Harper's Young People, May 17, 1881 / An Illustrated Weekly

Author of the The Moral Pirates, etc.
The next day Charley had the boat drawn up on the shore, and went to work at her, assisted by the other boys. It took two weeks of constant work to lengthen her, but when she was finished, everybody admitted that she was greatly improved.
The jib halyards and sheets, as well as the throat and peak halyards, were all led aft so that they could be reached by the helmsman without leaving his post. When all the other work was finished, Charley made a gun-carriage for the cannon, and it was lashed to the deck just forward of the mast. Nothing now remained to be done but to name the boat, and this proved to be the most difficult task of all. Each of the boys could think of a dozen names that he did not like, but not one that he really did like. Tom thought that perhaps they could not do better than to call her the America , or the George Washington , but admitted that both of those names were in rather too common use. Harry said that he didn't much like the idea of calling her the Red Revenger , but if they couldn't find any better name they might have to come to it. Charley ridiculed the idea of calling her the Red Revenger , since she was not intended to revenge anything, and instead of being red was as white as a ghost. Then suppose we call her the Ghost , exclaimed Joe.
The other boys asked if he was in earnest, said that it would never do to call the boat the Ghost , and finally agreed that they rather liked the name than otherwise, on account of its oddity. The end of it was that Joe's suggestion was adopted, and Ghost was painted in large letters on the stern.
Three days before the cruise was to begin Jim Sharpe fell down an open cellarway and broke his leg. The boys at first thought of abandoning their cruise altogether, but Jim wouldn't hear of it. He told them to go, and write him letters every few days, and convinced them that he would really feel hurt if they did not go, so they bade him good-by, and set sail from Harlem the following Monday morning, half in doubt whether they ought to enjoy themselves while poor Jim was lying on a sick-bed, where he was to pass most of his vacation.