I put my head into the berth, and
he gave a gasp; then he saw who it was, and his face relaxed something
of its strained expression. He said: "Come in," in a low voice, which he tried to steady; and I
stepped 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, and
leaning 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, before
answering him. I felt, all at once, that it might be better to deny all
knowledge--to say I hadn't seen anything unusual. I thought quickly, and
made 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 just
now, 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. I
saw you." The little beggar was nearly crying between fear, and vexation at my
assumed unbelief. "Rot!" I replied. "You know jolly well you were sleeping in your
time-keeping. You dreamed something and woke up suddenly. You were off
your chump." I was determined to reassure him, if possible; though, goodness! I
wanted assurance myself. If he had known of that other thing, I had seen
down on the maindeck, what then? "I wasn't asleep, any more than you were," he said, bitterly. "And you
know 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 than
half 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 an
old 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 go
gassing about like this, round the decks. Take my tip, and turn-in and
get a sleep. You're talking dotty. Tomorrow you'll perhaps feel what an
unholy ass you've made of yourself." I stepped over the washboard, and left him. I believe he followed me to
the 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, taking
care never to let him catch me alone. I was determined, if possible, to
convince him that he had been mistaken in supposing that he had seen
anything that night. Yet, after all, it was little enough use, as you
will soon see. For, on the night of the second day, there was a further
extraordinary 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 was
exceedingly fine; and the wind had dropped away almost to nothing, so
that 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? Come
down!" I rose to my feet, and walked up to wind'ard. From there, I could see
the break of the poop. The Second Mate was standing by the starboard
ladder. He appeared to be looking up at something that was hidden from
me 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 was
no 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 at
once, a thought came to me. The figure Tammy and I had seen. Had the
Second Mate seen something--someone? I hurried on, and then stopped,
suddenly. In the same moment there came the shrill blast of the Second's
whistle; he was whistling for the watch, and I turned and ran to the
fo'cas'le to rouse them out. Another minute, and I was hurrying aft with
them 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 fool
is up there. See what mischief he's up to." "i, i, Sir," several of the men sung out, and a couple jumped into the
weather 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 fellow
tried 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. "If
you 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 was
above the top, and he was taking a preliminary look, before venturing
higher. "See anythin', Jock?" asked Plummer, the man next above me. "Na'!" said Jock, tersely, and climbed over the top, and so disappeared
from my sight. The fellow ahead of me, followed. He reached the futtock rigging, and
stopped to expectorate. I was close at his heels, and he looked down to
me. "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. I
followed on. The chaps on the lee side were about level with us. Under
the foot of the topsail, I could see Tammy and the other 'prentice down
on the maindeck, looking upwards. The fellows were a bit excited in a sort of subdued way; though I am
inclined to think there was far more curiosity and, perhaps, a certain
consciousness of the strangeness of it all. I know that, looking to
leeward, there was a tendancy to keep well together, in which I
sympathised. "Must be a bloomin' stowaway," one of the men suggested. I grabbed at the idea, instantly. Perhaps--And then, in a moment, I
dismissed it. I remembered how that first thing had stepped over the
rail _into the sea. That_ matter could not be explained in such a
manner. With regard to this, I was curious and anxious. I had seen
nothing this time. What could the Second Mate have seen? I wondered.