"My goodness! you don't mean that, Hiram?" I exclaimed, seeing from his
earnest manner that he was not trying to hoax me, but stating what he
really believed to be a fact. "When was it that you saw the ghost?"
"Jest on sundown, Cholly, arter the men hed thaar tea an' cleared out,
the whole bilin' ov 'em, skipper an' all, goin' ashore, like ez ye did,
sonny, afore 'em, to prospect the country an' look at the big turtle an'
other streenge varmint. Thaar warn't a soul left aboard but thet brute
Flinders an' myself; an' he wer so basted by the lickin' ez Jan
Steenbock giv him thet he wer lyin' down in the cabin an' pizenin'
hisself with rum to mend matters. But, I wer thet dead beat, with
shiftin' gear an' sendin' down yards, thet I wer fit fur nuthin' but ter
lean over the gangway an' smoke a pipe afore turnin' in, fur I wer
mighty tired out, I wer!"
"You must have been, Hiram," said I, "for, I'm sure I was, and am so
still."
"Yes, I wer dead beat, an' thaar I rested agen the gangway, smokin' an'
lookin' at the chaps that wer a-skylarkin' with a big turtle they had
capsized on ter his back, so ez he couldn't make tracks; when all at
oncest I thort o' the galley fire a-goin' out an' yer tea, Cholly, ez I
promist to keep bilin', an' so I made back fur the caboose. It wer then
close on dark, an' a sorter fog beginnin' to spring from seaward afore
the land breeze riz an' blew it orf."
"And then," I put in, on his pausing at this point, hanging on his words
intently, "what happened then?"
"Lord sakes! Cholly, it kinder makes the creeps come over me to tell
you," he replied, with a shudder, while his voice fell impressively. "I
wer jest nigh the galley when I heerd a twang on the banjo, same ez poor
old Sam used ter giv' the durned thin' afore he began a-playin' on it--a
sorter loudish twang, as if he gripped all the strings at oncet; an'
then, ther' come a softer sort o' toonfal `pink-a-pink-a-pong, pong,'
an' I guess I heerd a wheezy cough, ez if the blessed old nigger wer
clarin' his throat fur to sing--I did, so!"
"Goodness gracious, Hiram!" I ejaculated, breathless with expectation,
"you must have been frightened!"
"I wer so," he replied--"I wer so skeart thet I didn't know what ter
dew; but, thinks I, let's see if anythin's thaar; an' so I jest look't
round the corner o' the galley through the half-door, an', b'y, thaar I
seed Sam a-sottin', ez I sed, an' a-playin' his banjo ez nat'rel ez ever
wer!"
"But the banjo wasn't there last night," I interposed here. "I looked
for it almost as soon as we heard the sound of it being played at the
time of the earthquake, and I couldn't see it hanging up over the door
where Tom Bullover, you remember, pointed it out to us."
"Wa-all, all I ken say is thet I seed the ghostess with the durned thin'
thaar in his grip. I didn't wait fur to see no more, I can tell ye,
Cholly!"
"What did you do?"
"I jest made tracks for the fo'c's'le, an' turned inter my bunk, I wer
so skeart, till the skipper an' the rest o' the hands came aboard ag'in,
when I comed out an' stood hyar a-waitin' fur ye. I ain't seed Tom
Bullover yet; so ye're the fust I hev told o' the sperrit hauntin' us
agen, Cholly."
"Do you think it's gone yet?" I asked; "perhaps it is still there."
"I dunno," he replied. "P'raps ye'd best go fur to see. I'm jiggered
if I will!"