“Why, the ghost of the man who was lost overboard a few years ago,” said Upham. “You see, one night, during a gale, some of the crew were sent aloft to cut away the main topsail, for it was blowing too hard to furl it. One man was lost overboard—he was blown fairly off the foot-rope, they tell me—and every night after that his ghost used to get up on the main-topsail yard and sing out: ‘Stand from under!’ I never heard him speak, but I’ve seen him often.”
“So have I,” said Upham’s crony. “He looks like a rat.”
“But what did you see in the forecastle?” asked Flint.
“Nothing; but we heard ’em talking and going on. They’re in the hold now.”
“Go below, you lubbers!” shouted the second mate. “This is the third time I have spoken to you, and if you don’t pay some attention I’ll start you down faster than you want to go.”
The men belonging to the port watch ran quickly down the ladder to avoid the handspike which the officer began to swing about in close proximity to their heads.
Guy was the last to leave the deck. Tired and utterly discouraged as he was he would rather have spent the rest of the night in work than go into the forecastle. He scouted the idea of ghosts, but when such men as Flint and Upham showed signs of fear, he believed that it could not be without good reason, and that there must be something to be afraid of. He trembled violently, and his face was as pale as those of the rest of the watch.
“Aha! see him now, mates!” exclaimed the gray-headed sailor pointing to Guy as he came down the ladder. “Here’s the chap that knows more’n all the rest of us put together!—a regular sea-lawyer. Now look at him!”
“Listen! listen!” said one of the watch suddenly.
The sailors all held their breath, and a silence deep as that of the grave reigned in the forecastle. This continued for a few seconds, and then a low, moaning sound, like the wail of some one in intense bodily agony, fell upon their ears with startling distinctness. It seemed to come to them through the bulk-head that separated the forecastle from the hold.