"I mean anything unusual."
"Nothing, only a school of porpoises went past and gave me a little scare. They were like a lot of water kittens at play."
Mark concluded he would say nothing of the white visitor until he ascertained whether any one else had seen it.
It was several nights later, when the ship was once more proceeding slowly along the surface of the water, that the ghost again appeared. This time Washington had the midnight watch.
But the colored man was not one to remain quiet when he had such a scary visitor, and his yells aroused the ship.
"It's a ghostess! A big white ghostess!" yelled Washington. "I don seen it wid my eyes, an' it waved his arms at me. I's goin' to die suah!"
"What's all this nonsense?" demanded the professor sternly. Then Washington, more or less excitedly, told of what he had seen. It was just as it had happened to Mark.
"You were dreaming," said the professor to Washington. "There are no such things as ghosts."
Every one, from old Andy to Tom and Bill, had been roused by Washington's cries, and listened to his story. At the close of the recital of how the white thing had suddenly disappeared, Washington refused to continue his watch, unless some one stayed with him.
Mark volunteered to do this. He was anxious to see if the ghost would reappear to him. But nothing happened; and the rest of the night passed off quietly.