"I have tried to shake him off several times, but it was no use, he always returns.
"The first business I engaged in on arriving here, was to trade with the Indians; when having discovered this cave, it struck me that it would make a fine storehouse for persons engaged in our line of business. Acting upon this hint, I fitted it up as you see.
"With a few gold pieces which I had secured in my belt I bought our little schooner. From that time to the present, my history it as well known to you as to myself. And now my long yarn is finished, let us go on with our sport."
But to recall the hilarity of spirits with which the entertainment had commenced, was no easy matter.
Whether the captain's explanation of the strange noise was satisfactory to himself or not, it was by no means so to the men.
Every attempt at singing, or story telling failed. The only thing that seemed to meet with any favor was the hot punch, and this for the most part, was drank in silence.
After a while they slunk away from the table one by one, and fell asleep in some remote corner of the cave, or rolled over where they sat, and were soon oblivious to everything around them.
The only wakeful one among them was the captain himself, who had drank but little.
He sat by the table alone. He started up! Could he have dozed and been dreaming? but surely he heard that groan again!
In a more suppressed voice than before, and not repeated so many times, but the same horrid groan; he could not be mistaken, he had never heard anything else like it. The matter must be looked into.