The Ghost Pirates
At the moment when eight actually went, I was in the fo'cas'le, talking to four of the other watch. Suddenly, away aft, I shouting, and then on the overhead, came the loud of someone with a capstan-bar. Straightway, I and a for the port doorway, along with the four other men. We out through the on to the deck. It was dusk; but that did not from me a terrible and sight. All along the port rail there was a queer, greyness, that moved inboard, and spread over the decks. As I looked, I that I saw more clearly, in a most way. And, suddenly, all the moving into hundreds of men. In the half-light, they looked and impossible, as though there had come upon us the of some dream-world. My God! I I was mad. They in upon us in a great of murderous, shadows. From some of the men who must have been going for roll-call, there rose into the air a loud, shouting.
"Aloft!" someone; but, as I looked aloft, I saw that the were there in and scores.
"Jesus Christ—!" a man's voice, cut short, and my from aloft, to two of the men who had come out from the fo'cas'le with me, upon the deck. They were two that here and there across the planks. The them. From them, came little and gasps; and there I stood, and with me were the other two men. A man past us into the fo'cas'le, with two men on his back, and I them kill him. The two men by me, ran across the hatch, and up the on to the fo'cas'le head. Yet, almost in the same instant, I saw of the men up the other ladder. From the fo'cas'le above, I the two men to shout, and this died away into a loud scuffling. At that, I to see I away. I round, hopelessly; and then with two jumps, I was on the pigsty, and from there upon the top of the deckhouse. I myself flat, and waited, breathlessly.
All at once, it to me that it was than it had been the previous moment, and I my head, very cautiously. I saw that the ship was in great of mist, and then, not six from me, I out someone lying, downwards. It was Tammy. I now that we were by the mist, and I to him. He gave a quick of terror when I touched him; but when he saw who it was, he started to like a little kid.
"Hush!" I said. "For God's be quiet!" But I need not have troubled; for the of the men being killed, on the all around us, every other sound.
I up, and and then aloft. Overhead, I make out the and sails, and now as I looked, I saw that the t'gallants and had been and were in the buntlines. Almost in the same moment, the terrible of the about the decks, ceased; and there succeeded an silence, in which I Tammy sobbing. I out, and him.
"Be quiet! Be quiet!" I whispered, intensely. "THEY'LL us!"
At my touch and whisper, he to silent; and then, overhead, I saw the six yards being mast-headed. Scarcely were the set, when I the and of being on the yards, and that were at work there.
For a moment or so there was silence, and I my way to the after end of the house, and over. Yet, of the mist, I see nothing. Then, abruptly, from me, came a single of pain and terror from Tammy. It ended in a of choke. I up in the and ran to where I had left the kid; but he had gone. I dazed. I like out loud. Above me I the of the being off the yards. Down upon the decks, there were the of a in a weird, silence. Then came the and of and aloft. They were the yards.
I standing. I the yards squared, and then I saw the suddenly. An later, the of the house upon which I stood, forrard. The increased, so that I stand, and I at one of the wire-winches. I wondered, in a of way, what was happening. Almost directly afterwards, from the on the port of the house, there came a sudden, loud, scream; and immediately, from different parts of the decks, there rose, afresh, some most of from odd men. This into an that my up; and there came again a noise of desperate, fighting. Then a of cold wind to play in the mist, and I see the of the deck. I looked me, the bows. The was right into the water, and, as I stared, the into the sea. The of the house a to me, and I was from the winch, which was now above my head. I the over the of the fo'cas'le head, and on to the maindeck, into the empty fo'cas'le. And still all around me came of the sailor-men. I something the of the house above me, with a thud, and then I saw Plummer into the beneath. I that he had been at the wheel. The next instant, the water had to my feet; there came a of screams, a of waters, and I was going into the darkness. I let go of the winch, and out madly, trying to my breath. There was a loud in my ears. It louder. I opened my mouth. I I was dying. And then, thank God! I was at the surface, breathing. For the moment, I was with the water, and my of breathlessness. Then, easier, I the water from my and so, not three hundred yards away, I out a large ship, almost motionless. At first, I I saw aright. Then, as I that there was yet a of living, I started to swim you.
You know the rest——
"And you think—?" said the Captain, interrogatively, and stopped short.
"No," Jessop. "I don't think. I _know. None of us think. It's a fact. People talk about at sea; but this isn't one of them. This is one of the things. You've all things; more than I have. It depends. But they don't go in the log. These of do. This one won't; at least, not as it's happened."
He his head, slowly, and on, the Captain more particularly.
"I'll bet," he said, deliberately, "that you'll enter it in the log-book, something like this:
"'May l8th. Lat.—S. Long.—W. 2 p.m. Light from the South and East. Sighted a full-rigged ship on the bow. Overhauled her in the dog-watch. Signalled her; but no response. During the second dog-watch she to communicate. About eight bells, it was that she to be settling by the head, and a minute later she suddenly, foremost, with all her crew. Put out a and up one of the men, an A.B. by the name of Jessop. He was unable to give any of the catastrophe.'
"And you two," he a at the First and Second Mates, "will your names to it, and so will I, and one of your A.B.s. Then when we home they'll print a report of it in the newspapers, and people will talk about the ships. Maybe some of the will talk about and plates and so forth."
He laughed, cynically. Then he on.
"And you know, when you come to think of it, there's no one our own will know how it happened—really. The don't count. They're only 'beastly, of common sailors'—poor devils! No one would think of taking anything they said, as anything more than a cuffer. Besides, the only tell these when they're half-boozed. They wouldn't then (for of being laughed at), only they're not responsible—"
He off, and looked at us.
The Skipper and the two Mates their heads, in assent.
APPENDIX
The Silent Ship
I'm the Third Mate of the Sangier, the that up Jessop, you know; and he's asked us to a note of what we saw from our side, and it. The Old Man's set me on the job, as he says I can put it than he can.
Well, it was in the dog-watch that we came up with her, the Mortzestus I mean; but it was in the second dog-watch that it happened. The Mate and I were on the her. You see, we'd her, and she'd not taken any notice, and that queer, as we couldn't have been more than three or four hundred yards off her port beam, and it was a evening; so that we almost have had a tea-fight, if they'd a crowd. As it was, we called them a set of swine, and left it at that, though we still our up.
All the same, you know, we her a lot; and I then I it how she was. We couldn't her go and I spoke to the Mate about it, and he said he'd been noticing the same thing.
Then, about six they her right to top-sails; and I can tell you that us more than ever, as anyone can imagine. And I we noticed then that we couldn't a single from her when the yards were let go; and, you know, without the glass, I saw their Old Man out something; but we didn't a of it and we should have been able to every word.
Then, just eight bells, the thing Jessop's told us about happened. Both the Mate and the Old Man said they see men going up her a indistinct, you know, it was dusk; but the Second Mate and I we did and we didn't; but there was something queer; we all that; and it looked like a of moving along her side. I know I funny; but it wasn't the of thing, of course, to be too sure and about until you were sure.
After the Mate and the Captain had said they saw the men her, we to from her; very at and like a makes when it's up speed. Then the came properly from her, and we them and yelling; and, you know, I don't know now just what I thought. I was all so and mixed.
The next thing I there was a thick the ship; and then all the noise was off, as if it were all the other of a door. But we still see her and and above the stuff; and the Captain and the Mate said they see men aloft; and I I could; but the Second Mate wasn't sure. All the same though, the were all in about a minute, it seemed, and the yards mastheaded. We couldn't see the above the mist; but Jessop says they were too and home along with the upper sails. Then we saw the yards and I saw the up with wind; and yet, you know, ours were slatting.
The next thing was the one that me more than anything. Her took a cant forrard, and then I saw her come up out of the that was her. Then, all in an instant, we from the again. And I tell you, the men didn't to be shouting, but screaming. Her higher. It was most to look at; and then she down, foremost, right into the mist-stuff.
It's all right what Jessop says, and when we saw him (I was the one who him) we got out a than a wind-jammer got out a before, I should think.
The Captain and the Mate and the Second and I are all going to this.
