out. "You'd better go down an' change yer breeks. "

The Second Mate passed us, and went up the starboard ladder. 

"What's up now, Jaskett?" he said quickly. "Where is this light? Neitherthe 'prentice nor I can see it!"

"Ther damn thing's clean gone, Sir, " Jaskett replied. 

"Gone!" the Second Mate said. "Gone! What do you mean?"

"She were there one minnit, Sir, as plain as me 'att, an' ther next, she'd gone. "

"That's a damn silly yarn to tell me!" the Second replied. "You don'texpect me to believe it, do you?"

"It's Gospel trewth any'ow, Sir, " Jaskett answered. "An' Jessop seen itjust ther same. "

He seemed to have added that last part as an afterthought. Evidently, the old beggar had changed his opinion as to my need for sleep. 

"You're an old fool, Jaskett, " the Second said, sharply. "And that idiotJessop has been putting things into your silly old head. "

He paused, an instant. Then he continued:

"What the devil's the matter with you all, that you've taken to thissort of game? You know very well that you saw no light! I sent Jessopoff the look-out, and then you must go and start the same game. "

"We 'aven't--" Jaskett started to say; but the Second silenced him. 

"Stow it!" he said, and turned and went down the ladder, passing usquickly, without a word. 

"Doesn't look to _me_, Stubbins, " I said, "as though the Second didbelieve we've seen the light. "

"I hain't so sure, " he answered. "He's a puzzler. "

The rest of the watch passed away quietly; and at eight bells I madehaste to turn-in, for I was tremendously tired. 

When we were called again for the four to eight watch on deck, I learntthat one of the men in the Mate's watch had seen a light, soon after wehad gone below, and had reported it, only for it to disappearimmediately. This, I found, had happened twice, and the Mate had got sowild (being under the impression that the man was playing the fool) thathe had nearly came to blows with him--finally ordering him off thelook-out, and sending another man up in his place. If this last man sawthe light, he took good care not to let the Mate know; so that thematter had ended there. 

And then, on the following night, before we had ceased to talk about thematter of the vanishing lights, something else occurred that temporarilydrove from my mind all memory of the mist, and the extraordinary, blindatmosphere it had seemed to usher. 

IX

_The Man Who Cried for Help_

It was, as I have said, on the following night that something furtherhappened. And it brought home pretty vividly to me, if not to any of theothers, the sense of a personal danger aboard. 

We had gone below for the eight to twelve watch, and my last impressionof the weather at eight o'clock, was that the wind was freshening. Therehad been a great bank of cloud rising astern, which had looked as if itwere going to breeze up still more. 

At a quarter to twelve, when we were called for our twelve to four watchon deck, I could tell at once, by the sound, that there was a freshbreeze blowing; at the same time, I heard the voices of the men on theother watch, singing out as they hauled on the ropes. I caught therattle of canvas in the wind, and guessed that they were taking theroyals off her. I looked at my watch, which I always kept hanging in mybunk. It showed the time to be just after the quarter; so that, withluck, we should escape having to go up to the sails. 

I dressed quickly, and then went to the door to look at the weather. Ifound that the wind had shifted from the starboard quarter, to rightaft; and, by the look of the sky, there seemed to be a promise of more, before long. 

Up aloft, I could make out faintly the fore and mizzen royals flappingin the wind. The main had been left for a while longer. In the foreriggings, Jacobs, the Ordinary Seaman in the Mate's watch, was followinganother of the men aloft to the sail. The Mate's two 'prentices werealready up at the mizzen. Down on deck, the rest of the men were busyclearing up the ropes. 

I went back to my bunk, and looked at my watch--the time was only a fewminutes off eight bells; so I got my oilskins ready, for it looked likerain outside. As I was doing this, Jock went to the door for a look. 

"What's it doin', Jock?" Tom asked, getting out of his bunk, hurriedly. 

"I'm thinkin' maybe it's goin' to blow a wee, and ye'll be needin' yer'oilskins, " Jock answered. 

When eight bells went, and we mustered aft for roll-call, there was aconsiderable delay, owing to the Mate refusing to call the roll untilTom (who as usual, had only turned out of his bunk at the last minute)came aft to answer his name. When, at last, he did come, the Second andthe Mate joined in giving him a good dressing down for a lazy sojer; sothat several minutes passed before we were on our way forrard again. This was a small enough matter in itself, and yet really terrible in itsconsequence to one of our number; for, just as we reached the forerigging, there was a shout aloft, loud above the noise of the wind, andthe next moment, something crashed down into our midst, with a great, slogging thud--something bulky and weighty, that struck full upon Jock, so that he went down with a loud, horrible, ringing "ugg, " and neversaid a word. From the whole crowd of us there went up a yell of fear, and then, with one accord, there was a run for the lighted fo'cas'le. Iam not ashamed to say that I ran with the rest. A blind, unreasoningfright had seized me, and I did not stop to think. 

Once in the fo'cas'le and the light, there was a reaction. We all stoodand looked blankly at one another for a few moments. Then someone askeda question, and there was a general murmur of denial. We all feltashamed, and someone reached up and unhooked the lantern on the portside. I did the same with the starboard one; and there was a quickmovement towards the doors. As we streamed out on deck, I caught thesound of the Mates' voices. They had evidently come down from off thepoop to find out what had happened; but it was too dark to see theirwhereabouts. 

"Where the hell have you all got to?" I heard the Mate shout. 

The next instant, they must have seen the light from our lanterns; for Iheard their footsteps, coming along the deck at a run. They came thestarboard side, and just abaft the fore rigging, one of them stumbledand fell over something. It was the First Mate who had tripped. I knewthis by the cursing that came directly afterwards. He picked himself up, and, apparently without stopping to see what manner of thing it was thathe had fallen over, made a rush to the pin-rail. The Second Mate raninto the circle of light thrown by our lanterns, and stopped, dead--eyeing us doubtfully. I am not surprised at this, _now_, nor at thebehaviour of the Mate, the following instant; but at that time, I mustsay I could not conceive what had come to them, particularly the FirstMate. He came out at us from the darkness with a rush and a roar like abull and brandishing a belaying-pin. I had failed to take into accountthe scene which his eyes must have shown him:--the whole crowd of men inthe fo'cas'le--both watches--pouring out on to the deck in utterconfusion, and greatly excited, with a couple of fellows at their head, carrying lanterns. And before this, there had been the cry aloft and thecrash down on deck, followed by the shouts of the frightened crew, andthe sounds of many feet running. He may well have taken the cry for asignal, and our actions for something not far short of mutiny. Indeed, his words told us that this was his very thought. 

"I'll knock the face off the first man that comes a step further aft!"he shouted, shaking the pin in my face. "I'll show yer who's masterhere! What the hell do yer mean by this? Get forrard into yer kennel!"

There was a low growl from the men at the last remark, and the old bullystepped back a couple of paces. 

"Hold on, you fellows!" I sung out. "Shut up a minute. "

"Mr. Tulipson!" I called out to the Second, who had not been able to geta word in edgeways, "I don't know what the devil's the matter with theFirst Mate; but he'll not find it pay to talk to a crowd like ours, inthat sort of fashion, or there'll be ructions aboard. "

"Come! come! Jessop! This won't do! I can't have you talking like thatabout the Mate!" he said, sharply. "Let me know what's to-do, and thengo forrard again, the lot of you. "

"We'd have told you at first, Sir, " I said, "only the Mate wouldn't giveany of us a chance to speak. There's been an awful accident, Sir. Something's fallen from aloft, right on to Jock--"

I stopped suddenly; for there was a loud crying aloft. 

"Help! help! help!" someone was shouting, and then it rose from a shoutinto a scream. 

"My God! Sir!" I shouted. "That's one of the men up at the fore royal!"

"Listen!" ordered the Second Mate. "Listen!" Even as he spoke, it cameagain--broken and, as it were, in gasps. 

"Help!... Oh!... God!... Oh!... Help! H-e-l-p!"

Abruptly, Stubbins's voice struck in. 

"Hup with us, lads! By God! hup with us!" and he made a spring into thefore rigging. I shoved the handle of the lantern between my teeth, andfollowed. Plummer was coming; but the Second Mate pulled him back. 

"That's sufficient, " he said. "I'm going, " and he came up after me. 

We went over the foretop, racing like fiends. The light from the lanternprevented me from seeing to any distance in the darkness; but, at thecrosstrees, Stubbins, who was some ratlines ahead, shouted out all atonce, and in gasps:

"They're fightin' ... Like ... Hell!"

"What?" called the Second Mate, breathlessly. 

Apparently, Stubbins did not hear him; for he made no reply. We clearedthe crosstrees, and climbed into the t'gallant rigging. The wind wasfairly fresh up there, and overhead, there sounded the flap, flap ofsailcloth flying in the wind; but since we had left the deck, there hadbeen no other sound from above. 

Now, abruptly, there came again a wild crying from the darkness over us. A strange, wild medley it was of screams for help, mixed up withviolent, breathless curses. 

Beneath the royal yard, Stubbins halted, and looked down to me. 

"Hurry hup ... With ther ... Lantern ... Jessop!" he shouted, catchinghis breath between the words. "There'll be ... Murder done ... Hin aminute!"

I reached him, and held the light up for him to catch. He stooped, andtook it from me. Then, holding it above his head, he went a few ratlineshigher. In this manner, he reached to a level with the royal yard. Frommy position, a little below him, the lantern seemed but to throw a fewstraggling, flickering rays along the spar; yet they showed mesomething. My first glance had been to wind'ard, and I had seen at once, that there was nothing on the weather yard arm. From there my gaze wentto leeward. Indistinctly, I saw something upon the yard, that clung, struggling. Stubbins bent towards it with the light; thus I saw it moreclearly. It was Jacobs, the Ordinary Seaman. He had his right armtightly round the yard; with the other, he appeared to be fendinghimself from something on the other side of him, and further out uponthe yard. At times, moans and gasps came from him, and sometimes curses. Once, as he appeared to be dragged partly from his hold, he screamedlike a woman. His whole attitude suggested stubborn despair. I canscarcely tell you how this extraordinary sight affected me. I seemed tostare at it without realising that the affair was a real happening. 

During the few seconds which I had spent staring and breathless, Stubbins had climbed round the after side of the mast, and now I beganagain to follow him. 

From his position below me, the Second had not been able to see thething that was occurring on the yard, and he sung out to me to know whatwas happening. 

"It's Jacobs, Sir, " I called back. "He seems to be fighting with someoneto looard of him. I can't see very plainly yet. "

Stubbins had got round on to the lee foot-rope, and now he held thelantern up, peering, and I made my way quickly alongside of him. TheSecond Mate followed; but instead of getting down on to the foot-rope, he got on the yard, and stood there holding on to the tie. He sung outfor one of us to pass him up the lantern, which I did, Stubbins handingit to me. The Second held it out at arm's length, so that it lit up thelee part of the yard. The light showed through the darkness, as far asto where Jacobs struggled so weirdly. Beyond him, nothing was distinct. 

There had been a moment's delay while we were passing the lantern up tothe Second Mate. Now, however, Stubbins and I moved out slowly along thefoot-rope. We went slowly; but we did well to go at all, with any showof boldness; for the whole business was so abominably uncanny. It seemsimpossible to convey truly to you, the strange scene on the royal yard. You may be able to picture it yourselves. The Second Mate standing uponthe spar, holding the lantern; his body swaying with each roll of theship, and his head craned forward as he peered along the yard. On ourleft, Jacobs, mad, fighting, cursing, praying, gasping; and outside ofhim, shadows and the night. 

The Second Mate spoke, abruptly. 

"Hold on a moment!" he said. Then:

"Jacobs!" he shouted. "Jacobs, do you hear me?"

There was no reply, only the continual gasping and cursing. 

"Go on, " the Second Mate said to us. "But be careful. Keep a tighthold!"

He held the lantern higher and we went out cautiously. 

Stubbins reached the Ordinary, and put his hand on his shoulder, with asoothing gesture. 

"Steady hon now, Jacobs, " he said. "Steady hon. "

At his touch, as though by magic, the young fellow calmed down, andStubbins--reaching round him--grasped the jackstay on the other side. 

"Get a hold of him your side, Jessop, " he sung out. "I'll get thisside. "

This, I did, and Stubbins climbed round him. 

"There hain't no one here, " Stubbins called to me; but his voiceexpressed no surprise. 

"What!" sung out the Second Mate. "No one there! Where's Svensen, then?"

I did not catch Stubbins's reply; for suddenly, it seemed to me that Isaw something shadowy at the extreme end of the yard, out by the lift. Istared. It rose up, on the yard, and I saw that it was the figure of aman. It grasped at the lift, and commenced to swarm up, quickly. Itpassed diagonally above Stubbins's head, and reached down a vague handand arm. 

"Look out! Stubbins!" I shouted. "Look out!"

"What's up now?" he called, in a startled voice. At the same instant, his cap went whirling away to leeward. 

"Damn the wind!" he burst out. 

Then all at once, Jacobs, who had only been giving an occasional moan, commenced to shriek and struggle. 

"Hold fast onto him!" Stubbins yelled. "He'll be throwin' himself offthe yard. "

I put my left arm round the Ordinary's body--getting hold of thejackstay on the other side. Then I looked up. Above us, I seemed to seesomething dark and indistinct, that moved rapidly up the lift. 

"Keep tight hold of him, while I get a gasket, " I heard the Second Matesing out. 

A moment later there was a crash, and the light disappeared. 

"Damn and set fire to the sail!" shouted the Second Mate. 

I twisted round, somewhat, and looked in his direction. I could dimlymake him out on the yard. He had evidently been in the act of gettingdown on to the foot-rope, when the lantern was smashed. From him, mygaze jumped to the lee rigging. It seemed that I made out some shadowything stealing down through the darkness; but I could not be sure; andthen, in a breath, it had gone. 

"Anything wrong, Sir?" I called out. 

"Yes, " he answered. "I've dropped the lantern. The blessed sail knockedit out of my hand!"

"We'll be all right, Sir, " I replied. "I think we can manage without it. Jacobs seems to be quieter now. "

"Well, be careful as you come in, " he warned us. 

"Come on, Jacobs, " I said. "Come on; we'll go down on deck. "

"Go along, young feller, " Stubbins put in. "You're right now. We'll takecare of you. " And we started to guide him along the yard. 

He went willingly enough, though without saying a word. He seemed like achild. Once or twice he shivered; but said nothing. 

We got him in to the lee rigging. Then, one going beside him, and theother keeping below, we made our way slowly down on deck. We went veryslowly--so slowly, in fact, that the Second Mate--who had stayed aminute to shove the gasket round the lee side of the sail--was almost assoon down. 

"Take Jacobs forrard to his bunk, " he said, and went away aft to where acrowd of the men, one with a lantern, stood round the door of an emptyberth under the break of the poop on the starboard side. 

We hurried forrard to the fo'cas'le. There we found all in darkness. 

"They're haft with Jock, and Svenson!" Stubbins had hesitated an instantbefore saying the name. 

"Yes, " I replied. "That's what it must have been, right enough. "

"I kind of knew it all ther time, " he said. 

I stepped in through the doorway, and struck a match. Stubbins followed, guiding Jacobs before him, and, together, we got him into his bunk. Wecovered him up with his blankets, for he was pretty shivery. Then wecame out. During the whole time, he had not spoken a word. 

As we went aft, Stubbins remarked that he thought the business must havemade him a bit dotty. 

"It's driven him clean barmy, " he went on. "He don't hunderstand a wordthat's said ter him. "

"He may be different in the morning, " I answered. 

As we neared the poop, and the crowd of waiting men, he spoke again:

"They've put 'em hinter ther Second's hempty berth. "

"Yes, " I said. "Poor beggars. "

We reached the other men, and they opened out, and allowed us to getnear the door. Several of them asked in low tones, whether Jacobs wasall right, and I told them, "Yes"; not saying anything then about hiscondition. 

I got close up to the doorway, and looked into the berth. The lamp waslit, and I could see, plainly. There were two bunks in the place, and aman had been laid in each. The Skipper was there, leaning up against abulkshead. He looked worried; but was silent--seeming to be mooding inhis own thoughts. The Second Mate was busy with a couple of flags, whichhe was spreading over the bodies. The First Mate was talking, evidentlytelling him something; but his tone was so low that I caught his wordsonly with difficulty. It struck me that he seemed pretty subdued. I gotparts of his sentences in patches, as it were. 

"... Broken, " I heard him say. "And the Dutchman.... "

"I've seen him, " the Second Mate said, shortly. 

"Two, straight off the reel, " said the Mate "... Three in.... "

The Second made no reply. 

"Of course, yer know ... Accident. " The First Mate went on. 

"Is it!" the Second said, in a queer voice. 

I saw the Mate glance at him, in a doubtful sort of way; but the Secondwas covering poor old Jock's dead face, and did not appear to notice hislook. 

"It--it--" the mate said, and stopped. 

After a moment's hesitation, he said something further, that I could notcatch; but there seemed a lot of funk in his voice. 

The Second Mate appeared not to have heard him; at any rate, he made noreply; but bent, and straightened out a corner of the flag over therigid figure in the lower bunk. There was a certain niceness in hisaction which made me warm towards him. 

"He's white!" I thought to myself. 

Out loud, I said:

"We've put Jacobs into his bunk, Sir. "

The Mate jumped; then whizzed round, and stared at me as though I hadbeen a ghost. The Second Mate turned also; but before he could speak, the Skipper took a step towards me. 

"Is he all right?" he asked. 

"Well, Sir, " I said. "He's a bit queer; but I think it's possible he maybe better, after a sleep. "

"I hope so, too, " he replied, and stepped out on deck. He went towardsthe starboard poop ladder, walking slowly. The Second went and stood bythe lamp, and the Mate, after a quick glance at him, came out andfollowed the Skipper up on to the poop. It occurred to me then, like aflash, that the man had stumbled upon a portion of the _truth_. Thisaccident coming so soon after that other! It was evident that, in hismind, he had connected them. I recollected the fragments of his remarksto the Second Mate. Then, those many minor happenings that had croppedup at different times, and at which he had sneered. I wondered whetherhe would begin to comprehend their significance--their beastly, sinistersignificance. 

"Ah! Mr. Bully-Mate, " I thought to myself. "You're in for a bad time ifyou've begun to understand. "

Abruptly, my thoughts jumped to the vague future before us. 

"God help us!" I muttered. 

The Second Mate, after a look round, turned down the wick of the lamp, and came out, closing the door after him. 

"Now, you men, " he said to the Mate's watch, "get forrard; we can't doanything more. You'd better go and get some sleep. "

"i, i, Sir, " they said, in a chorus. 

Then, as we all turned to go forrard, he asked if anyone had relievedthe look-out. 

"No, sir, " answered Quoin. 

"Is it yours?" the Second asked. 

"Yes, Sir, " he replied. 

"Hurry up and relieve him then, " the Second said. 

"i, i, Sir, " the man answered, and went forrard with the rest of us. 

As we went, I asked Plummer who was at the wheel. 

"Tom, " he said. 

As he spoke, several spots of rain fell, and I glanced up at the sky. Ithad become thickly clouded. 

"Looks as if it were going to breeze up, " I said. 

"Yes, " he replied. "We'll be shortenin' 'er down 'fore long. "

"May be an all-hands job, " I remarked. 

"Yes, " he answered again. "'Twon't be no use their turnin' in, if itis. "

The man who was carrying the lantern, went into the fo'cas'le, and wefollowed. 

"Where's ther one, belongin' to our side?" Plummer asked. 

"Got smashed hupstairs, " answered Stubbins. 

"'ow were that?" Plummer inquired. 

Stubbins hesitated. 

"The Second Mate dropped it, " I replied. "The sail hit it, orsomething. "

The men in the other watch seemed to have no immediate intention ofturning-in; but sat in their bunks, and around on the chests. There wasa general lighting of pipes, in the midst of which there came a suddenmoan from one of the bunks in the forepart of the fo'cas'le--a part thatwas always a bit gloomy, and was more so now, on account of our havingonly one lamp. 

"Wot's that?" asked one of the men belonging to the other side. 

"S--sh!" said Stubbins. "It's him. "

"'oo?" inquired Plummer. "Jacobs?"

"Yes, " I replied. "Poor devil!"

"Wot were 'appenin' w'en yer got hup _ther'_?" asked the man on theother side, indicating with a jerk of his head, the fore royal. 

Before I could reply, Stubbins jumped up from his sea-chest. 

"Ther Second Mate's whistlin'!" he said. "Come hon, " and he ran out ondeck. 

Plummer, Jaskett and I followed quickly. Outside, it had started to rainpretty heavily. As we went, the Second Mate's voice came to us throughthe darkness. 

"Stand by the main royal clewlines and buntlines, " I heard him shout, and the next instant came the hollow thutter of the sail as he startedto lower away. 

In a few minutes we had it hauled up. 

"Up and furl it, a couple of you, " he sung out. 

I went towards the starboard rigging; then I hesitated. No one else hadmoved. 

The Second Mate came among us. 

"Come on now, lads, " he said. "Make a move. It's got to be done. "

"I'll go, " I said. "If someone else will come. "

Still, no one stirred, and no one answered. 

Tammy came across to me. 

"I'll come, " he volunteered, in a nervous voice. 

"No, by God, no!" said the Second Mate, abruptly. 

He jumped into the main rigging himself. "Come along, Jessop!" heshouted. 

I followed him; but I was astonished. I had fully expected him to get onto the other fellows' tracks like a ton of bricks. It had not occurredto me that he was making allowances. I was simply puzzled then; butafterwards it dawned upon me. 

No sooner had I followed the Second Mate, than, straightway, Stubbins, Plummer, and Jaskett came up after us at a run. 

About half-way to the maintop, the Second Mate stopped, and looked down. 

"Who's that coming up below you, Jessop?" he asked. 

Before I could, speak, Stubbins answered:

"It's me, Sir, an' Plummer an' Jaskett. "

"Who the devil told you to come _now_? Go straight down, the lot ofyou!"

"We're comin' hup ter keep you company, Sir, " was his reply. 

At that, I was confident of a burst of temper from the Second; and yet, for the second time within a couple of minutes I was wrong. Instead ofcursing Stubbins, he, after a moment's pause, went on up the rigging, without another word, and the rest of us followed. We reached the royal, and made short work of it; indeed, there were sufficient of us to haveeaten it. When we had finished, I noticed that the Second Mate remainedon the yard until we were all in the rigging. Evidently, he haddetermined to take a full share of any risk there might be; but I tookcare to keep pretty close to him; so as to be on hand if anythinghappened; yet we reached the deck again, without anything havingoccurred. I have said, without anything having occurred; but I am notreally correct in this; for, as the Second Mate came down over thecrosstrees, he gave a short, abrupt cry. 

"Anything wrong, Sir?" I asked. 

"No--o!" he said. "Nothing! I banged my knee. "

And yet _now_, I believe he was lying. For, that same watch, I was tohear men giving just such cries; but, God knows, they had reason enough. 

X

_Hands That Plucked_

Directly we reached the deck, the Second Mate gave the order:

"Mizzen t'gallant clewlines and buntlines, " and led the way up on to thepoop. He went and stood by the haulyards, ready to lower away. As Iwalked across to the starboard clewline, I saw that the Old Man was ondeck, and as I took hold of the rope, I heard him sing out to the SecondMate. 

"Call all hands to shorten sail, Mr. Tulipson. "

"Very good, Sir, " the Second Mate replied. Then he raised his voice:

"Go forrard, you, Jessop, and call all hands to shorten sail. You'dbetter give them a call in the bosun's place, as you go. "

"i, i, Sir, " I sung out, and hurried off. 

As I went, I heard him tell Tammy to go down and call the Mate. 

Reaching the fo'cas'le, I put my head in through the starboard doorway, and found some of the men beginning to turn-in. 

"It's all hands on deck, shorten sail, " I sung out. 

I stepped inside. 

"Just wot I said, " grumbled one of the men. 

"They don't damn well think we're goin' aloft to-night, after what'shappened?" asked another. 

"We've been up to the main royal, " I answered. "The Second Mate wentwith us. "

"Wot?" said the first man. "Ther Second Mate hisself?"

"Yes, " I replied. "The whole blooming watch went up. "

"An' wot 'appened?" he asked. 

"Nothing, " I said. "Nothing at all. We just made a mouthful apiece ofit, and came down again. "

"All the same, " remarked the second man, "I don't fancy goin' upstairs, after what's happened. "

"Well, " I replied. "It's not a matter of fancy. We've got to get thesail off her, or there'll be a mess. One of the 'prentices told me theglass is falling. "

"Come erlong, boys. We've got ter du it, " said one of the older men, rising from a chest, at this point. "What's it duin' outside, mate?"

"Raining, " I said. "You'll want your oilskins. "

I hesitated a moment before going on deck again. From the bunk forrardamong the shadows, I had seemed to hear a faint moan. 

"Poor beggar!" I thought to myself. 

Then the old chap who had last spoken, broke in upon my attention. 

"It's awl right, mate!" he said, rather testily. "Yer needn't wait. We'll be out in er minit. "

"That's all right. I wasn't thinking about you lot, " I replied, andwalked forrard to Jacobs's bunk. Some time before, he had rigged up apair of curtains, cut out of an old sack, to keep off the draught. These, some one had drawn, so that I had to pull them aside to see him. He was lying on his back, breathing in a queer, jerky fashion. I couldnot see his face, plainly; but it seemed rather pale, in the half-light. 

"Jacobs, " I said. "Jacobs, how do you feel now?" but he made no sign toshow that he had heard me. And so, after a few moments, I drew thecurtains to again, and left him. 

"What like does 'e seem?" asked one of the fellows, as I went towardsthe door. 

"Bad, " I said. "Damn bad! I think the Steward ought to be told to comeand have a look at him. I'll mention it to the Second when I get achance. "

I stepped out on deck, and ran aft again to give them a hand with thesail. We got it hauled up, and then went forrard to the fore t'gallant. And, a minute later, the other watch were out, and, with the Mate, werebusy at the main. 

By the time the main was ready for making fast, we had the fore hauledup, so that now all three t'gallants were in the ropes, and ready forstowing. Then came the order:

"Up aloft and furl!"

"Up with you, lads, " the Second Mate said. "Don't let's have any hangingback this time. "

Away aft by the main, the men in the Mate's watch seemed to be standingin a clump by the mast; but it was too dark to see clearly. I heard theMate start to curse; then there came a growl, and he shut up. 

"Be handy, men! be handy!" the Second Mate sung out. 

At that, Stubbins jumped into the rigging. 

"Come hon!" he shouted. "We'll have ther bloomin' sail fast, an' downhon deck again before they're started. "

Plummer followed; then Jaskett, I, and Quoin who had been called downoff the look-out to give a hand. 

"That's the style, lads!" the Second sung out, encouragingly. Then heran aft to the Mate's crowd. I heard him and the Mate talking to themen, and presently, when we were going over the foretop, I made out thatthey were beginning to get into the rigging. 

I found out, afterwards, that as soon as the Second Mate had seen themoff the deck, he went up to the mizzen t'gallant, along with the four'prentices. 

On our part, we made our way slowly aloft, keeping one hand forourselves and the other for the ship, as you can fancy. In this mannerwe had gone as far as the crosstrees, at least, Stubbins, who was first, had; when, all at once, he gave out just another such cry as had theSecond Mate a little earlier, only that in his case he followed it byturning round and blasting Plummer. 

"You might have blarsted well sent me flyin' down hon deck, " he shouted. "If you bl--dy well think it's a joke, try it hon some one else--"

"It wasn't me!" interrupted Plummer. "I 'aven't touched yer. 'oo the'ell are yer swearin' at?"

"At you--!" I heard him reply; but what more he may have said, was lostin a loud shout from Plummer. 

"What's up, Plummer?" I sung out. "For God's sake, you two, don't getfighting, up aloft!"

But a loud, frightened curse was all the answer he gave. Thenstraightway, he began to shout at the top of his voice, and in the lullsof his noise, I caught the voice of Stubbins, cursing savagely. 

"They'll come down with a run!" I shouted, helplessly. "They'll comedown as sure as nuts. "

I caught Jaskett by the boot. 

"What are they doing? What are they doing?" I sung out. "Can't you see?"I shook his leg as I spoke. But at my touch, the old idiot--as I thoughthim at the moment--began to shout in a frightened voice:

"Oh! oh! help! hel--!"

"Shut up!" I bellowed. "Shut up, you old fool. If you won't do anything, let me get past you. "

Yet he only cried out the more. And then, abruptly, I caught the soundof a frightened clamour of men's voices, away down somewhere about themaintop--curses, cries of fear, even shrieks, and above it all, someoneshouting to go down on deck:

"Get down! get down! down! down! Blarst--" The rest was drowned in afresh outburst of hoarse crying in the night. 

I tried to get past old Jaskett; but he was clinging to the rigging, sprawled on to it, is the best way to describe his attitude, so much ofit as I could see in the darkness. Up above him, Stubbins and Plummerstill shouted and cursed, and the shrouds quivered and shook, as thoughthe two were fighting desperately. 

Stubbins seemed to be shouting something definite; but whatever it was, I could not catch. 

At my helplessness, I grew angry, and shook and prodded Jaskett, to makehim move. 

"Damn you, Jaskett!" I roared. "Damn you for a funky old fool! Let meget past! Let me get past, will you!"

But, instead of letting me pass, I found that he was beginning to makehis way down. At that, I caught him by the slack of his trousers, nearthe stern, with my right hand, and with the other, I got hold of theafter shroud somewhere above his left hip; by these means, I fairlyhoisted myself up on to the old fellow's back. Then, with my right, Icould reach to the forrard shroud, over his right shoulder, and havinggot a grip, I shifted my left to a level with it; at the same moment, Iwas able to get my foot on to the splice of a ratline and so give myselfa further lift. Then I paused an instant, and glanced up. 

"Stubbins! Stubbins!" I shouted. "Plummer! Plummer!"

And even as I called, Plummer's foot--reaching down through the gloom--alighted full on my upturned face. I let go from the rigging with myright hand, and struck furiously at his leg, cursing him for hisclumsiness. He lifted his foot, and in the same instant a sentence fromStubbins floated down to me, with a strange distinctness:

"_For God's sake tell 'em to get down hon deck!_" he was shouting. 

Even as the words came to me, something in the darkness gripped mywaist. I made a desperate clutch at the rigging with my disengaged righthand, and it was well for me that I secured the hold so quickly, for thesame instant, I was wrenched at with a brutal ferocity that appalled me. I said nothing, but lashed out into the night with my left foot. It isqueer, but I cannot say with certainty that I struck anything; I was toodownright desperate with funk, to be sure; and yet it seemed to me thatmy foot encountered something soft, that gave under the blow. It mayhave been nothing more than an imagined sensation; yet I am inclined tothink otherwise; for, instantly, the hold about my waist was released;and I commenced to scramble down, clutching the shrouds prettydesperately. 

I have only a very uncertain remembrance of that which followed. WhetherI slid over Jaskett, or whether he gave way to me, I cannot tell. I knowonly that I reached the deck, in a blind whirl of fear and excitement, and the next thing I remember, I was among a crowd of shouting, half-madsailor-men. 

XI

_The Search for Stubbins_

In a confused way, I was conscious that the Skipper and the Mates weredown among us, trying to get us into some state of calmness. Eventuallythey succeeded, and we were told to go aft to the Saloon door, which wedid in a body. Here, the Skipper himself served out a large tot of rumto each of us. Then, at his orders, the Second Mate called the roll. 

He called over the Mate's watch first, and everyone answered. Then hecame to ours, and he must have been much agitated; for the first name hesung out was Jock's. 

Among us there came a moment of dead silence, and I noticed the wail andmoan of the wind aloft, and the flap, flap of the three unfurledt'gallan's'ls. 

The Second Mate called the next name, hurriedly:

"Jaskett, " he sung out. 

"Sir, " Jaskett answered. 

"Quoin. "

"Yes, Sir. "

"Jessop. "

"Sir, " I replied. 

"Stubbins. "

There was no answer. 

"Stubbins, " again called the Second Mate. 

Again there was no reply. 

"Is Stubbins here?--anyone!" The Second's voice sounded sharp andanxious. 

There was a moment's pause. Then one of the men spoke:

"He's not here, Sir. "

"Who saw him last?" the Second asked. 

Plummer stepped forward into the light that streamed through the Saloondoorway. He had on neither coat nor cap, and his shirt seemed to behanging about him in tatters. 

"It were me, Sir, " he said. 

The Old Man, who was standing next to the Second Mate, took a pacetowards him, and stopped and stared; but it was the Second who spoke. 

"Where?" he asked. 

"'e were just above me, in ther crosstrees, when, when--" the man brokeoff short. 

"Yes! yes!" the Second Mate replied. Then he turned to the Skipper. 

"Someone will have to go up, Sir, and see--" He hesitated. 

"But--" said the Old Man, and stopped. 

The Second Mate cut in. 

"I shall go up, for one, Sir, " he said, quietly. 

Then he turned back to the crowd of us. 

"Tammy, " he sung out. "Get a couple of lamps out of the lamp-locker. "

"i, i, Sir, " Tammy replied, and ran off. 

"Now, " said the Second Mate, addressing us. "I want a couple of men tojump aloft along with me and take a look for Stubbins. "

Not a man replied. I would have liked to step out and offer; but thememory of that horrible clutch was with me, and for the life of me, Icould not summon up the courage. 

"Come! come, men!" he said. "We can't leave him up there. We shall takelanterns. Who'll come now?"

I walked out to the front. I was in a horrible funk; but, for veryshame, I could not stand back any longer. 

"I'll come with you, Sir, " I said, not very loud, and feeling fairlytwisted up with nervousness. 

"That's more the tune, Jessop!" he replied, in a tone that made me gladI had stood out. 

At this point, Tammy came up, with the lights. He brought them to theSecond, who took one, and told him to give the other to me. The SecondMate held his light above his head, and looked round at the hesitatingmen. 

"Now, men!" he sung out. "You're not going to let Jessop and me go upalone. Come along, another one or two of you! Don't act like a damnedlot of cowards!"

Quoin stood out, and spoke for the crowd. 

"I dunno as we're actin' like cowyards, Sir; but just look at _'im_, "and he pointed at Plummer, who still stood full in the light from theSaloon doorway. 

"What sort of a Thing is it 'as done that, Sir?" he went on. "An' thenyer arsks us ter go up agen! It aren't likely as we're in a 'urry. "

The Second Mate looked at Plummer, and surely, as I have beforementioned, the poor beggar was in a state; his ripped-up shirt wasfairly flapping in the breeze that came through the doorway. 

The Second looked; yet he said nothing. It was as though the realisationof Plummer's condition had left him without a word more to say. It wasPlummer himself who finally broke the silence. 

"I'll come with yer, Sir, " he said. "Only yer ought ter 'ave more lightthan them two lanterns. 'Twon't be no use, unless we 'as plenty erlight. "

The man had grit; and I was astonished at his offering to go, after whathe must have gone through. Yet, I was to have even a greaterastonishment; for, abruptly, The Skipper--who all this time had scarcelyspoken--stepped forward a pace, and put his hand on the Second Mate'sshoulder. 

"I'll come with you, Mr. Tulipson, " he said. 

The Second Mate twisted his head round, and stared at him a moment, inastonishment. Then he opened his mouth. 

"No, Sir; I don't think--" he began. 

"That's sufficient, Mr. Tulipson, " the Old Man interrupted. "I've madeup my mind. "

He turned to the First Mate, who had stood by without a word. 

"Mr. Grainge, " he said. "Take a couple of the 'prentices down with you, and pass out a box of blue-lights and some flare-ups. "

The Mate answered something, and hurried away into the Saloon, with thetwo 'prentices in his watch. Then the Old Man spoke to the men. 

"Now, men!" he began. "This is no time for dilly-dallying. The SecondMate and I will go aloft, and I want about half a dozen of you to comealong with us, and carry lights. Plummer and Jessop here, havevolunteered. I want four or five more of you. Step out now, some ofyou!"

There was no hesitation whatever, now; and the first man to come forwardwas Quoin. After him followed three of the Mate's crowd, and then oldJaskett. 

"That will do; that will do, " said the Old Man. 

He turned to the Second Mate. 

"Has Mr. Grainge come with those lights yet?" he asked, with a certainirritability. 

"Here, Sir, " said the First Mate's voice, behind him in the Saloondoorway. He had the box of blue-lights in his hands, and behind him, came the two boys carrying the flares. 

The Skipper took the box from him, with a quick gesture, and opened it. 

"Now, one of you men, come here, " he ordered. 

One of the men in the Mate's watch ran to him. 

He took several of the lights from the box, and handed them to the man. 

"See here, " he said. "When we go aloft, you get into the foretop, andkeep one of these going all the time, do you hear?"

"Yes, Sir, " replied the man. 

"You know how to strike them?" the Skipper asked, abruptly. 

"Yes, Sir, " he answered. 

The Skipper sung out to the Second Mate:

"Where's that boy of yours--Tammy, Mr. Tulipson?"

"Here, Sir, " said Tammy, answering for himself. 

The Old Man took another light from the box. 

"Listen to me, boy!" he said. "Take this, and stand-by on the forrarddeck house. When we go aloft, you must give us a light until the mangets his going in the top. You understand?"

"Yes, Sir, " answered Tammy, and took the light. 

"One minute!" said the Old Man, and stooped and took a second light fromthe box. "Your first light may go out before we're ready. You'd betterhave another, in case it does. "

Tammy took the second light, and moved away. 

"Those flares all ready for lighting there, Mr. Grainge?" the Captainasked. 

"All ready, Sir, " replied the Mate. 

The Old Man pushed one of the blue-lights into his coat pocket, andstood upright. 

"Very well, " he said. "Give each of the men one apiece. And just seethat they all have matches. "

He spoke to the men particularly:

"As soon as we are ready, the other two men in the Mate's watch will getup into the cranelines, and keep their flares going there. Take yourparaffin tins with you. When we reach the upper topsail, Quoin andJaskett will get out on the yard-arms, and show their flares there. Becareful to keep your lights away from the sails. Plummer and Jessop willcome up with the Second Mate and myself. Does every man clearlyunderstand?"

"Yes, Sir, " said the men in a chorus. 

A sudden idea seemed to occur to the Skipper, and he turned, and wentthrough the doorway into the Saloon. In about a minute, he came back, and handed something to the Second Mate, that shone in the light fromthe lanterns. I saw that it was a revolver, and he held another in hisother hand, and this I saw him put into his side pocket. 

The Second Mate held the pistol a moment, looking a bit doubtful. 

"I don't think, Sir--" he began. But the Skipper cut him short. 

"You don't know!" he said. "Put it in your pocket. "

Then he turned to the First Mate. 

"You will take charge of the deck, Mr. Grainge, while we're aloft, " hesaid. 

"i, i, Sir, " the Mate answered and sung out to one of his 'prentices totake the blue-light box back into the cabin. 

The Old Man turned and led the way forrard. As we went, the light fromthe two lanterns shone upon the decks, showing the litter of thet'gallant gear. The ropes were foul of one another in a regular "buncho' buffers[1]. " This had been caused, I suppose, by the crowd tramplingover them in their excitement, when they reached the deck. And then, suddenly, as though the sight had waked me up to a more vividcomprehension, you know, it came to me new and fresh, how damned strangewas the whole business... I got a little touch of despair, and askedmyself what was going to be the end of all these beastly happenings. You can understand?

[Footnote 1: Modified from the original. ]

Abruptly, I heard the Skipper shouting, away forward. He was singing outto Tammy to get up on to the house with his blue-light. We reached thefore rigging, and, the same instant, the strange, ghastly flare ofTammy's blue-light burst out into the night causing every rope, sail, and spar to jump out weirdly. 

I saw now that the Second Mate was already in the starboard rigging, with his lantern. He was shouting to Tammy to keep the drip from hislight clear of the staysail, which was stowed upon the house. Then, fromsomewhere on the port side, I heard the Skipper shout to us to hurry. 

"Smartly now, you men, " he was saying. "Smartly now. "

The man who had been told to take up a station in the fore-top, was justbehind the Second Mate. Plummer was a couple of ratlines lower. 

I caught the Old Man's voice again. 

"Where's Jessop with that other lantern?" I heard him shout. 

"Here, Sir, " I sung out. 

"Bring it over this side, " he ordered. "You don't want the two lanternson one side. "

I ran round the fore side of the house. Then I saw him. He was in therigging, and making his way smartly aloft. One of the Mate's watch andQuoin were with him. This, I saw as I came round the house. Then I madea jump, gripped the sheerpole, and swung myself up on to the rail. Andthen, all at once, Tammy's blue-light went out, and there came, whatseemed by contrast, pitchy darkness. I stood where I was--one foot onthe rail and my knee upon the sheerpole. The light from my lanternseemed no more than a sickly yellow glow against the gloom, and higher, some forty or fifty feet, and a few ratlines below the futtock riggingon the starboard side, there was another glow of yellowness in thenight. Apart from these, all was blackness. And then from above--highabove--there wailed down through the darkness a weird, sobbing cry. Whatit was, I do not know; but it sounded horrible. 

The Skipper's voice came down, jerkily. 

"Smartly with that light, boy!" he shouted. And the blue glare blazedout again, almost before he had finished speaking. 

I stared up at the Skipper. He was standing where I had seen him beforethe light went out, and so were the two men. As I looked, he commencedto climb again. I glanced across to starboard. Jaskett, and the otherman in the Mate's watch, were about midway between the deck of the houseand the foretop. Their faces showed extraordinary pale in the dead glareof the blue-light. Higher, I saw the Second Mate in the futtock rigging, holding his light up over the edge of the top. Then he went further, anddisappeared. The man with the blue-lights followed, and also vanishedfrom view. On the port side, and more directly above me, the Skipper'sfeet were just stepping out of the futtock shrouds. At that I made hasteto follow. 

Then, suddenly, when I was close under the top, there came from above methe sharp flare of a blue-light, and almost in the same instant, Tammy'swent out. 

I glanced down at the decks. They were filled with flickering, grotesqueshadows cast by the dripping light above. A group of the men stood bythe port galley door--their faces upturned and pale and unreal under thegleam of the light. 

Then I was in the futtock rigging, and a moment afterwards, standing inthe top, beside the Old Man. He was shouting to the men who had gone outon the craneline. It seemed that the man on the port side was bungling;but at last--nearly a minute after the other man had lit his flare--hegot going. In that time, the man in the top had lit his secondblue-light, and we were ready to get into the topmast rigging. First, however, the Skipper leant over the afterside of the top, and sung outto the First Mate to send a man up on to the fo'cas'le head with aflare. The Mate replied, and then we started again, the Old Man leading. 

Fortunately, the rain had ceased, and there seemed to be no increase inthe wind; indeed, if anything, there appeared to be rather less; yetwhat there was drove the flames of the flare-ups out into occasional, twisting serpents of fire at least a yard long. 

About half-way up the topmast rigging, the Second Mate sung out to theSkipper, to know whether Plummer should light his flare; but the Old Mansaid he had better wait until we reached the crosstrees, as then hecould get out away from the gear to where there would be less danger ofsetting fire to anything. 

We neared the crosstrees, and the Old Man stopped and sung out to me topass him the lantern by Quoin. A few ratlines more, and both he and theSecond Mate stopped almost simultaneously, holding their lanterns ashigh as possible, and peered up into the darkness. 

"See any signs of him, Mr. Tulipson?" the Old Man asked. 

"No, Sir, " replied the Second. "Not a sign. "

He raised his voice. 

"Stubbins, " he sung out. "Stubbins, are you there?"

We listened; but nothing came to us beyond the blowing moan of the wind, and the flap, flap of the bellying t'gallant above. 

The Second Mate climbed over the crosstrees, and Plummer followed. Theman got out by the royal backstay, and lit his flare. By its light wecould see, plainly; but there was no vestige of Stubbins, so far as thelight went. 

"Get out on to the yard-arms with those flares, you two men, " shoutedthe Skipper. "Be smart now! Keep them away from the sail!"

The men got on to the foot-ropes--Quoin on the port, and Jaskett on thestarboard side. By the light from Plummer's flare, I could see themclearly, as they lay out upon the yard. It occurred to me that they wentgingerly--which is no surprising thing. And then, as they drew near tothe yard-arms, they passed beyond the brilliance of the light; so that Icould not see them clearly. A few seconds passed, and then the lightfrom Quoin's flare streamed out upon the wind; yet nearly a minute wentby, and there was no sign of Jaskett's. 

Then out from the semi-darkness at the starboard yard-arm, there came acurse from Jaskett, followed almost immediately by a noise of somethingvibrating. 

"What's up?" shouted the Second Mate. "What's up, Jaskett?"

"It's ther foot-rope, Sir-r-r!" he drew out the last word into a sort ofgasp. 

The Second Mate bent quickly, with the lantern. I craned round the afterside of the top-mast, and looked. 

"What is the matter, Mr. Tulipson?" I heard the Old Man singing out. 

Out on the yard-arm, Jaskett began to shout for help, and then, all atonce, in the light from the Second Mate's lantern, I saw that thestarboard foot-rope on the upper topsail yard was being violentlyshaken--savagely shaken, is perhaps a better word. And then, almost inthe same instant, the Second Mate shifted the lantern from his right tohis left hand. He put the right into his pocket and brought out his gunwith a jerk. He extended his hand and arm, as though pointing atsomething a little below the yard. Then a quick flash spat out acrossthe shadows, followed immediately by a sharp, ringing crack. In the samemoment, I saw that the foot-rope ceased to shake. 

"Light your flare! Light your flare, Jaskett!" the Second shouted. "Besmart now!"

Out at the yard-arm there came a splutter of a match, and then, straightaway, a great spurt of fire as the flare took light. 

"That's better, Jaskett. You're all right now!" the Second Mate calledout to him. 

"What was it, Mr. Tulipson?" I heard the Skipper ask. 

I looked up, and saw that he had sprung across to where the Second Matewas standing. The Second Mate explained to him; but he did not speakloud enough for me to catch what he said. 

I had been struck by Jaskett's attitude, when the light of his flare hadfirst revealed him. He had been crouched with his right knee cocked overthe yard, and his left leg down between it and the foot-rope, while hiselbows had been crooked over the yard for support, as he was lightingthe flare. Now, however, he had slid both feet back on to the foot-rope, and was lying on his belly, over the yard, with the flare held a littlebelow the head of the sail. It was thus, with the light being on theforeside of the sail, that I saw a small hole a little below thefoot-rope, through which a ray of the light shone. It was undoubtedlythe hole which the bullet from the Second Mate's revolver had made inthe sail. 

Then I heard the Old Man shouting to Jaskett. 

"Be careful with that flare there!" he sung out. "You'll be having thatsail scorched!"

He left the Second Mate, and came back on to the port side of the mast. 

To my right, Plummer's flares seemed to be dwindling. I glanced up athis face through the smoke. He was paying no attention to it; instead, he was staring up above his head. 

"Shove some paraffin on to it, Plummer, " I called to him. "It'll be outin a minute. "

He looked down quickly to the light, and did as I suggested. Then heheld it out at arm's length, and peered up again into the darkness. 

"See anything?" asked the Old Man, suddenly observing his attitude. 

Plummer glanced at him, with a start. 

"It's ther r'yal, Sir, " he explained. "It's all adrift. "

"What!" said the Old Man. 

He was standing a few ratlines up the t'gallant rigging, and he bent hisbody outwards to get a better look. 

"Mr. Tulipson!" he shouted. "Do you know that the royal's all adrift?"

"No, Sir, " answered the Second Mate. "If it is, it's more of thisdevilish work!"

"It's adrift right enough, " said the Skipper, and he and the Second wenta few ratlines higher, keeping level with one another. 

I had now got above the crosstrees, and was just at the Old Man's heels. 

Suddenly, he shouted out:

"There he is!--Stubbins! Stubbins!"

"Where, Sir?" asked the Second, eagerly. "I can't see him!"

"There! there!" replied the Skipper, pointing. 

I leant out from the rigging, and looked up along his back, in thedirection his finger indicated. At first, I could see nothing; then, slowly, you know, there grew upon my sight a dim figure crouching uponthe bunt of the royal, and partly hidden by the mast. I stared, andgradually it came to me that there was a couple of them, and further outupon the yard, a hump that might have been anything, and was onlyvisible indistinctly amid the flutter of the canvas. 

"Stubbins!" the Skipper sung out. "Stubbins, come down out of that! Doyou hear me?"

But no one came, and there was no answer. 

"There's two--" I began; but he was shouting again:

"Come down out of that! Do you damned well hear me?"

Still there was no reply. 

"I'm hanged if I can see him at all, Sir!" the Second Mate called outfrom his side of the mast. 

"Can't see him!" said the Old Man, now thoroughly angry. "I'll soon letyou see him!"

He bent down to me with the lantern. 

"Catch hold, Jessop, " he said, which I did. 

Then he pulled the blue light from his pocket, and as he was doing so, Isaw the Second peek round the back side of the mast at him. Evidently, in the uncertain light, he must have mistaken the Skipper's action; for, all at once, he shouted out in a frightened voice:

"Don't shoot, Sir! For God's sake, don't shoot!"

"Shoot be damned!" exclaimed the Old Man. "Watch!"

He pulled off the cap of the light. 

"There's two of them, Sir, " I called again to him. 

"What!" he said in a loud voice, and at the same instant he rubbed theend of the light across the cap, and it burst into fire. 

He held it up so that it lit the royal yard like day, and straightway, acouple of shapes dropped silently from the royal on to the t'gallantyard. At the same moment, the humped Something, midway out upon theyard, rose up. It ran in to the mast, and I lost sight of it. 

"God!" I heard the Skipper gasp, and he fumbled in his side pocket. 

I saw the two figures which had dropped on to the t'gallant, run swiftlyalong the yard--one to the starboard and the other to the portyard-arms. 

On the other side of the mast, the Second Mate's pistol cracked outtwice, sharply. Then, from over my head the Skipper fired twice, andthen again; but with what effect, I could not tell. Abruptly, as hefired his last shot, I was aware of an indistinct Something, glidingdown the starboard royal backstay. It was descending full upon Plummer, who, all unconscious of the thing, was staring towards the t'gallantyard. 

"Look out above you, Plummer!" I almost shrieked. 

"What? where?" he called, and grabbed at the stay, and waved his flare, excitedly. 

Down on the upper topsail yard, Quoin's and Jaskett's voices rosesimultaneously, and in the identical instant, their flares went out. Then Plummer shouted, and his light went utterly. There were left onlythe two lanterns, and the blue-light held by the Skipper, and that, afew seconds afterwards, finished and died out. 

The Skipper and the Second Mate were shouting to the men upon the yard, and I heard them answer, in shaky voices. Out on the crosstrees, I couldsee, by the light from my lantern, that Plummer was holding in a dazedfashion to the backstay. 

"Are you all right, Plummer?" I called. 

"Yes, " he said, after a little pause; and then he swore. 

"Come in off that yard, you men!" the Skipper was singing out. "Come in!come in!"

Down on deck, I heard someone calling; but could not distinguish thewords. Above me, pistol in hand, the Skipper was glancing about, uneasily. 

"Hold up that light, Jessop, " he said. "I can't see!"

Below us, the men got off the yard, into the rigging. 

"Down on deck with you!" ordered the Old Man. 

"As smartly as you can!"

"Come in off there, Plummer!" sung out the Second Mate. "Get down withthe others!"

"Down with you, Jessop!" said the Skipper, speaking rapidly. "Down withyou!"

I got over the crosstrees, and he followed. On the other side, theSecond Mate was level with us. He had passed his lantern to Plummer, andI caught the glint of his revolver in his right hand. In this fashion, we reached the top. The man who had been stationed there with theblue-lights, had gone. Afterwards, I found that he went down on deck assoon as they were finished. There was no sign of the man with the flareon the starboard craneline. He also, I learnt later, had slid down oneof the backstays on to the deck, only a very short while before wereached the top. He swore that a great black shadow of a man had comesuddenly upon him from aloft. When I heard that, I remembered the thingI had seen descending upon Plummer. Yet the man who had gone out uponthe port craneline--the one who had bungled with the lighting of hisflare--was still where we had left him; though his light was burning nowbut dimly. 

"Come in out of that, _you!_" the Old Man sung out "Smartly now, and getdown on deck!"

"i, i, Sir, " the man replied, and started to make his way in. 

The Skipper waited until he had got into the main rigging, and then hetold me to get down out of the top. He was in the act of following, when, all at once, there rose a loud outcry on deck, and then came thesound of a man screaming. 

"Get out of my way, Jessop!" the Skipper roared, and swung himself downalongside of me. 

I heard the Second Mate shout something from the starboard rigging. Thenwe were all racing down as hard as we could go. I had caught a momentaryglimpse of a man running from the doorway on the port side of thefo'cas'le. In less than half a minute we were upon the deck, and among acrowd of the men who were grouped round something. Yet, strangelyenough, they were not looking at the thing among them; but away aft atsomething in the darkness. 

"It's on the rail!" cried several voices. 

"Overboard!" called somebody, in an excited voice. "It's jumped over theside!"

"Ther' wer'n't nothin'!" said a man in the crowd. 

"Silence!" shouted the Old Man. "Where's the Mate? What's happened?"

"Here, Sir, " called the First Mate, shakily, from near the centre of thegroup. "It's Jacobs, Sir. He--he--"

"What!" said the Skipper. "What!"

"He--he's--he's--dead I think!" said the First Mate, in jerks. 

"Let me see, " said the Old Man, in a quieter tone. 

The men had stood to one side to give him room, and he knelt beside theman upon the deck. 

"Pass the lantern here, Jessop, " he said. 

I stood by him, and held the light. The man was lying face downwards onthe deck. Under the light from the lantern, the Skipper turned him overand looked at him. 

"Yes, " he said, after a short examination. "He's dead. "

He stood up and regarded the body a moment, in silence. Then he turnedto the Second Mate, who had been standing by, during the last couple ofminutes. 

"Three!" he said, in a grim undertone. 

The Second Mate nodded, and cleared his voice. 

He seemed on the point of saying something; then he turned and looked atJacobs, and said nothing. 

"Three, " repeated the Old Man. "Since eight bells!"

He stooped and looked again at Jacobs. 

"Poor devil! poor devil!" he muttered. 

The Second Mate grunted some of the huskiness out of his throat, andspoke. 

"Where must we take him?" he asked, quietly. "The two bunks are full. "

"You'll have to put him down on the deck by the lower bunk, " replied theSkipper. 

As they carried him away, I heard the Old Man make a sound that wasalmost a groan. The rest of the men had gone forrard, and I do not thinkhe realised that I was standing by him

"My God! O, my God!" he muttered, and began to walk slowly aft. 

He had cause enough for groaning. There were three dead, and Stubbinshad gone utterly and completely. We never saw him again. 

XII

_The Council_

A few minutes later, the Second Mate came forrard again. I was stillstanding near the rigging, holding the lantern, in an aimless sort ofway. 

"That you, Plummer?" he asked. 

"No, Sir, " I said. "It's Jessop. "

"Where's Plummer, then?" he inquired. 

"I don't know, Sir, " I answered. "I expect he's gone forrard. Shall I goand tell him you want him?"

"No, there's no need, " he said. "Tie your lamp up in the rigging--on thesheerpole there. Then go and get his, and shove it up on the starboardside. After that you'd better go aft and give the two 'prentices a handin the lamp locker. "

"i, i, Sir, " I replied, and proceeded to do as he directed. After I hadgot the light from Plummer, and lashed it up to the starboard sherpole, I hurried aft. I found Tammy and the other 'prentice in our watch, busyin the locker, lighting lamps. 

"What are we doing?" I asked. 

"The Old Man's given orders to lash all the spare lamps we can find, inthe rigging, so as to have the decks light, " said Tammy. "And a damnedgood job too!"

He handed me a couple of the lamps, and took two himself. 

"Come on, " he said, and stepped out on deck. "We'll fix these in themain rigging, and then I want to talk to you. "

"What about the mizzen?" I inquired. 

"Oh, " he replied. "He" (meaning the other 'prentice) "will see to that. Anyway, it'll be daylight directly. "

We shoved the lamps up on the sherpoles--two on each side. Then he cameacross to me. 

"Look here, Jessop!" he said, without any hesitation. "You'll have tojolly well tell the Skipper and the Second Mate all you know about allthis. "

"How do you mean?" I asked. 

"Why, that it's something about the ship herself that's the cause ofwhat's happened, " he replied. "If you'd only explained to the SecondMate when I told you to, this might never have been!"

"But I don't _know_, " I said. "I may be all wrong. It's only an idea ofmine. I've no proofs--"

"Proofs!" he cut in with. "Proofs! what about tonight? We've had all theproofs ever I want!"

I hesitated before answering him. 

"So have I, for that matter, " I said, at length. "What I mean is, I'venothing that the Skipper and the Second Mate would consider as proofs. They'd never listen seriously to me. "

"They'd listen fast enough, " he replied. "After what's happened thiswatch, they'd listen to anything. Anyway, it's jolly well your duty totell them!"

"What could they do, anyway?" I said, despondently. "As things aregoing, we'll all be dead before another week is over, at this rate. "

"You tell them, " he answered. "That's what you've got to do. If you canonly get them to realise that you're right, they'll be glad to put intothe nearest port, and send us all ashore. "

I shook my head. 

"Well, anyway, they'll have to do something, " he replied, in answer tomy gesture. "We can't go round the Horn, with the number of men we'velost. We haven't enough to handle her, if it comes on to blow. "

"You've forgotten, Tammy, " I said. "Even if I could get the Old Man tobelieve I'd got at the truth of the matter, he couldn't do anything. Don't you see, if I'm right, we couldn't even see the land, if we madeit. We're like blind men.... "

"What on earth do you mean?" he interrupted. "How do you make out we'relike blind men? Of course we could see the land--"

"Wait a minute! wait a minute!" I said. "You don't understand. Didn't Itell you?"

"Tell what?" he asked. 

"About the ship I spotted, " I said. "I thought you knew!"

"No, " he said. "When?"

"Why, " I replied. "You know when the Old Man sent me away from thewheel?"

"Yes, " he answered. "You mean in the morning watch, day beforeyesterday?"

"Yes, " I said. "Well, don't you know what was the matter?"

"No, " he replied. "That is, I heard you were snoozing at the wheel, andthe Old Man came up and caught you. "

"That's all a darned silly yarn!" I said. And then I told him the wholetruth of the affair. After I had done that, I explained my idea aboutit, to him. 

"Now you see what I mean?" I asked. 

"You mean that this strange atmosphere--or whatever it is--we're in, would not allow us to see another ship?" he asked, a bit awestruck. 

"Yes, " I said. "But the point I wanted you to see, is that if we can'tsee another vessel, even when she's quite close, then, in the same way, we shouldn't be able to see land. To all intents and purposes we'reblind. Just you think of it! We're out in the middle of the briny, doinga sort of eternal blind man's hop. The Old Man couldn't put into port, even if he wanted to. He'd run us bang on shore, without our ever seeingit. "

"What are we going to do, then?" he asked, in a despairing sort of way. "Do you mean to say we can't do anything? Surely something can be done!It's terrible!"

For perhaps a minute, we walked up and down, in the light from thedifferent lanterns. Then he spoke again. 

"We might be run down, then, " he said, "and never even see the othervessel?"

"It's possible, " I replied. "Though, from what I saw, it's evident that_we're_ quite visible; so that it would be easy for them to see us, andsteer clear of us, even though we couldn't see them. "

"And we might run into something, and never see it?" he asked me, following up the train of thought. 

"Yes, " I said. "Only there's nothing to stop the other ship from gettingout of our way. "

"But if it wasn't a vessel?" he persisted. "It might be an iceberg, or arock, or even a derelict. "

"In that case, " I said, putting it a bit flippantly, naturally, "we'dprobably damage it. "

He made no answer to this and for a few moments, we were quiet. 

Then he spoke abruptly, as though the idea had come suddenly to him. 

"Those lights the other night!" he said. "Were they a ship's lights?"

"Yes, " I replied. "Why?"

"Why, " he answered. "Don't you see, if they were really lights, we_could_ see them?"

"Well, I should think I ought to know that, " I replied. "You seem toforget that the Second Mate slung me off the look-out for daring to dothat very thing. "

"I don't mean that, " he said. "Don't you see that if we could see themat all, it showed that the atmosphere-thing wasn't round us then?"

"Not necessarily, " I answered. "It may have been nothing more than arift in it; though, of course, I may be all wrong. But, anyway, the factthat the lights disappeared almost as soon as they were seen, shows thatit was very much round the ship. "

That made him feel a bit the way I did, and when next he spoke, his tonehad lost its hopefulness. 

"Then you think it'll be no use telling the Second Mate and the Skipperanything?" he asked. 

"I don't know, " I replied. "I've been thinking about it, and it can't doany harm. I've a very good mind to. "

"I should, " he said. "You needn't be afraid of anybody laughing at you, now. It might do some good. You've seen more than anyone else. "

He stopped in his walk, and looked round. 

"Wait a minute, " he said, and ran aft a few steps. I saw him look up atthe break of the poop; then he came back. 

"Come along now, " he said. "The Old Man's up on the poop, talking to theSecond Mate. You'll never get a better chance. "

Still I hesitated; but he caught me by the sleeve, and almost dragged meto the lee ladder. 

"All right, " I said, when I got there. "All right, I'll come. Only I'mhanged if I know what to say when I get there. "

"Just tell them you want to speak to them, " he said. "They'll ask whatyou want, and then you spit out all you know. They'll find itinteresting enough. "

"You'd better come too, " I suggested. "You'll be able to back me up inlots of things. "

"I'll come, fast enough, " he replied. "You go up. "

I went up the ladder, and walked across to where the Skipper and theSecond Mate stood talking earnestly, by the rail. Tammy kept behind. AsI came near to them, I caught two or three words; though I attached nomeaning then to them. They were: "... Send for him. " Then the two of themturned and looked at me, and the Second Mate asked what I wanted. 

"I want to speak to you and the Old M--Captain, Sir, " I answered. 

"What is it, Jessop?" the Skipper inquired. 

"I scarcely know how to put it, Sir, " I said. "It's--it's about these--these things. "

"What things? Speak out, man, " he said. 

"Well, Sir, " I blurted out. "There's some dreadful thing or things comeaboard this ship, since we left port. "

I saw him give one quick glance at the Second Mate, and the Secondlooked back. 

Then the Skipper replied. 

"How do you mean, come aboard?" he asked. 

"Out of the sea, Sir, " I said. "I've seen them. So's Tammy, here. "

"Ah!" he exclaimed, and it seemed to me, from his face, that he wasunderstanding something better. "Out of the Sea!"

Again he looked at the Second Mate; but the Second was staring at me. 

"Yes Sir, " I said. "It's the _ship_. She's not safe! I've watched. Ithink I understand a bit; but there's a lot I don't. "

I stopped. The Skipper had turned to the Second Mate. The Second nodded, gravely. Then I heard him mutter, in a low voice, and the Old Manreplied; after which he turned to me again. 

"Look here, Jessop, " he said. "I'm going to talk straight to you. Youstrike me as being a cut above the ordinary shellback, and I thinkyou've sense enough to hold your tongue. "

"I've got my mate's ticket, Sir, " I said, simply. 

Behind me, I heard Tammy give a little start. He had not known about ituntil then. 

The Skipper nodded. 

"So much the better, " he answered. "I may have to speak to you aboutthat, later on. "

He paused, and the Second Mate said something to him, in an undertone. 

"Yes, " he said, as though in reply to what the Second had been saying. Then he spoke to me again. 

"You've seen things come out of the sea, you say?" he questioned. "Nowjust tell me all you can remember, from the very beginning. "

I set to, and told him everything in detail, commencing with the strangefigure that had stepped aboard out of the sea, and continuing my yarn, up to the things that had happened in that very watch. 

I stuck well to solid facts; and now and then he and the Second Matewould look at one another, and nod. At the end, he turned to me with anabrupt gesture. 

"You still hold, then, that you saw a ship the other morning, when Isent you from the wheel?" he asked. 

"Yes, Sir, " I said. "I most certainly do. "

"But you knew there wasn't any!" he said. 

"Yes, Sir, " I replied, in an apologetic tone. "There was; and, if youwill let me, I believe that I can explain it a bit. "

"Well, " he said. "Go on. "

Now that I knew he was willing to listen to me in a serious manner allmy funk of telling him had gone, and I went ahead and told him my ideasabout the mist, and the thing it seemed to have ushered, you know. Ifinished up, by telling him how Tammy had worried me to come and tellwhat I knew. 

"He thought then, Sir, " I went on, "that you might wish to put into thenearest port; but I told him that I didn't think you could, even if youwanted to. "

"How's that?" he asked, profoundly interested. 

"Well, Sir, " I replied. "If we're unable to see other vessels, weshouldn't be able to see the land. You'd be piling the ship up, withoutever seeing where you were putting her. "

This view of the matter, affected the Old Man in an extraordinarymanner; as it did, I believe, the Second Mate. And neither spoke for amoment. Then the Skipper burst out. 

"By Gad! Jessop, " he said. "If you're right, the Lord have mercy on us. "

He thought for a couple of seconds. Then he spoke again, and I could seethat he was pretty well twisted up:

"My God!... If you're right!"

The Second Mate spoke. 

"The men mustn't know, Sir, " he warned him. "It'd be a mess if theydid!"

"Yes, " said the Old Man. 

He spoke to me. 

"Remember that, Jessop, " he said. "Whatever you do, don't go yarningabout this, forrard. "

"No, Sir, " I replied. 

"And you too, boy, " said the Skipper. "Keep your tongue between yourteeth. We're in a bad enough mess, without your making it worse. Do youhear?"

"Yes, Sir, " answered Tammy. 

The Old Man turned to me again. 

"These things, or creatures that you say come out of the sea, " he said. "You've never seen them, except after nightfall?" he asked. 

"No, Sir, " I replied. "Never. "

He turned to the Second Mate. 

"So far as I can make out, Mr. Tulipson, " he remarked, "the danger seemsto be only at night. "

"It's always been at night, Sir, " the Second answered. 

The Old Man nodded. 

"Have you anything to propose, Mr. Tulipson?" he asked. 

"Well, Sir, " replied the Second Mate. "I think you ought to have hersnugged down every night, before dark!"

He spoke with considerable emphasis. Then he glanced aloft, and jerkedhis head in the direction of the unfurled t'gallants. 

"It's a damned good thing, Sir, " he said, "that it didn't come on toblow any harder. "

The Old Man nodded again. 

"Yes, " he remarked. "We shall have to do it; but God knows when we'llget home!"

"Better late than not at all, " I heard the Second mutter, under hisbreath. 

Out loud, he said:

"And the lights, Sir?"

"Yes, " said the Old Man. "I will have lamps in the rigging every night, after dark. "

"Very good, Sir, " assented the Second. Then he turned to us. 

"It's getting daylight, Jessop, " he remarked, with a glance at the sky. "You'd better take Tammy with you, and shove those lamps back again intothe locker. "

"i, i, Sir, " I said, and went down off the poop with Tammy. 

XIII

_The Shadow in the Sea_

When eight bells went, at four o'clock, and the other watch came on deckto relieve us, it had been broad daylight for some time. Before we wentbelow, the Second Mate had the three t'gallants set; and now that it waslight, we were pretty curious to have a look aloft, especially up thefore; and Tom, who had been up to overhaul the gear, was questioned alot, when he came down, as to whether there were any signs of anythingqueer up there. But he told us there was nothing unusual to be seen. 

At eight o'clock, when we came on deck for the eight to twelve watch, Isaw the Sailmaker coming forrard along the deck, from the Second Mate'sold berth. He had his rule in his hand, and I knew he had been measuringthe poor beggars in there, for their burial outfit. From breakfast timeuntil near noon, he worked, shaping out three canvas wrappers from someold sailcloth. Then, with the aid of the Second Mate and one of thehands, he brought out the three dead chaps on to the after hatch, andthere sewed them up, with a few lumps of holy stone at their feet. Hewas just finishing when eight bells went, and I heard the Old Man tellthe Second Mate to call all hands aft for the burial. This was done, andone of the gangways unshipped. 

We had no decent grating big enough, so they had to get off one of thehatches, and use it instead. The wind had died away during the morning, and the sea was almost a calm--the ship lifting ever so slightly to anoccasional glassy heave. The only sounds that struck on the ear were thesoft, slow rustle and occasional shiver of the sails, and the continuousand monotonous creak, creak of the spars and gear at the gentlemovements of the vessel. And it was in this solemn half-quietness thatthe Skipper read the burial service. 

They had put the Dutchman first upon the hatch (I could tell him by hisstumpiness), and when at last the Old Man gave the signal, the SecondMate tilted his end, and he slid off, and down into the dark. 

"Poor old Dutchie, " I heard one of the men say, and I fancy we all felta bit like that. 

Then they lifted Jacobs on to the hatch, and when he had gone, Jock. When Jock was lifted, a sort of sudden shiver ran through the crowd. Hehad been a favourite in a quiet way, and I know I felt, all at once, just a bit queer. I was standing by the rail, upon the after bollard, and Tammy was next to me; while Plummer stood a little behind. As theSecond Mate tilted the hatch for the last time, a little, hoarse chorusbroke from the men:

"S'long, Jock! So long, Jock!"

And then, at the sudden plunge, they rushed to the side to see the lastof him as he went downwards. Even the Second Mate was not able to resistthis universal feeling, and he, too, peered over. From where I had beenstanding, I had been able to see the body take the water, and now, for abrief couple of seconds, I saw the white of the canvas, blurred by theblue of the water, dwindle and dwindle in the extreme depth. Abruptly, as I stared, it disappeared--too abruptly, it seemed to me. 

"Gone!" I heard several voices say, and then our watch began to goslowly forrard, while one or two of the other, started to replace thehatch. 

Tammy pointed, and nudged me. 

"See, Jessop, " he said. "What is it?"

"What?" I asked. 

"That queer shadow, " he replied. "Look!"

And then I saw what he meant. It was something big and shadowy, thatappeared to be growing clearer. It occupied the exact place--so itseemed to me--in which Jock had disappeared. 

"Look at it!" said Tammy, again. "It's getting bigger!"

He was pretty excited, and so was I. 

I was peering down. The thing seemed to be rising out of the depths. Itwas taking shape. As I realised what the shape was, a queer, cold funktook me. 

"See, " said Tammy. "It's just like the shadow of a ship!"

And it was. The shadow of a ship rising out of the unexplored immensitybeneath our keel. Plummer, who had not yet gone forrard, caught Tammy'slast remark, and glanced over. 

"What's 'e mean?" he asked. 

"That!" replied Tammy, and pointed. 

I jabbed my elbow into his ribs; but it was too late. Plummer had seen. Curiously enough, though, he seemed to think nothing of it. 

"That ain't nothin', 'cept ther shadder er ther ship, " he said. 

Tammy, after my hint, let it go at that. But when Plummer had goneforrard with the others, I told him not to go telling everything roundthe decks, like that. 

"We've got to be thundering careful!" I remarked. "You know what the OldMan said, last watch!"

"Yes, " said Tammy. "I wasn't thinking; I'll be careful next time. "

A little way from me the Second Mate was still staring down into thewater. I turned, and spoke to him. 

"What do you make it out to be, Sir?" I asked. 

"God knows!" he said, with a quick glance round to see whether any ofthe men were about. 

He got down from the rail, and turned to go up on to the poop. At thetop of the ladder, he leant over the break. 

"You may as well ship that gangway, you two, " he told us. "And mind, Jessop, keep your mouth shut about this. "

"i, i, Sir, " I answered. 

"And you too, youngster!" he added and went aft along the poop. 

Tammy and I were busy with the gangway when the Second came back. He hadbrought the Skipper. 

"Right under the gangway, Sir" I heard the Second say, and he pointeddown into the water. 

For a little while, the Old Man stared. Then I heard him speak. 

"I don't see anything, " he said. 

At that, the Second Mate bent more forward and peered down. So did I;but the thing, whatever it was, had gone completely. 

"It's gone, Sir, " said the Second. "It was there right enough when Icame for you. "

About a minute later, having finished shipping the gangway, I was goingforrard, when the Second's voice called me back

"Tell the Captain what it was you saw just now, " he said, in a lowvoice. 

"I can't say exactly, Sir, " I replied. "But it seemed to me like theshadow of a ship, rising up through the water. "

"There, Sir, " remarked the Second Mate to the Old Man. "Just what I toldyou. "

The Skipper stared at me. 

"You're quite sure?" he asked. 

"Yes, Sir, " I answered. "Tammy saw it, too. "

I waited a minute. Then they turned to go aft. The Second was sayingsomething. 

"Can I go, Sir?" I asked. 

"Yes, that will do, Jessop, " he said, over his shoulder. But the Old Mancame back to the break, and spoke to me. 

"Remember, not a word of this forrard!" he said. 

"No Sir, " I replied, and he went back to the Second Mate; while I walkedforrard to the fo'cas'le to get something to eat. 

"Your whack's in the kettle, Jessop, " said Tom, as I stepped in over thewashboard. "An' I got your lime-juice in a pannikin. "

"Thanks, " I said, and sat down. 

As I stowed away my grub, I took no notice of the chatter of the others. I was too stuffed with my own thoughts. That shadow of a vessel rising, you know, out of the profound deeps, had impressed me tremendously. Ithad not been imagination. Three of us had seen it--really four; forPlummer distinctly saw it; though he failed to recognise it as anythingextraordinary. 

As you can understand, I thought a lot about this shadow of a vessel. But, I am sure, for a time, my ideas must just have gone in aneverlasting, blind circle. And then I got another thought; for I gotthinking of the figures I had seen aloft in the early morning; and Ibegan to imagine fresh things. You see, that first thing that had comeup over the side, had come _out of the sea_. And it had gone back. Andnow there was this shadow vessel-thing--ghost-ship I called it. It was adamned good name, too. And the dark, noiseless men ... I thought a loton these lines. Unconsciously, I put a question to myself, aloud:

"Were they the crew?"

"Eh?" said Jaskett, who was on the next chest. 

I took hold of myself, as it were, and glanced at him, in an apparentlycareless manner. 

"Did I speak?" I asked. 

"Yes, mate, " he replied, eyeing me, curiously. "Yer said sumthin' abouta crew. "

"I must have been dreaming, " I said; and rose up to put away my plate. 

XIV

_The Ghost Ships_

At four o'clock, when again we went on deck, the Second Mate told me togo on with a paunch mat I was making; while Tammy, he sent to get outhis sinnet. I had the mat slug on the fore side of the mainmast, betweenit and the after end of the house; and, in a few minutes, Tammy broughthis sinnet and yarns to the mast, and made fast to one of the pins. 

"What do you think it was, Jessop?" he asked, abruptly, after a shortsilence. 

I looked at him. 

"What do you think?" I replied. 

"I don't know what to think, " he said. "But I've a feeling that it'ssomething to do with all the rest, " and he indicated aloft, with hishead. 

"I've been thinking, too, " I remarked. 

"That it is?" he inquired. 

"Yes, " I answered, and told him how the idea had come to me at mydinner, that the strange men-shadows which came aboard, might come fromthat indistinct vessel we had seen down in the sea. 

"Good Lord!" he exclaimed, as he got my meaning. And then for a little, he stood and thought. 

"That's where they live, you mean?" he said, at last, and paused again. 

"Well, " I replied. "It can't be the sort of existence _we_ should calllife. "

He nodded, doubtfully. 

"No, " he said, and was silent again. 

Presently, he put out an idea that had come to him. 

"You _think_, then, that that--vessel has been with us for some time, ifwe'd only known?" he asked. 

"All along, " I replied. "I mean ever since these things started. "

"Supposing there are others, " he said, suddenly. 

I looked at him. 

"If there are, " I said. "You can pray to God that they won't stumbleacross us. It strikes me that whether they're ghosts, or not ghosts, they're blood-gutted pirates. 

"It seems horrible, " he said solemnly, "to be talking seriously likethis, about--you know, about such things. "

"I've tried to stop thinking that way, " I told him. "I've felt I shouldgo cracked, if I didn't. There's damned queer things happen at sea, Iknow; but this isn't one of them. "

"It seems so strange and unreal, one moment, doesn't it?" he said. "Andthe next, you _know_ it's really true, and you can't understand why youdidn't always know. And yet they'd never believe, if you told themashore about it. "

"They'd believe, if they'd been in this packet in the middle watch thismorning, " I said. 

"Besides, " I went on. "They don't understand. We didn't ... I shallalways feel different now, when I read that some packet hasn't beenheard of. "

Tammy stared at me. 

"I've heard some of the old shellbacks talking about things, " he said. "But I never took them really seriously. "

"Well, " I said. "I guess we'll have to take this seriously. I wish toGod we were home!"

"My God! so do I, " he said. 

For a good while after that, we both worked on in silence; but, presently, he went off on another tack. 

"Do you think we'll really shorten her down every night before it getsdark?" he asked. 

"Certainly, " I replied. "They'll never get the men to go aloft at night, after what's happened. "

"But, but--supposing they _ordered_ us aloft--" he began. 

"Would you go?" I interrupted. 

"No!" he said, emphatically. "I'd jolly well be put in irons first!"

"That settles it, then, " I replied. "You wouldn't go, nor would any oneelse. "

At this moment the Second Mate came along. 

"Shove that mat and that sinnet away, you two, " he said. "Then get yourbrooms and clear up. "

"i, i, Sir, " we said, and he went on forrard. 

"Jump on the house, Tammy, " I said. "And let go the other end of thisrope, will you?"

"Right" he said, and did as I had asked him. When he came back, I gothim to give me a hand to roll up the mat, which was a very large one. 

"I'll finish stopping it, " I said. "You go and put your sinnet away. "

"Wait a minute, " he replied, and gathered up a double handful of shakinsfrom the deck, under where I had been working. Then he ran to the side. 

"Here!" I said. "Don't go dumping those. They'll only float, and theSecond Mate or the Skipper will be sure to spot them. "

"Come here, Jessop!" he interrupted, in a low voice, and taking nonotice of what I had been saying. 

I got up off the hatch, where I was kneeling. He was staring over theside. 

"What's up?" I asked. 

"For God's sake, hurry!" he said, and I ran, and jumped on to the spar, alongside of him. 

"Look!" he said, and pointed with a handful of shakins, right down, directly beneath us. 

Some of the shakins dropped from his hand, and blurred the water, momentarily, so that I could not see. Then, as the ripples cleared away, I saw what he meant. 

"Two of them!" he said, in a voice that was scarcely above a whisper. "And there's another out there, " and he pointed again with the handfulof shakins. 

"There's another a little further aft, " I muttered. 

"Where?--where?" he asked. 

"There, " I said, and pointed. 

"That's four, " he whispered. "Four of them!"

I said nothing; but continued to stare. They appeared to me to be agreat way down in the sea, and quite motionless. Yet, though theiroutlines were somewhat blurred and indistinct, there was no mistakingthat they were very like exact, though shadowy, representations ofvessels. For some minutes we watched them, without speaking. At lastTammy spoke. 

"They're real, right enough, " he said, in a low voice. 

"I don't know, " I answered. 

"I mean we weren't mistaken this morning, " he said. 

"No, " I replied. "I never thought we were. "

Away forrard, I heard the Second Mate, returning aft. He came nearer, and saw us. 

"What's up now, you two?" he called, sharply. "This isn't clearing up!"

I put out my hand to warn him not to shout, and draw the attention ofthe rest of the men. 

He took several steps towards me. 

"What is it? what is it?" he said, with a certain irritability; but in alower voice. 

"You'd better take a look over the side, Sir, " I replied. 

My tone must have given him an inkling that we had discovered somethingfresh; for, at my words, he made one spring, and stood on the spar, alongside of me. 

"Look, Sir, " said Tammy. "There's four of them. "

The Second Mate glanced down, saw something and bent sharply forward. 

"My God!" I heard him mutter, under his breath. 

After that, for some half-minute, he stared, without a word. 

"There are two more out there, Sir, " I told him, and indicated the placewith my finger. 

It was a little time before he managed to locate these and when he did, he gave them only a short glance. Then he got down off the spar, andspoke to us. 

"Come down off there, " he said, quickly. "Get your brooms and clear up. Don't say a word!--It may be nothing. "

He appeared to add that last bit, as an afterthought, and we both knewit meant nothing. Then he turned and went swiftly aft. 

"I expect he's gone to tell the Old Man, " Tammy remarked, as we wentforrard, carrying the mat and his sinnet. 

"H'm, " I said, scarcely noticing what he was saying; for I was full ofthe thought of those four shadowy craft, waiting quietly down there. 

We got our brooms, and went aft. On the way, the Second Mate and theSkipper passed us. They went forrard too by the fore brace, and got upon the spar. I saw the Second point up at the brace and he appeared tobe saying something about the gear. I guessed that this was donepurposely, to act as a blind, should any of the other men be looking. Then the Old Man glanced down over the side, in a casual sort of manner;so did the Second Mate. A minute or two later, they came aft, and wentback, up on to the poop. I caught a glimpse of the Skipper's face as hepassed me, on his return. He struck me as looking worried--bewildered, perhaps, would be a better word. 

Both Tammy and I were tremendously keen to have another look; but whenat last we got a chance, the sky reflected so much on the water, wecould see nothing below. 

We had just finished sweeping up when four bells went, and we clearedbelow for tea. Some of the men got chatting while they were grubbing. 

"I 'ave 'eard, " remarked Quoin, "as we're goin' ter shorten 'er downafore dark. "

"Eh?" said old Jaskett, over his pannikin of tea. 

Quoin repeated his remark. 

"'oo says so?" inquired Plummer. 

"I 'eard it from ther Doc, " answered Quoin, "'e got it from therStooard. "

"'ow would 'ee know?" asked Plummer. 

"I dunno, " said Quoin. "I 'spect 'e's 'eard 'em talkin' 'bout it arft. "

Plummer turned to me. 

"'ave you 'eard anythin', Jessop?" he inquired. 

"What, about shortening down?" I replied. 

"Yes, " he said. "Weren't ther Old Man talkin' ter yer, up on ther poopthis mornin'?"

"Yes, " I answered. "He said something to the Second Mate aboutshortening down; but it wasn't to me. "

"They are!" said Quoin, "'aven't I just said so?"

At that instant, one of the chaps in the other watch, poked his head inthrough the starboard doorway. 

"All hands shorten sail!" he sung out; at the same moment the Mate'swhistle came sharp along the decks. 

Plummer stood up, and reached for his cap. 

"Well, " he said. "It's evydent they ain't goin' ter lose no more of us!"

Then we went out on deck. 

It was a dead calm; but all the same, we furled the three royals, andthen the three t'gallants. After that, we hauled up the main andforesail, and stowed them. The crossjack, of course, had been furledsome time, with the wind being plumb aft. 

It was while we were up at the foresail, that the sun went over the edgeof the horizon. We had finished stowing the sail, out upon the yard, andI was waiting for the others to clear in, and let me get off thefoot-rope. Thus it happened that having nothing to do for nearly aminute, I stood watching the sun set, and so saw something thatotherwise I should, most probably, have missed. The sun had dippednearly half-way below the horizon, and was showing like a great, reddome of dull fire. Abruptly, far away on the starboard bow, a faint mistdrove up out of the sea. It spread across the face of the sun, so thatits light shone now as though it came through a dim haze of smoke. Quickly, this mist or haze grew thicker; but, at the same time, separating and taking strange shapes, so that the red of the sun struckthrough ruddily between them. Then, as I watched, the weird mistinesscollected and shaped and rose into three towers. These became moredefinite, and there was something elongated beneath them. The shapingand forming continued, and almost suddenly I saw that the thing hadtaken on the shape of a great ship. Directly afterwards, I saw that itwas moving. It had been broadside on to the sun. Now it was swinging. The bows came round with a stately movement, until the three masts borein a line. It was heading directly towards us. It grew larger; but yetless distinct. Astern of it, I saw now that the sun had sunk to a mereline of light. Then, in the gathering dusk it seemed to me that the shipwas sinking back into the ocean. The sun went beneath the sea, and thething I had seen became merged, as it were, into the monotonous greynessof the coming night. 

A voice came to me from the rigging. It was the Second Mate's. He hadbeen up to give us a hand. 

"Now then, Jessop, " he was saying. "Come along! come along!"

I turned quickly, and realised that the fellows were nearly all off theyard. 

"i, i, Sir, " I muttered, and slid in along the foot-rope, and went downon deck. I felt fresh dazed and frightened. 

A little later, eight bells went, and, after roll call, I cleared up, onto the poop, to relieve the wheel. For a while as I stood at the wheelmy mind seemed blank, and incapable of receiving impressions. Thissensation went, after a time, and I realised that there was a greatstillness over the sea. There was absolutely no wind, and even theeverlasting creak, creak of the gear seemed to ease off at times. 

At the wheel there was nothing whatever to do. I might just as well havebeen forrard, smoking in the fo'cas'le. Down on the main-deck, I couldsee the loom of the lanterns that had been lashed up to the sherpoles inthe fore and main rigging. Yet they showed less than they might, owingto the fact that they had been shaded on their after sides, so as not toblind the officer of the watch more than need be. 

The night had come down strangely dark, and yet of the dark and thestillness and the lanterns, I was only conscious in occasional flashesof comprehension. For, now that my mind was working, I was thinkingchiefly of that queer, vast phantom of mist, I had seen rise from thesea, and take shape. 

I kept staring into the night, towards the West, and then all round me;for, naturally, the memory predominated that she had been coming towardsus when the darkness came, and it was a pretty disquieting sort of thingto think about. I had such a horrible feeling that something beastly wasgoing to happen any minute. 

Yet, two bells came and went, and still all was quiet--strangely quiet, it seemed to me. And, of course, besides the queer, misty vessel I hadseen in the West I was all the time remembering the four shadowy craftlying down in the sea, under our port side. Every time I rememberedthem, I felt thankful for the lanterns round the maindeck, and Iwondered why none had been put in the mizzen rigging. I wished togoodness that they had, and made up my mind I would speak to the SecondMate about it, next time he came aft. At the time, he was leaning overthe rail across the break of the poop. He was not smoking, as I couldtell; for had he been, I should have seen the glow of his pipe, now andthen. It was plain to me that he was uneasy. Three times already he hadbeen down on to the maindeck, prowling about. I guessed that he had beento look down into the sea, for any signs of those four grim craft. Iwondered whether they would be visible at night. 

Suddenly, the time-keeper struck three bells, and the deeper notes ofthe bell forrard, answered them. I gave a start. It seemed to me thatthey had been struck close to my elbow. There was somethingunaccountably strange in the air that night. Then, even as the SecondMate answered the look-out's "All's well, " there came the sharp whir andrattle of running gear, on the port side of the mainmast. Simultaneously, there was the shrieking of a parrel, up the main; and Iknew that someone, or something, had let go the main-topsail haul-yards. From aloft there came the sound of something parting; then the crash ofthe yard as it ceased falling. 

The Second Mate shouted out something unintelligible, and jumped for theladder. From the maindeck there came the sound of running feet, and thevoices of the watch, shouting. Then I caught the Skipper's voice; hemust have run out on deck, through the Saloon doorway. 

"Get some more lamps! Get some more lamps!" he was singing out. Then heswore. 

He sung out something further. I caught the last two words. 

"... Carried away, " they sounded like. 

"No, Sir, " shouted the Second Mate. "I don't think so. "

A minute of some confusion followed; and then came the click of pawls. Icould tell that they had taken the haulyards to the after capstan. Oddwords floated up to me. 

"... All this water?" I heard in the Old Man's voice. He appeared to beasking a question. 

"Can't say, Sir, " came the Second Mate's. 

There was a period of time, filled only by the clicking of the pawls andthe sounds of the creaking parrel and the running gear. Then the SecondMate's voice came again. 

"Seems all right, Sir, " I heard him say. 

I never heard the Old Man's reply; for in the same moment, there came tome a chill of cold breath at my back. I turned sharply, and sawsomething peering over the taffrail. It had eyes that reflected thebinnacle light, weirdly, with a frightful, tigerish gleam; but beyondthat, I could see nothing with any distinctness. For the moment, I juststared. I seemed frozen. It was so close. Then movement came to me, andI jumped to the binnacle and snatched out the lamp. I twitched round, and shone the light towards it. The thing, whatever it was, had comemore forward over the rail; but now, before the light, it recoiled witha queer, horrible litheness. It slid back, and down, and so out ofsight. I have only a confused notion of a wet glistening Something, andtwo vile eyes. Then I was running, crazy, towards the break of the poop. I sprang down the ladder, and missed my footing, and landed on my stern, at the bottom. In my left hand I held the still burning binnacle lamp. The men were putting away the capstan-bars; but at my abrupt appearance, and the yell I gave out at falling, one or two of them fairly ranbackwards a short distance, in sheer funk, before they realised what itwas. 

From somewhere further forrard, the Old Man and the Second Mate camerunning aft. 

"What the devil's up now?" sung out the Second, stopping and bending tostare at me. "What's to do, that you're away from the wheel?"

I stood up and tried to answer him; but I was so shaken that I couldonly stammer. 

"I--I--there--" I stuttered. 

"Damnation!" shouted the Second Mate, angrily. "Get back to the wheel!"

I hesitated, and tried to explain. 

"Do you damned well hear me?" he sung out. 

"Yes, Sir; but--" I began. 

"Get up on to the poop, Jessop!" he said. 

I went. I meant to explain, when he came up. At the top of the ladder, Istopped. I was not going back alone to that wheel. Down below, I heardthe Old Man speaking. 

"What on earth is it now, Mr. Tulipson?" he was saying. 

The Second Mate made no immediate reply; but turned to the men, who wereevidently crowding near. 

"That will do, men!" he said, somewhat sharply. 

I heard the watch start to go forrard. There came a mutter of talk fromthem. Then the Second Mate answered the Old Man. He could not have knownthat I was near enough to overhear him. 

"It's Jessop, Sir. He must have seen something; but we mustn't frightenthe crowd more than need be. "

"No, " said the Skipper's voice. 

They turned and came up the ladder, and I ran back a few steps, as faras the skylight. I heard the Old Man speak as they came up. 

"How is it there are no lamps, Mr. Tulipson?" he said, in a surprisedtone. 

"I thought there would be no need up here, Sir, " the Second Matereplied. Then he added something about saving oil. 

"Better have them, I think, " I heard the Skipper say. 

"Very good, Sir, " answered the Second, and sung out to the time-keeperto bring up a couple of lamps. 

Then the two of them walked aft, to where I stood by the skylight. 

"What are you doing, away from the wheel?" asked the Old Man, in a sternvoice. 

I had collected my wits somewhat by now. 

"I won't go, Sir, till there's a light, " I said. 

The Skipper stamped his foot, angrily; but the Second Mate steppedforward. 

"Come! Come, Jessop!" he exclaimed. "This won't do, you know! You'dbetter get back to the wheel without further bother. "

"Wait a minute, " said the Skipper, at this juncture. "What objectionhave you to going back to the wheel?" he asked. 

"I saw something, " I said. "It was climbing over the taffrail, Sir--"

"Ah!" he said, interrupting me with a quick gesture. Then, abruptly:"Sit down! sit down; you're all in a shake, man. "

I flopped down on to the skylight seat. I was, as he had said, all in ashake, and the binnacle lamp was wobbling in my hand, so that the lightfrom it went dancing here and there across the deck. 

"Now, " he went on. "Just tell us what you saw. "

I told them, at length, and while I was doing so, the time-keeperbrought up the lights and lashed one up on the sheerpole in eachrigging. 

"Shove one under the spanker boom, " the Old Man sung out, as the boyfinished lashing up the other two. "Be smart now. "

"i, i, Sir, " said the 'prentice, and hurried off. 

"Now then, " remarked the Skipper when this had been done "You needn't beafraid to go back to the wheel. There's a light over the stern, and theSecond Mate or myself will be up here all the time. "

I stood up. 

"Thank you, Sir, " I said, and went aft. I replaced my lamp in thebinnacle, and took hold of the wheel; yet, time and again, I glancedbehind and I was very thankful when, a few minutes later, four bellswent, and I was relieved. 

Though the rest of the chaps were forrard in the fo'cas'le, I did not gothere. I shirked being questioned about my sudden appearance at the footof the poop ladder; and so I lit my pipe and wandered about themaindeck. I did not feel particularly nervous, as there were now twolanterns in each rigging, and a couple standing upon each of the sparetop-masts under the bulwarks. 

Yet, a little after five bells, it seemed to me that I saw a shadowyface peer over the rail, a little abaft the fore lanyards. I snatched upone of the lanterns from off the spar, and flashed the light towards it, whereupon there was nothing. Only, on my mind, more than my sight, Ifancy, a queer knowledge remained of wet, peery eyes. Afterwards, when Ithought about them, I felt extra beastly. I knew then how brutal theyhad been ... Inscrutable, you know. Once more in that same watch I had asomewhat similar experience, only in this instance it had vanished evenbefore I had time to reach a light. And then came eight bells, and ourwatch below. 

XV

_The Great Ghost Ship_

When we were called again, at a quarter to four, the man who roused usout, had some queer information. 

"Toppin's gone--clean vanished!" he told us, as we began to turn out. "Inever was in such a damned, hair-raisin' hooker as this here. It ain'tsafe to go about the bloomin' decks. "

"'oo's gone?" asked Plummer, sitting up suddenly and throwing his legsover his bunk-board. 

"Toppin, one of the 'prentices, " replied the man. "We've been huntin'all over the bloomin' show. We're still at it--but we'll never findhim, " he ended, with a sort of gloomy assurance. 

"Oh, I dunno, " said Quoin. "P'raps 'e's snoozin' somewheres 'bout. "

"Not him, " replied the man. "I tell you we've turned everythin' upsidedown. He's not aboard the bloomin' ship. 

"Where was he when they last saw him?" I asked. 

"Someone must know something, you know!"

"Keepin' time up on the poop, " he replied. "The Old Man's nearly shookthe life out of the Mate and the chap at the wheel. And they say theydon't know nothin'. "

"How do you mean?" I inquired. "How do you mean, nothing?"

"Well, " he answered. "The youngster was there one minute, and then thenext thing they knew, he'd gone. They've both sworn black an' blue thatthere wasn't a whisper. He's just disappeared off of the face of thebloomin' earth. "

I got down on to my chest, and reached for my boots. 

Before I could speak again, the man was saying something fresh. 

"See here, mates, " he went on. "If things is goin' on like this, I'dlike to know where you an' me'll be befor' long!"

"We'll be in 'ell, " said Plummer. 

"I dunno as I like to think 'bout it, " said Quoin. 

"We'll have to think about it!" replied the man. "We've got to think abloomin' lot about it. I've talked to our side, an' they're game. "

"Game for what?" I asked. 

"To go an' talk straight to the bloomin' Capting, " he said, wagging hisfinger at me. "It's make tracks for the nearest bloomin' port, an' don'tyou make no bloomin' mistake. "

I opened my mouth to tell him that the probability was we should not beable to make it, even if he could get the Old Man to see the matter fromhis point of view. Then I remembered that the chap had no idea of thethings I had seen, and _thought out_; so, instead, I said:

"Supposing he won't?"

"Then we'll have to bloomin' well make him, " he replied. 

"And when you got there, " I said. "What then? You'd be jolly well lockedup for mutiny. "

"I'd sooner be locked up, " he said. "It don't kill you!"

There was a murmur of agreement from the others, and then a moment ofsilence, in which, I know, the men were thinking. 

Jaskett's voice broke into it. 

"I never thought at first as she was 'aunted--" he commenced; butPlummer cut in across his speech. 

"We mustn't 'urt any one, yer know, " he said. "That'd mean 'angin', an'they ain't been er bad crowd. 

"No, " assented everyone, including the chap who had come to call us. 

"All the same, " he added. "It's got to be up hellum, an' shove her intothe nearest bloomin' port. "

"Yes, " said everyone, and then eight bells went, and we cleared out ondeck. 

Presently, after roll-call--in which there had come a queer, awkwardlittle pause at Toppin's name--Tammy came over to me. The rest of themen had gone forrard, and I guessed they were talking over mad plans forforcing the Skipper's hand, and making him put into port--poor beggars!

I was leaning over the port rail, by the fore brace-lock, staring downinto the sea, when Tammy came to me. For perhaps a minute he saidnothing. When at last he spoke, it was to say that the shadow vesselshad not been there since daylight. 

"What?" I said, in some surprise. "How do you know?"

"I woke up when they were searching for Toppin, " he replied. "I've notbeen asleep since. I came here, right away. " He began to say somethingfurther; but stopped short. 

"Yes, " I said encouragingly. 

"I didn't know--" he began, and broke off. He caught my arm. "Oh, Jessop!" he exclaimed. "What's going to be the end of it all? Surelysomething can be done?"

I said nothing. I had a desperate feeling that there was very little wecould do to help ourselves. 

"Can't we do something?" he asked, and shook my arm. "Anything's betterthan _this_! We're being _murdered!"_

Still, I said nothing; but stared moodily down into the water. I couldplan nothing; though I would get mad, feverish fits of thinking. 

"Do you hear?" he said. He was almost crying. 

"Yes, Tammy, " I replied. "But I don't know! I _don't_ know!"

"You don't know!" he exclaimed. "You don't know! Do you mean we're justto give in, and be murdered, one after another?"

"We've done all we can, " I replied. "I don't know what else we can do, unless we go below and lock ourselves in, every night. "

"That would be better than this, " he said. "There'll be no one to gobelow, or anything else, soon!"

"But what if it came on to blow?" I asked. "We'd be having the sticksblown out of her. "

"What if it came on to blow _now_?" he returned. "No one would go aloft, if it were dark, you said, yourself! Besides, we could shorten her_right_ down, first. I tell you, in a few days there won't be a chapalive aboard this packet unless they jolly well do something!"

"Don't shout, " I warned him. "You'll have the Old Man hearing you. " Butthe young beggar was wound up, and would take no notice. 

"I will shout, " he replied. "I want the Old Man to hear. I've a goodmind to go up and tell him. "

He started on a fresh tack. 

"Why don't the men do something?" he began. "They ought to damn wellmake the Old Man put us into port! They ought--"

"For goodness sake, shut up, you little fool!" I said. "What's the goodof talking a lot of damned rot like that? You'll be getting yourselfinto trouble. "

"I don't care, " he replied. "I'm not going to be murdered!"

"Look here, " I said. "I told you before, that we shouldn't be able tosee the land, even if we made it. "

"You've no proof, " he answered. "It's only your idea. "

"Well, " I replied. "Proof, or no proof, the Skipper would only pile herup, if he tried to make the land, with things as they are now. "

"Let him pile her up, " he answered. "Let him jolly well pile her up!That would be better than staying out here to be pulled overboard, orchucked down from aloft!"

"Look here, Tammy--" I began; but just then the Second Mate sung out forhim, and he had to go. When he came back, I had started to walk to andfrom, across the fore side of the mainmast. He joined me, and after aminute, he started his wild talk again. 

"Look here, Tammy, " I said, once more. "It's no use your talking likeyou've been doing. Things are as they are, and it's no one's fault, andnobody can help it. If you want to talk sensibly, I'll listen; if not, then go and gas to someone else. "

With that, I returned to the port side, and got up on the spar, again, intending to sit on the pinrail and have a bit of a talk with him. Before sitting down I glanced over, into the sea. The action had beenalmost mechanical; yet, after a few instants, I was in a state of themost intense excitement, and without withdrawing my gaze, I reached outand caught Tammy's arm to attract his attention. 

"My God!" I muttered. "Look!"

"What is it?" he asked, and bent over the rail, beside me. And thisis what we saw: a little distance below the surface there lay apale-coloured, slightly-domed disc. It seemed only a few feet down. Below it, we saw quite clearly, after a few moment's staring, the shadowof a royal-yard, and, deeper, the gear and standing-rigging of a greatmast. Far down among the shadows I thought, presently, that I could makeout the immense, indefinite stretch of vast decks. 

"My God!" whispered Tammy, and shut up. But presently, he gave out ashort exclamation, as though an idea had come to him; and got down offthe spar, and ran forrard on to the fo'cas'le head. He came runningback, after a short look into the sea, to tell me that there was thetruck of another great mast coming up there, a bit off the bow, towithin a few feet of the surface of the sea. 

In the meantime, you know, I had been staring like mad down through thewater at the huge, shadowy mast just below me. I had traced out bit bybit, until now I could clearly see the jackstay, running along the topof the royal mast; and, you know, the royal itself was _set_. 

But, you know, what was getting at me more than anything, was a feelingthat there was movement down in the water there, among the rigging. I_thought_ I could actually see, at times, things moving and glintingfaintly and rapidly to and fro in the gear. And once, I was practicallycertain that something was on the royal-yard, moving in to the mast; asthough, you know, it might have come up the leech of the sail. And thisway, I got a beastly feeling that there were things swarming down there. 

Unconsciously, I must have leant further and further out over the side, staring; and suddenly--good Lord! how I yelled--I overbalanced. I made asweeping grab, and caught the fore brace, and with that, I was back in amoment upon the spar. In the same second, almost, it seemed to me thatthe surface of the water above the submerged truck was broken, and I amsure _now, _ I saw something a moment in the air against the ship's side--a sort of shadow in the air; though I did not realise it at the time. Anyway, the next instant, Tammy gave out an awful scream, and was headdownwards over the rail, in a second. I had an idea _then_ that he wasjumping overboard. I collared him by the waist of his britchers, and oneknee, and then I had him down on the deck, and sat plump on him; for hewas struggling and shouting all the time, and I was so breathless andshaken and gone to mush, I could not have trusted my hands to hold him. You see, I never thought _then_ it was anything but some influence atwork on him; and that he was trying to get loose to go over the side. But I know _now_ that I saw the shadow-man that had him. Only, at thetime, I was so mixed up, and with the one idea in my head, I was notreally able to notice anything, properly. But, afterwards, Icomprehended a bit (you can understand, can't you?) what I had seen atthe time without taking in. 

And even now looking back, I know that the shadow was only like afaint-seen greyness in the daylight, against the whiteness of the decks, clinging against Tammy. 

And there was I, all breathless and sweating, and quivery with my owntumble, sitting on the little screeching beggar, and he fighting like amad thing; so that I thought I should never hold him. 

And then I heard the Second Mate shouting and there came running feetalong the deck. Then many hands were pulling and hauling, to get me offhim. 

"Bl--y cowyard!" sung out someone. 

"Hold him! Hold him!" I shouted. "He'll be overboard!"

At that, they seemed to understand that I was not ill-treating theyoungster; for they stopped manhandling me, and allowed me to rise;while two of them took hold of Tammy, and kept him safe. 

"What's the matter with him?" the Second Mate was singing out. "What'shappened?"

"He's gone off his head, I think, " I said. 

"What?" asked the Second Mate. But before I could answer him, Tammyceased suddenly to struggle, and flopped down upon the deck. 

"'e's fainted, " said Plummer, with some sympathy. He looked at me, witha puzzled, suspicious air. "What's 'appened? What's 'e been doin'?"

"Take him aft into the berth!" ordered the Second Mate, a bit abruptly. It struck me that he wished to prevent questions. He must have tumbledto the fact that we had seen something, about which it would be betternot to tell the crowd. 

Plummer stooped to lift the boy. 

"No, " said the Second Mate. "Not you, Plummer. Jessop, you take him. " Heturned to the rest of the men. "That will do, " he told them and theywent forrard, muttering a little. 

I lifted the boy, and carried him aft. 

"No need to take him into the berth, " said the Second Mate. "Put himdown on the after hatch. I've sent the other lad for some brandy. "

Then the brandy came, we dosed Tammy and soon brought him round. He satup, with a somewhat dazed air. Otherwise, he seemed quiet and saneenough. 

"What's up?" he asked. He caught sight of the Second Mate. "Have I beenill, Sir?" he exclaimed. 

"You're right enough now, youngster, " said the Second Mate. "You've beena bit off. You'd better go and lie down for a bit. "

"I'm all right now, Sir, " replied Tammy. "I don't think--"

"You do as you're told!" interrupted the Second. "Don't always have tobe told twice! If I want you, I'll send for you. "

Tammy stood up, and made his way, in rather an unsteady fashion, intothe berth. I fancy he was glad enough to lie down. 

"Now then, Jessop, " exclaimed the Second Mate, turning to me. "What'sbeen the cause of all this? Out with it now, smart!"

I commenced to tell him; but, almost directly, he put up his hand. 

"Hold on a minute, " he said. "There's the breeze!"

He jumped up the port ladder, and sung out to the chap at the wheel. Then down again. 

"Starboard fore brace, " he sung out. He turned to me. "You'll have tofinish telling me afterwards, " he said. 

"i, i, Sir, " I replied, and went to join the other chaps at the braces. 

As soon as we were braced sharp up on the port tack, he sent some of thewatch up to loose the sails. Then he sung out for me. 

"Go on with your yarn now, Jessop, " he said. 

I told him about the great shadow vessel, and I said something aboutTammy--I mean about my not being sure _now_ whether he _had_ tried tojump overboard. Because, you see, I began to realise that I had seen theshadow; and I remembered the stirring of the water above the submergedtruck. But the Second did not wait, of course, for any theories, but wasaway, like a shot, to see for himself. He ran to the side, and lookeddown. I followed, and stood beside him; yet, now that the surface of thewater was blurred by the wind, we could see nothing. 

"It's no good, " he remarked, after a minute. "You'd better get away fromthe rail before any of the others see you. Just be taking those halyardsaft to the capstan. "

From then, until eight bells, we were hard at work getting the sail uponher, and when at last eight bells went, I made haste to swallow mybreakfast, and get a sleep. 

At midday, when we went on deck for the afternoon watch, I ran to theside; but there was no sign of the great shadow ship. All that watch, the Second Mate kept me working at my paunch mat, and Tammy he put on tohis sinnet, telling me to keep an eye on the youngster. But the boy wasright enough; as I scarcely doubted now, you know; though--a mostunusual thing--he hardly opened his lips the whole afternoon. Then atfour o'clock, we went below for tea. 

At four bells, when we came on deck again, I found that the lightbreeze, which had kept us going during the day, had dropped, and we wereonly just moving. The sun was low down, and the sky clear. Once ortwice, as I glanced across to the horizon, it seemed to me that I caughtagain that odd quiver in the air that had preceded the coming of themist; and, indeed on two separate occasions, I saw a thin whisp of hazedrive up, apparently out of the sea. This was at some little distance onour port beam; otherwise, all was quiet and peaceful; and though Istared into the water, I could make out no vestige of that great shadowship, down in the sea. 

It was some little time after six bells that the order came for allhands to shorten sail for the night. We took in the royals andt'gallants, and then the three courses. It was shortly after this, thata rumour went round the ship that there was to be no look-out that nightafter eight o'clock. This naturally created a good deal of talk amongthe men; especially as the yarn went that the fo'cas'le doors were to beshut and fastened as soon as it was dark, and that no one was to beallowed on deck. 

"'oo's goin' ter take ther wheel?" I heard Plummer ask. 

"I s'pose they'll 'ave us take 'em as usual, " replied one of the men. "One of ther officers is bound ter be on ther poop; so we'll 'avecompany. "

Apart from these remarks, there was a general opinion that--if it weretrue--it was a sensible act on the part of the Skipper. As one of themen said:

"It ain't likely that there'll be any of us missin' in ther mornin', ifwe stays in our bunks all ther blessed night. "

And soon after this, eight bells went. 

XVI

_The Ghost Pirates_

At the moment when eight bells actually went, I was in the fo'cas'le, talking to four of the other watch. Suddenly, away aft, I heardshouting, and then on the deck overhead, came the loud thudding ofsomeone pomping with a capstan-bar. Straightway, I turned and made a runfor the port doorway, along with the four other men. We rushed outthrough the doorway on to the deck. It was getting dusk; but that didnot hide from me a terrible and extraordinary sight. All along the portrail there was a queer, undulating greyness, that moved downwardsinboard, and spread over the decks. As I looked, I found that I saw moreclearly, in a most extraordinary way. And, suddenly, all the movinggreyness resolved into hundreds of strange men. In the half-light, theylooked unreal and impossible, as though there had come upon us theinhabitants of some fantastic dream-world. My God! I thought I was mad. They swarmed in upon us in a great wave of murderous, living shadows. From some of the men who must have been going aft for roll-call, thererose into the evening air a loud, awful shouting. 

"Aloft!" yelled someone; but, as I looked aloft, I saw that the horriblethings were swarming there in scores and scores. 

"Jesus Christ--!" shrieked a man's voice, cut short, and my glancedropped from aloft, to find two of the men who had come out from thefo'cas'le with me, rolling upon the deck. They were twoindistinguishable masses that writhed here and there across the planks. The brutes fairly covered them. From them, came muffled little shrieksand gasps; and there I stood, and with me were the other two men. A mandarted past us into the fo'cas'le, with two grey men on his back, and Iheard them kill him. The two men by me, ran suddenly across the forehatch, and up the starboard ladder on to the fo'cas'le head. Yet, almostin the same instant, I saw several of the grey men disappear up theother ladder. From the fo'cas'le head above, I heard the two mencommence to shout, and this died away into a loud scuffling. At that, Iturned to see whether I could get away. I stared round, hopelessly; andthen with two jumps, I was on the pigsty, and from there upon the top ofthe deckhouse. I threw myself flat, and waited, breathlessly. 

All at once, it seemed to me that it was darker than it had been theprevious moment, and I raised my head, very cautiously. I saw that theship was enveloped in great billows of mist, and then, not six feet fromme, I made out someone lying, face downwards. It was Tammy. I felt safernow that we were hidden by the mist, and I crawled to him. He gave aquick gasp of terror when I touched him; but when he saw who it was, hestarted to sob like a little kid. 

"Hush!" I said. "For God's sake be quiet!" But I need not have troubled;for the shrieks of the men being killed, down on the decks all aroundus, drowned every other sound. 

I knelt up, and glanced round and then aloft. Overhead, I could make outdimly the spars and sails, and now as I looked, I saw that thet'gallants and royals had been unloosed and were hanging in thebuntlines. Almost in the same moment, the terrible crying of the poorbeggars about the decks, ceased; and there succeeded an awful silence, in which I could distinctly hear Tammy sobbing. I reached out, and shookhim. 

"Be quiet! Be quiet!" I whispered, intensely. "THEY'LL hear us!"

At my touch and whisper, he struggled to become silent; and then, overhead, I saw the six yards being swiftly mast-headed. Scarcely werethe sails set, when I heard the swish and flick of gaskets being castadrift on the lower yards, and realised that ghostly things were at workthere. 

For a moment or so there was silence, and I made my way cautiously tothe after end of the house, and peered over. Yet, because of the mist, Icould see nothing. Then, abruptly, from behind me, came a single wail ofsudden pain and terror from Tammy. It ended instantly in a sort ofchoke. I stood up in the mist and ran back to where I had left the kid;but he had gone. I stood dazed. I felt like shrieking out loud. Above meI heard the flaps of the course being tumbled off the yards. Down uponthe decks, there were the noises of a multitude working in a weird, inhuman silence. Then came the squeal and rattle of blocks and bracesaloft. They were squaring the yards. 

I remained standing. I watched the yards squared, and then I saw thesails fill suddenly. An instant later, the deck of the house upon whichI stood, became canted forrard. The slope increased, so that I couldscarcely stand, and I grabbed at one of the wire-winches. I wondered, ina stunned sort of way, what was happening. Almost directly afterwards, from the deck on the port side of the house, there came a sudden, loud, human scream; and immediately, from different parts of the decks, thererose, afresh, some most horrible shouts of agony from odd men. This grewinto an intense screaming that shook my heart up; and there came again anoise of desperate, brief fighting. Then a breath of cold wind seemed toplay in the mist, and I could see down the slope of the deck. I lookedbelow me, towards the bows. The jibboom was plunged right into thewater, and, as I stared, the bows disappeared into the sea. The deck ofthe house became a wall to me, and I was swinging from the winch, whichwas now above my head. I watched the ocean lap over the edge of thefo'cas'le head, and rush down on to the maindeck, roaring into the emptyfo'cas'le. And still all around me came crying of the lost sailor-men. Iheard something strike the corner of the house above me, with a dullthud, and then I saw Plummer plunge down into the flood beneath. Iremembered that he had been at the wheel. The next instant, the waterhad leapt to my feet; there came a drear chorus of bubbling screams, aroar of waters, and I was going swiftly down into the darkness. I let goof the winch, and struck out madly, trying to hold my breath. There wasa loud singing in my ears. It grew louder. I opened my mouth. I felt Iwas dying. And then, thank God! I was at the surface, breathing. For themoment, I was blinded with the water, and my agony of breathlessness. Then, growing easier, I brushed the water from my eyes and so, not threehundred yards away, I made out a large ship, floating almost motionless. At first, I could scarcely believe I saw aright. Then, as I realisedthat indeed there was yet a chance of living, I started to swim towardsyou. 

You know the rest----

"And you think--?" said the Captain, interrogatively, and stopped short. 

"No, " replied Jessop. "I don't think. I _know. None of us _think_. It'sa gospel fact. People _talk_ about queer things happening at sea; butthis isn't one of them. This is one of the _real_ things. You've allseen queer things; perhaps more than I have. It depends. But they don'tgo down in the log. These kinds of things never do. This one won't; atleast, not as it's really happened. "

He nodded his head, slowly, and went on, addressing the Captain moreparticularly. 

"I'll bet, " he said, deliberately, "that you'll enter it in thelog-book, something like this:

"'May l8th. Lat. --S. Long. --W. 2 p. M. Light winds from the South andEast. Sighted a full-rigged ship on the starboard bow. Overhauled her inthe first dog-watch. Signalled her; but received no response. During thesecond dog-watch she steadily refused to communicate. About eight bells, it was observed that she seemed to be settling by the head, and a minutelater she foundered suddenly, bows foremost, with all her crew. Put outa boat and picked up one of the men, an A. B. By the name of Jessop. Hewas quite unable to give any explanation of the catastrophe. '

"And you two, " he made a gesture at the First and Second Mates, "willprobably sign your names to it, and so will I, and perhaps one of yourA. B. S. Then when we get home they'll print a report of it in thenewspapers, and people will talk about the unseaworthy ships. Maybe someof the experts will talk rot about rivets and defective plates and soforth. "

He laughed, cynically. Then he went on. 

"And you know, when you come to think of it, there's no one except ourown selves will ever know how it happened--really. The shellbacks don'tcount. They're only 'beastly, drunken brutes of _common sailors_'--poordevils! No one would think of taking anything they said, as anythingmore than a damned cuffer. Besides, the beggars only tell these thingswhen they're half-boozed. They wouldn't then (for fear of being laughedat), only they're not responsible--"

He broke off, and looked round at us. 

The Skipper and the two Mates nodded their heads, in silent assent. 

APPENDIX

_The Silent Ship_

I'm the Third Mate of the _Sangier_, the vessel that picked up Jessop, you know; and he's asked us to write a short note of what we saw fromour side, and sign it. The Old Man's set me on the job, as he says I canput it better than he can. 

Well, it was in the first dog-watch that we came up with her, the_Mortzestus_ I mean; but it was in the second dog-watch that ithappened. The Mate and I were on the poop watching her. You see, we'dsignalled her, and she'd not taken any notice, and that seemed queer, aswe couldn't have been more than three or four hundred yards off her portbeam, and it was a fine evening; so that we could almost have had atea-fight, if they'd seemed a pleasant crowd. As it was, we called thema set of sulky swine, and left it at that, though we still kept ourhoist up. 

All the same, you know, we watched her a lot; and I remember even then Ithought it queer how quiet she was. We couldn't even hear her bell goand I spoke to the Mate about it, and he said he'd been noticing thesame thing. 

Then, about six bells they shortened her right down to top-sails; and Ican tell you that made us stare more than ever, as anyone can imagine. And I remember we noticed then especially that we couldn't hear a singlesound from her even when the haul yards were let go; and, you know, without the glass, I saw their Old Man singing out something; but wedidn't get a sound of it and we _should_ have been able to hear everyword. 

Then, just before eight bells, the thing Jessop's told us abouthappened. Both the Mate and the Old Man said they could see men going upher side a bit indistinct, you know, because it was getting dusk; butthe Second Mate and I half thought we did and half thought we didn't;but there was something queer; we all knew that; and it looked like asort of moving mist along her side. I know I felt pretty funny; but itwasn't the sort of thing, of course, to be too sure and serious aboutuntil you _were_ sure. 

After the Mate and the Captain had said they saw the men boarding her, we began to hear sounds from her; very queer at first and rather like aphonograph makes when it's getting up speed. Then the sounds cameproperly from her, and we heard them shouting and yelling; and, youknow, I don't know even now just what I really thought. I was all soqueer and mixed. 

The next thing I remember there was a thick mist round the ship; andthen all the noise was shut off, as if it were all the other side of adoor. But we could still see her masts and spars and sails above themisty stuff; and both the Captain and the Mate said they could see menaloft; and I thought I could; but the Second Mate wasn't sure. All thesame though, the sails were all loosed in about a minute, it seemed, andthe yards mastheaded. We couldn't see the courses above the mist; butJessop says they were loosed too and sheeted home along with the uppersails. Then we saw the yards squared and I saw the sails fill bang upwith wind; and yet, you know, ours were slatting. 

The next thing was the one that hit me more than anything. Her maststook a cant forrard, and then I saw her stem come up out of the mistthat was round her. Then, all in an instant, we could hear sounds fromthe vessel again. And I tell you, the men didn't seem to be shouting, but screaming. Her stern went higher. It was most extraordinary to lookat; and then she went plunk down, head foremost, right bang into themist-stuff. 

It's all right what Jessop says, and when we saw him swimming (I was theone who spotted him) we got out a boat quicker than a wind-jammer evergot out a boat before, I should think. 

The Captain and the Mate and the Second and I areall going to sign this. 

(Signed)WILLIAM NAWSTON _Master_. J. E. G. ADAMS _First Mate_. ED. BROWN _Second Mate_. JACK T. EVAN _Third Mate_.