"Yes," replied Raner, "an' I swar I don't like it."
They plunged into work again with greater determination. It was in this
way they kept their courage up; for every time they stopped to whet,
their feelings were in a turmoil. The very pace they were working put
them in all the worse condition. But the plot was lessening rapidly, and
so they drove themselves on. Strange to say, some time passed without a
word further in allusion to what had been seen. But while there was for
this short period a dogged spell upon them to say nothing more about
what each was sure the other had seen, the very bugaboo in their minds
made all the more headway because of their silence; and in spite of
themselves, they kept glancing through the gap, when they cut across the
end where the empty jug lay. The expedient of curving that end did not
dispel their alarm, for when they rounded the broad curve, some sinister
influence impelled them to look seaward.
"She's fog color," abruptly exclaimed Josh, startling both Layn and
Raner, and causing them to look at the same instant. "She's got ev'ry
stitch spread, too."
"An' still headin' right squar' on, I sw'ar," said Layn. And pointing,
he continued, "Raner, do you see? We ain't got no sich breeze a blowin'
here ez she's got thar."
"What the hell's dif'runce, tell me, does that make with _her_? That
wizard o' a ship 'ud have fair wind an' plenty on it, ef she wuz sailin'
dead to wind'ard."
"Now, she's gone ag'in," spoke Alibee, "an' thet's what she's done
afore."
The mowers began a new bout, and Raner remarked, "Such things, hell take
'em, have been seen afore, though a long time back. I heerd tell on 'em
when I wuz a boy. It's a spectre o' some ship Kidd has sunk with all her
crew on board, a ha'ntin' this coast. Thar's no tellin' what the
mischief'll come out on it all to us, ne'ther. He wuz off the Inlet thar
sev'ral times with the 'Royal Eduth.' I've hearn, time and ag'in, o' how
he come in the Inlet with his long-boat, an' got game o' the Injuns, an'
the devil may know how many lives he put an end to when off here."
The mowers came again to the bout leading up to the broad curve. Alibee,
who a moment ago had said, "I'm all o' a cold sweat," looked out upon
the ocean and exclaimed, "By the very devil himself, see how much nigher
she's in! Confound ef I want 'o stay here an' cut much longer."
This exclamation produced but one result--a wider swath. They had
plunged into deeper stroke that afternoon after every expression of
fear, for the mowers tried, in the prodigious effort put forth, to
drown, for the moment, their apprehensions. But the drafts they had made
upon their strength were now telling upon them sorely. They could not
sustain the effort, and soon lapsed into a slower stroke; and although
the bout was considerably shorter, they were a third longer in cutting
it. Though wrought to the highest point with fear, they were powerless
to resist the bewitching influence to look seaward as they mowed round
the curve. This time that strange shape, looming up again, struck terror
through them.
"By heavens," gasped Alibee, "how much closer in is she a comin'? An'
look! look! thet's a woman standin' on the rail thar, for'ard, white ez
the ship. Not another soul on board, ez I kin see."
The mowers stood gazing a second with scythes poised, and then finished
their strokes. Just around the curve Alibee stole a glance behind him.
With piercing tone he cried, "Good God! thar's thet woman, on the hills
yunder, comin straight fur us; an' the ship, look! she's bow on. Quick,
quick, run fur the hay-boat."
Hurriedly they gathered their traps and ran to the boat, casting looks
behind every few steps. They had left the jug--the empty jug--but not a
second could be lost. They threw their scythes into the boat, Alibee ran
for the anchor, and came running back with it, dragging the cable after
him. Raner and Layn in their excitement had already pushed off the boat,
and Josh, splashing through the water, tumbled on board, anchor in hand.
In an instant the mowers had disappeared in the fog.
[Illustration: (uncaptioned)]