By the time the job was finished and the launch bailed out, it was well along in the afternoon and the lad groaned as he realized that he must face another hard night's work without sleep.
"Massa Chas," said Chris, as they trudged up to the shack together, "I ain't bothered you-alls 'bout it before 'cause I seed you was all tired an' wore out, but I'ze dun got something to tell you."
Charley glanced sharply at the little negro's serious face.
"What is it?" he said, quietly.
"Massa Chas," said the little fellow, solemnly, "sho' as I is a living nigger, I seed dat ghost last night."
CHAPTER XIII.
CHRIS' STORY.
The little darkey's face was so serious that Charley could not doubt that he had seen, or imagined he had seen, something out of the common. He was so long familiar with Chris' superstitious fears that, ordinarily, he would have scoffed at them, but now, he remembered the shooting the previous day and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the unseen marksman.
"Tell me just what you saw, Chris," he said, quietly.