“Sunk her,” asked Ned.
“Not a bit on it, it vanished into mist.”
Several of the servants and members of the household whom the kind knight had allowed to listen to the cripple’s tale, now wished themselves in their bed-rooms, or in the servants’ hall.
They were unable to leave their seats, however, for they felt fastened down to them, and in some manner fascinated by the charmed eye of the speaker.
The footman’s pig-tail worked to and fro like the pendulum of a clock, and, at certain passages, stood bolt upright as its owner inwardly and sometimes audibly groaned at what he heard.
“Vanished into mist, eh? How extraordinary!” said the knight. “Then it must be a charmed ship, and a charmed crew.”
“’Zactly, sir, and I’ll tell yer how I proves it. The ‘Dolphin’ often gave chase to this Phantom Ship, but could never catch it, although sometimes we caught more than we liked.”
“Indeed! what was that then?”
“Why, a well-aimed broadside.”
“From the Phantom Ship?”