in despair, not knowin' well wot to do; and the moment I did
so the ghost disappeared.

"I thought this was very odd, but you may be sure I didn't find fault
with it; so after lookin' all round very careful to make quite sure that
it was gone, I lay down again on my back. Well, would ye b'lieve it,
shipmates, at that same moment up starts the ghost again as bold as
iver? And up starts I in a fright; but the moment I was up the ghost
was gone. `Now, Tim Rokens,' says I to myself, always keepin' my eye on
the spot where I'd last seed the ghost, `this _is_ queer; this is quite
remarkable. You're dreamin', my lad, an' the sooner ye put a stop to
that 'ere sort o' dreamin' the better.'

"Havin' said this, I tried to feel reckless, and lay down again, and up
started the ghost again with its long thin white body, an' the pointed
cap on its head. I noticed, too, that it wore its cap a little on one
side quite jaunty like. So, wheniver I sot up that 'ere ghost
disappeared, and wheniver I lay down it bolted up again close beside me.
At last I lost my temper, and I shouts out quite loud, `Shiver my
timbers,' says I, `ghost or no ghost, I'll knock in your daylights if ye
carry on like that any longer;' and with that I up fist and let drive
straight out at the spot where its bread-basket should ha' bin. Down it
went, that ghost did, with a clatter that made the old room echo like an
empty church. I guv it a rap, I did, sich as it hadn't had since it was
born--if ghosts be born at all--an' my knuckles paid for it, too, for
they was skinned all up; then I lay down tremblin', and then, I dun know
how it was, I went to sleep.

"Next mornin' I got up to look for the ghost, and, sure enough, I found
his _remains_! His pale body lay in a far corner o' the room doubled up
and smashed to bits, and his pointed cap lay in another corner almost
flat. That ghost," concluded Rokens, with slow emphasis--"that ghost
was the _candle_, it wos!"

"The candle!" exclaimed several of the men in surprise.

"Yes, the candle, and brass candlestick with the stinguisher a-top o't.
Ye see, lads, the candle stood close to the side o' my bed on the table,
an' when I woke up and I saw it there, it seemed to me like a big thing
in the middle o' the room, instead o' a little thing close to my nose;
an' when I sot up in my bed, of coorse I looked right over the top of it
and saw nothin'; an' when I lay down, of coorse it rose up in the very
same place