rtily at the
account his wife gave him of the questions which had been put to her,
that Willy and Peter wished they had not mentioned the subject.

The wind was light and the ship made but little way for several days.
Shafto, though only a mate, did duty as a lieutenant. Willy was in his
watch; it was the middle watch. Willy enjoyed such opportunities of
talking with his friend. The sea was perfectly smooth, there was only
wind sufficient just to fill the sails, and the ship was making scarcely
three knots through the water. Every now and then a splash was heard;
some monster of the deep rose to the surface, and leaping forth, plunged
back again into its native element. Strange sounds seemed to come from
the far distance. A thick fog arose and shrouded the ship, so that
nothing could be seen beyond the bowsprit.

"Keep a bright look-out there, forward," sang out Shafto every now and
then, in a clear ringing voice, which kept the watch forward on the
alert.

"Hark!" said Willy; "I fancy I heard singing."

"You heard the creaking yards against the masts, perhaps," said Shafto.

"No, I am certain it is singing," exclaimed Willy; "listen!"

Harry and his companion stopped in their walk; even Harry could not help
confessing that he heard sweet sounds coming over the water. "Some
emigrant ship, perhaps, bound out to Auckland," he observed; "the
passengers are enjoying themselves on deck, unwilling to retire to their
close cabins. Sounds travel a long distance over the calm waters. She
is on our beam, I suspect; but we must take care not to run into each
other, in case she should be more on the bow than I suppose." He hailed
the forecastle to learn if the look-out could see anything. "Nothing in
sight," was the answer. "Keep a bright look-out, then," he shouted.
"Ay, ay, sir," came from for'ard.

Soon after this the fog lifted. Far away on the starboard hand the dim
outline of a tall ship appeared standing across their course. "She will
pass under our stern if she keeps as she is now steering," observed
Harry; "the voices we heard must have come from her."

The stranger approached, appearing like some vast phantom floating over
the ocean, with her canvas spread on either hand to catch the light
wind. "A sail on the starboard beam," shouted the look-out, as he
discovered her. It appeared as if she would pass within easy hail,
when, just as Harry Shafto had told Willy to get a speaking-trumpet, she
appea