The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-01-26
a GHOST
A 30 A r D
.Ecopyright. 1904, by T. G. Mcclure.l

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| per ship Danube, and one night when
seven or eight days out, we lost the
breeze andlay idly OH a CLASSY sea.
A sailor named Charles Jones was
! on watch as lookout at 10 O'clock. He
] as a sober, dignified man and the best
| seaman of tile crew. AS second mate
of the ship l had charge of that. watch
at the time, while the captain and chief
mate We're lounging about ON the fore
and main decks.
| OF a sudden Jones yelled out and
came running aft in state of great
excitement lie was in such per-
turbed state that it was five minutes
before lie 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 man nor
was it yet shadow. The sailor felt
Its breath on his cheek and turned to
seize it,. but the something" laughed
az AAA3 0AAA SAAS4Oo a Way
u was greatly provoked with the man
and charged him with having slept on
his post, though knew that I did him
injustice in this. 1t was cloudy
night, with the moon breaking through
now and then, and I contended that
his something" was but 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 good joke,
and the two men who saw it were the
butt OF ridicule. At o'clock Of GER
tain morning. however, 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 sail. His watch We're 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 five 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 had softly ap-
preached to test his nerves. For 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 hooking
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
shadow beside the mate, and he had
also heard laugh that made his flesh
creep. The mate poohpoohed and bull
dozed to make light Of the affair, as it
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 e
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 and plausible re l.
son to account for the thing. Various
theories We're raised, discussed and
abandoned for others for the next
week, and we found ourselves no bet
ter of than when we began.
Two weeks had gone by before we
got another scare. This time it came
to the captain himself, as he hoped it
would. AT 10 o'clock at night he sat
reading in his cabin when chill pass
ed over him, and he felt two ice cold
hands on his neck. 1t was Mt 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 WI 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 man had
passed into his stateroom. Together
we descended and made search, and,
of course, nothing was found. No
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 Soma
thing had gripped him, though no
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 not
have come from his own lips.
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