Evening journal., 1905-01-18
A GHOST
ABOARD D
Copyright. 1904. by T. c. Mcclure.l

seven or eight days out. we lost the
breeze and lay idly on a CLASSY sea.
A sailor named Charles Jones was
on watch as lookout at 10 o'clock. He
was a sober dignified man and the best
seaman Of the crew. AS second mate
Of the ship had charge of that watch
at the time, while the captain and chief
mate were lounging about on the fore
and main decks.
OF a sudden Jones yelled out and
eame running aft in n state Of great
excitement. He was in such a per-
turbed state that 1t was five minutes
before he could relate his story. He
was pacing to and fro, he said, keeping
a bright lookout and not thinking Of
anything In particular when he sud-
denly found something walking beside
him. He heard no step or sound, but
something" stood shoulder to Shout
der with him. 1t wasn't a man nor
was 1t yet a shadow. The sailor felt
its breath on his cheek and turned to
seize it, but the something" laughed
at him and glided away.
was greatly provoked with the man
and charged him with having slept on
his post, though l knew that did him
! injustice I'm this. II was a cloudy
night, with the moon breaking through
now and then, and 1 contended that
his something was but q shadow
and ordered him back to his post
Nothing further happened that night,
and the next morning the captain call
ed the old man aft and gave him to
understand that If he felt or saw any
more ghosts 1t would be bad for him.
The crew would talk the matter over
! and. OF course, side with Jones, but
that anything further would be seen of
the something" no man believed.
When ten days had gone by and
nothing more had turned up we began
to look upon the ghost as n good joke,
and the two men saw it were the
butt OF ridicule. 4 o'clock of a GER
tain morning, howev the breeze be-
ing small and the night without a
moon, though fairly light, the chief
mate stood looking to windward over
the port quarter at what he believed
was a sail. His watch were all wide
! awake, and he could hear the footsteps
of the man on lookout as he paced.
The officer had been standing still
for perhaps Eve minutes when he felt
a hand laid on his arm and icy breath
on his cheek and as he wheeled about
there was the sound Of low laughter
To his surprise and CONSERVATION no
one was visible. His impression as he
turned was that I had softly ap-
/ preached to test his nerves. For a few
seconds he was as sure that he had a
human being to deal with as that he
lived, but when he found nothing be-
fore him and yet heard the mocking
! laughter his flesh began to creep.
Going back to the pinnacle, he asked
the man at the wheel If he had seen or
heard anything queer. The man re-
piled that he had seen something like
a shadow beside the mate, and he had
also heard a laugh that made his flesh
creep. The mate poohpoohed and bull
dozed to make light Of the affair, as 1t
was polite to do; but though the man
was reduced to silence. it was evident
that he was fully satisfied that a spook
was aboard.
Next morning the mate related his
experience to the cabin, and as he was
man whose word could not be ques-
toned no one thought OF ridiculing
him. On the contrary, we began fish
ing for some natural ana plausible rea-
son to account for the thing Various
theories were raised. discussed and
abandoned for others for the next
week. and we found ourselves no bet
ter Off than when we began.
Two weeks had gone by before we
got another scare. This time 1t came
to the captain himself, as he hoped ii
would. At 10 o'clock at night he sat
reading in his cabin when a chill pass
ed over him, and he felt two ice cold
hands on his neck. 1t was at If a
strong man had put his thumbs to-
gether on the back of his neck and
clutched with his fingers. The cap.
tain started up and shook himself clear
of the clutch and whirled to strike at
whoever was behind him.
No person was there, but as If in
answer to the captains oath Of as
tonishment there was the same low
sarcastic laughter as had been heard
by the others. His stateroom door
was open and had been for two hours
and the laughter died away IN that di
rection, and the door gently closed OF
itself.
The captain came on deck and call.
ed me and whispered that a man had
passed into his stateroom. Together
we descended and made a search, and
OF course, nothing was found. Nc
man could have been more upset His
experience had been even more trying
than the others, and all his argu.
ments had been torn to shreds. Some,
thing had gripped him, though nc
marks were left to prove it. Some
one or something had laughed, though
the captain was all alone in his cabin
and was sure that the sound could moi
have come from his own lips.
We saw nothing more of the ghost
business and reached port safely with
all well, but the yarn got into the
papers and was circulated among the
taverns, and when ready to sail again
we found ourselves without a crew
By paying double wages we secured
J one after a long delay. and the craft
was seventeen days out when the
ghost appeared again and laid its cold
hands on one OF the men.
The entire crew before the mast seiz
ed the boats and abandoned the ship