Page:Remarkable family adventure of Saunders Watson (1).pdf/20

Rh him, after all. The captain told the crew they must keep perfect silence on the subject of what had passed, and as the mate was not willing to give an absolute and explicit promise, he ordered him to be confined below. After a day or two he came to the mate, and demanded if he had an intention to deliver him up for trial when the vessel got home; the mate, who was tired of close confinement in that sultry climate, spoke his commander fair, and obtained his liberty. When he mingled among the crew once more, he found them impressed with the idea, not unnatural in their situation, that the ghost of the dead man appeared among them, when they had a spell of duty, especialy if a sail was to be handed, on which occassion the spectre was sure to be out upon the yard before any of the crew; the narrator has seen this apparition himself repeatedly—he believed the captain saw it also, but he took no notice of it for some time, and the crew, terrified at the violent temper of the man, dared not call his attention to it. Thus they held on their course homeward, with great fear and anxiety; at length, the captain invited the mate, who was now in some sort of favour, to go down to the cabin, and take a glass of grog with him; in this interview he assumed a very grave and anxious aspect: ‘I need not tell you, Jack,