THE COOK'S WATCH--MATERIALISM VERSUS ASTRALISM
I had the key to the Captain's room in my pocket and knew that no one
was in there, but Riley's story had taken such a serious trend that I
decided to withhold the news from them.
"Well, Riley," I said carelessly, "you are easily frightened, when Toby
can scare you like this."
Here they all jumped toward me, and started to talk at once. Charlie,
calling for order, decided that now was the time to fix me forever. He
introduced Broken-Nosed Pete, who had always been inclined to be
skeptical, to put the finishing touches on Riley's story.
Pete, I may state, when he was rational, was unaffected in his speech by
the rather unusual list of his nose. But tonight, moved by powerful
feelings, he threw convention to the winds, and spoke in loud nasal
tones, and with gestures befitting an orator.
"Go on," said Charlie, pushing him forward, "tell him, Pete."
"I had just called the watch below," he began, "and was taking my smoke
and a bite of lunch. By that time it was eight bells. I was pulling down
my blankets about to turn in, when I sees Riley coming down the scuttle
with his cap in his hand and very warm looking. 'Is Toby in here?' ses
Riley. 'He is,' ses I. 'He is over in Russian-Finn John's bunk.' 'Holy
Mother of God,' ses Riley, 'get me a drink of water, 'tis fainting I
am.' 'What's wrong, Riley?' I asks. 'Oh, be Hivins,' ses he, 'I have
made the mistake of me life by ever shipping on this dirty old
graveyard.' As for the rest, sir, you have heard it from Riley."
"Was Riley scared when he came into the forecastle?" I asked.
"Yes, sir, he swore horribly, and threatened to kill anybody who put out
the light."
"Well, we will all have some fun catching this ghost of yours. I will
give an extra day's leave in Suva to the man who helps me. What do you
say to that, men?" Charlie volunteered willingly. Pete was rather shy.
"Riley, let us hear from you."
"What is it you want us to do, sir?"
"I want each of you to take one hour watches in the Captain's room from
twelve to four." This was too much for Riley.
"Be Hivins, sir, if ye offered me a year's leaf in a Turkish Harem to
stay five minutes in the auld haunted room, I wouldn't take it, for as
sure as me name is Michael Dennis Riley he is rummaging around there."
The news of the ghost soon spread over the ship, and formed the sole
topic of conversation of the crew. Even the second mate, whom I thought
immune, was going around the decks looking bewildered, as if
anticipating the immediate destruction of ship and crew.
The Socialist cook was much interested in our astral visitor, and I
thought how happy it would make him to sail away on the wings of a new
law that would revolutionize both physics and chemistry.
"Yes," he said, "you can trust me to keep watch from twelve to two
tonight in the Captain's room. I am very much pleased indeed to have
the opportunity. I have for years been fighting the mechanical and cheap
manifestations of mediums and seers." He picked up his apron and wiped
his mouth, to interrupt the line of march of tobacco juice which, having
broken the barriers, was slowly wending its way down his chin.
"Let me tell you," he said. "A material law gives us life. The same law
takes it away. All material life," stamping the deck, "ends here. From
the clay there is no redemption."
At one o'clock in the morning the cook called me.
"What do you want, Steward?" said I.
"There is something in the Captain's room. Something I can't understand.
When I am in the room with the light out, I am conscious of some one
with me. And yet when I turn on the light that feeling leaves me. Then
when I turn out the light and lock the door and sit here by the
dining-table I would swear I could hear the sound of footsteps walking
around, and the moving of chairs. I tell you, sir, it is mighty
strange."
"Are you sure that the sounds you heard were not made by the second mate
walking on the deck above?"
"No, sir, not at all. He agreed to stay forward on the deck-load till
four bells."
"How about the man at the wheel?" said I. "He could walk around on the
steering platform and produce such sounds as you heard in the Captain's
room."
"Again you are mistaken. The man at the wheel is too scared to make any
move but a natural one, such as turning the wheel, and that movement
produces no sound down here in fair weather like we are having."
The cook was truly mystified. He was anxious for me to realize the
importance of his investigations in the Captain's room, yet with it all
he held fast to his materialistic ideals.
"Cook," said I, "you are taking this thing too seriously. I am certain
that I have solved this mystery. Riley is certain that it is not Toby,
the cat. Now you come along and are ready to prove that the sounds or
walking you have observed were not produced by a material power from the
deck above."
"I mean," replied he, "that this walking in here was not produced by any
action of the second mate or the man at the wheel."
I told him that nevertheless I had the mystery solved, and I would prove
it to him. "We have in the lower hold one hundred thousand feet of
kiln-dried spruce boards one-half inch thick, and twenty-six to thirty
inches wide. They vary in length from eighteen to thirty-six feet. The
after bulkhead does not run flush with the deck above, and there are
ends of boards that project over and into the runway. With the easy
movement of the ship, this will produce a metallic sound that will cause
vibration at a distance, and more distinctly under the Captain's room."
At this the cook became very indignant, and told me that my theory was
not correct at all.
"Haven't I spent a half hour in the lazarette looking and listening for
just such sounds as you describe?"
"Are you sure that there are no rats in his room?"
"If there are, I fail to find them. I have placed cheese around the room
to convince myself. On examination of the cheese I couldn't find a
tooth mark."
"But why are there no sounds of walking in there now?"
"That is what baffles me," said the cook. "Since we have been talking
there has not been a sound from that room."
I sent him to turn in, assuring him that I would sit in the room for an
hour or so to see what would happen, and to try to solve a mystery that
was beginning to try even my seasoned nerves.