The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-10-30

no doubt I should have slowed away
enough to serve me for many
, hearty laugh in after years. A few
days rolled by without anything par
happening. One night it came
to my turn to have the first watch. 1t
was a quiet night, with wind enough to
keep the sails still whilst the old ship
went drowsily rolling along her course
to the African port. Suddenly I heard
commotion forward, and, fearing that
accident had happened, I called
out to know what the matter q A
voice answered: sGhost or no ghost,
somebody talking in the fore
hold; come and listen, SIR The 81
lence that followed suggested q good
deal of alarm. I sang out as I ap-
preached the men: Perhaps there's a
below Its no living voice.
was the reply; it sounds as if it comes
from a skelington.' I found q crowd of
standing in awed postures near
the hatch, and the most frightened of
all looked to me to be the ordinary sea-
man Dick, who had backed away on
the other side of the hatch, and stood
looking on, leaning with his hands on
his knees, and staring as if he was fas-
cinated. I waited a couple or three
minutes, which in q business of this
kind seems a long time, and, hearing
nothing, I was going to ridicule the men
for their nervousness, when a hollow
voice under the hatch said, distinctly:
Its q terrible thing to be a ghost, and
not be able to get out 1 was greatly
startled, and ran off to tell theICaptain,
who agreed with me that there must be
a stowaway in the hold, and that he had
gone mad. We both wentforward, and
the hatch vas lifted, and we looked on
top of the coal; and I was then about
to ask some of the men to join me
in a search in the forepeak, for upon
my word I had no taste single-handed
for a job of that kind at such a moment,
when the voice said: There's no use
looking; you'll never find me. I'm
not to be SEEM .Confound mel cried
the skipper, polishing his forehead with
a pocket handkerchief, if ever l heard
of such a thing. rn tell you what it
is he shouted, looking into the hatch,
dead men can't talk, and so, as you're
bound to be alive, you'd better come up
out of that, and smartly, too, dye hear,
or you'll find this the worst attempt at
skylarking that was eve made There
hands straining their ears, for there was
light enough for that given out by the
lantern one of the men held. You
couldn't catch me because you couldn't
see me- said the voice, in a die-away
tone, and this time it came from the
direction of the main hatch, As though
it had fitted aft. sWell,' said the Cap
tain. may 1 be jiggered!' and without
another word he walked away on to the
poop. ] told the men to clap on the
matches again. and they did this in
double quick time, evidently afraid that
the ghost might pop up out of the hold
if they didn't mind their eye.
"All this made us very superstitious,
from the Captain down to the boys. We
talked it over in the cabin, and the
mate was incredulous and disposed to
ridicule me. ANY way he said, .it's
stranga that this voice is only heard in
your watch. It's never favored me
with any remarks. The creaking and
groaning of an old wooden ship is often
like spoken words, and what you've
been hearing may be nothing but a de-
ception of the ear.' "A deception in
your ear cried the skipper. The tim
Der of an old wooden ship may strain
and creak in the Dutch language, but
hang me if theyever talked good sensi-
BILE English. However. l am not going
to worry. For my part said he, with
a glance around him, i don't
believe in ghosts. Whatever it is that's
talking in the hold may go on jawing,
so long as he sticks to that and don't
brighten the men with an ugly mug nor
come upon us for a mans allowance
IF it's anybody's ghost said I, it must
be the Italians, the chap was starved
in the forepeak.' L doubt that said
the skipper. 4 didn't detect anything
foreign in what he said. To my ear ii
sounded more like Whitechapel than
Italiano.' Well, for another week we
heard little more of the ghost. It's
true that one middle watch chap I had
sent aloft to loose the mainroyal had
barely steered out of the lower rigging,
after lingering in the crosstrees to over.
haul his clewlines, when he comes rush.
ing up to me and cries out I've been
hailed from aloft, sir |! a voice has just
sung out , Tommy, jump aloft again
that 1 may have a good look at you !
who's up thereP | asked him, staring
into the gloom where the mast and
yards went towering. There's no one
up there, sir; I'll swear it. 1 was bound
to see him had anyone been there,
he answered, evidently very much
frightened. 1t occurred to me thai
some one of the crew might be lying
hid in the top, and that it [ could catch
him [ might find out who the ghost
was. So 1 jumped into the rigging and
trotted aloft, keeping my eye on the lee
rigging, to make sure that no n de-
scended by it 1 gained the top, but
nobody was there. L mounted to the
crosstrees, but the deuce a sign of any
one could l see. I came down, feeling
both foolish and scared; Tor you see !
had heard the voice myself in the hold.
there was no question that there was
voice, belonging to nobody knew what
knocking about the ship, and conse
quently it was now impossible to helI
believing q man when he said h
heard it.
"However, it was necessary to keer
the men in heart, and this was not t.
be done by Captain and mates appear
ing scared; so l reasoned a bit with thu
man, told him that there were no sucl
things as ghosts, that a voice was bount
to come from a live person, because
| specter couldn't possibly have lungs
those organs being of a perishable ma
ture, and then sent him forward, blu
no easier in his mind, l%suspect, than
was. Anyhow 1 was glad when eigh
bells were struck and it was my turn tt
go below. But, as l have said, nothin,
much came of this, at least nothing tina
reached my ears. But not many night
following the ship lay becalmed-ther
wasn't a breath of air, and the sea la
smooth as polished jet. This time
had the middle watch again. l wa
walking quietly up and down the poop
on the lookout for a deeper shadow up
on the sea to indicate the approach g
wind. when a mar came IN the ladde