Captain Flint, more perplexed and bewildered than ever, resumed his seat by the table; but not to sleep again that night, though the fearful yell was not repeated.
The captain prided himself on being perfectly free from all superstition.
He held in contempt the stories of ghosts of murdered men coming back to torment their murderers.
In fact, he was very much inclined to disbelieve in any hereafter at all, taking it to be only an invention of cunning priests, for the purpose of extorting money out of their silly dupes. But here was something, which, if not explained away, would go far to stagger his disbelief.
He was glad that the last exhibition had only been witnessed by himself, and that the men for the present preferred passing their nights outside; for, as he learned from Lightfoot, the noises were only during the night time.
This would enable him to continue his investigation without any interference on the part of the crew, whom he wished to keep in utter ignorance of what he was doing, until he had perfectly unraveled the mystery.
For this purpose, he gave Lightfoot and Black Bill strict charges not to inform the men of what had taken place during the night.
He was determined to pass the principal portion of the day in sleep, so as to be wide awake when the time should come for him to resume his investigations.
CHAPTER VII.
On the day after the first scene in the cave, late in the afternoon, three men sat on the deck of the schooner, as she lay in the shadow of forest covered mountain.