Strain my eyes as I might, it was impossible to see the figure of the speaker, and yet I knew full well that the white form in the hatchway had loomed up clearly, not indistinctly, as it would seem should be the case if it were a gleam from a piece of canvas.
Before the captain could reply to the sailor, Mr. Fernald came aft carrying a lighted lantern, and Simon’s father asked, impatiently:
“Well, what did you find?”
“Nothing, sir. I reckon some of the men must have been playing pranks.”
“They will have cause to regret anything of the kind, if I can catch them at it,” the captain said, angrily, and then, wheeling about, went straight into the cabin, followed by the second officer, who doubtless understood, as did I, that Simon’s father preferred the report should be made where none of the crew might overhear.
Once the two officers left the deck, it was as if every man’s tongue had suddenly been unloosed, and the watch below, most likely disturbed by the running about, came pouring up to learn the cause of the unusual noise.
Then it was we learned the result of the second officer’s search.
Some of the men had seen him come down with the lantern and search about the gun-deck, but it was certain he failed to find anything.
Now it can well be fancied into what a state of excitement we were plunged, Simon and I among the others.
Those who had clung to the belief that the carrying away of the topmast was an omen of ill fortune declared the apparition in white to be a second warning, and I question if there was a man forward of the cabin who did not feel decidedly uneasy in mind.