Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-10-16

them went down into the forepeak, and
found the Italian lying there dead, with
q score of rats upon him, which bounded
off as the men dropped below. During
all the rest OF the voyage bis ghost was
constantly seen, sometimes astride OF the
flying jibboom. What was the end of
i'll mean whether the men confessed
the murder, and if so, what became Of
them-the dockmaster said he didn't
know. Be that as it may, / discovered
shortly after we had begun our voyage,
that the crew had got to hear of this
story, and the chief mate said that it had
been brought aboard by the carpenter,
who had picked it up from some of the
dockyard laborers.
II well recollect twouncomfOrtable cir
cumstsnces; We sailed on Friday, and
the able and ordinary seamen were thir-
teen in number, the idlers and ourselves
aft bringing up the ships company to
nineteen souls-nineteen souls. when, l
suppose, il. her prime the Ocean King
never left port short Of seventy or eighty
seamen, not to mention stewards, cooks,
cooks mates, butcher, butchers mate,
baker, and the rest of them. But double
topsail yards were now in; besides, I'M
derstood that the vessels masts had been
reduced and her var Is shortened, and
we carried stump fore and Mizzen top
gallant masts. All being ready, a tug got
hold of tow rope, and away We went
down the river and out to sea. / don't
believe myself that any stories which
had been told the men about the ship
impressed them much. Sailors are very
superstitious, but they are not to be
scared till something has happened to
| fright9n them. Your merely telling them
that there's ghost aboard the ship they
are in will not alarm them till they've
caught sight of the ghost. But once let
a man say to the others: There's a
bloomin' sperrit in this ship. Lay your
bead agin the forehatch and you'll hear
him crashing his teeth and rattlin' his
chains and then let another man go and
listen, and swear, and perhaps very hon
estly, that he .heerd the noises plain,
and You'll have all hands in funk, talk.
ing in whispers, and going aloit in the
happened for some days. We were deep
sea falling away from the vessels power
full round bows as from rock. Pile
what we could upon her, with tacks
| STAY Sails tIdNllS, dlu JIG
hitting her best sailing point, we could
seldom manage to get more than seven
knots out of her. One night | had the
first watch. 1t was about two bells,
There was a nice wind, the sea smooth,
and red moon crawling up over the
starboard beam. We were under all
plain sail, leaning away from the wind a
trifie, and the water washing along un
der the bends in lines through which
the starlight ran glimmering. | was
thinking over the six months voyages
which old wagons after the pattern of this
ship took in getting to India, when, seeing
squall coming along, Isungout for hands
to stand by the main royal and mizzen
topgallant halliards. 1t drove down dark,
and not knowing what was behind, | or
dered the main royal to be clewed up
and furled. Two youngsters went aloft.
By the time they were OH the yard the
squat thinned, but l fancied there was
another bearing down, and thought it
best to let the ordinary seamen roll the sail
up. On a sudden down they both trotted
hand over hand, leaving the sail Tapping
in the clutch of the clew lines. | roared
out What dye mean by coming down
before you've furled that sail?' They stood
together in the main rigging, and one Of
them answered.: Please, sir, there's a
ghost somewhere up aloft in the toretop-
to them. and that they rather reckoned
sail, yard.' "A ghost, you fool. | cried.
Yes, SIR he answered. He says,
"Jaimy, your mother wants yer" l
says, WHAT" and he says: Your
mother wants yer" in the hollowest o
voices. Dick here heard it. There's NO
one aloft forrads, sir l sung out to
them to jump aloft again, and finding
that they didn't move made a spring,
on which they dropped like lightning on
deck, and began to beg and pray of me
in the eagerest manner not to send them
aioft, as they were too frightened to hold
on Indeed, the fellow named jim act
ually began to shiver and cry when l
threatened him; so az the royal had to
be furled, l sent couple of able seamen
aloft, who, after rolling up the sail, came
down, and said that 10 voice bad called
it was bit of skylarking on the part of
the boys to get out of slowing the sail.
However, l noticed that the two men
were wonderfully quick over the job, and
that afterward the watch on deck stood
talking in low voices in the waist. Jim
was fool of youth, nut Dick was a
smart lad, aged about nineteen, and good
! looking, with lively tongue, and l
heard afterward that he could spin a
yarn to perfection, all out of his magma
. ton l called him to me, and asked if
he really heard voice, and he swore he
had. Did it say said !, '"Jimmy, your
mother wants your "A, SIR he an.
swered, with bit of shudder, as plain
as you yourself say it. 1t seemed to
come off the foretopgallant-yard, where
1 fancied could see something dark
moving; but was too frightened to take
particular notice.
"Well, it was not long after this, about
tain being on deck, the cook steps out of
the galley, comes walking along the
) poop, and going up to the skipper touch
What dye wan% said the captain, eye
ing him as if he took him to be mad.
Didn't you call, sir?' says the cook.
Call" cries the skipper, certainly not.
The man looked stupid with surprise,
and muttering something to himself
, went forward. Ten minutes afterward
, he came up again to the skipper and
: said Yes, sir" as man might who an
2 swers to call. The skipper began to
swear at him and called him a lunatic,
and so on, but the man, finding he was
wrong again, grew white, and swore that
. if he was on his deathbed he'd maintain
, that the captain had called him twice.
The skipper, who was rather a nervous
t man, turned to me and said: What do
you make of this, Mr.. Green? / can't
. doubt the cooks word Who is calling
5 him in my voice| oh, its some illusion,
sir" said 1, feeling rather puzzleA for all