re's
executor. He was a quiet, dry little Plymouth lawyer, and very
civilly answered all my questions about the last days of my old
friend. At last I asked him to tell me as near as he could the
time of his death; and he put on his spectacles, and got his
diary, and turned over the leaves. I was quite nervous till he
looked up and said,--"Twenty-five minutes to two, sir, A.M., on
the morning of October 21st; or it might be a few minutes later."

"How do you mean, sir?" I asked.

"Well," he said, "it is an odd story. The doctor was sitting with
me, watching the old man, and, as I tell you, at twenty-five
minutes to two, he got up and said it was all over. We stood
together, talking in whispers for, it might be, four or five
minutes, when the body seemed to move. He was an odd old man, you
know, the Commodore, and we never could get him properly to bed,
but he lay in his red nightcap and old dressing-gown, with a
blanket over him. It was not a pleasant sight, I can tell you,
sir. I don't think one of you gentlemen, who are bred to face all
manner of dangers, would have liked it. As I was saying, the body
first moved, and then sat up, propping itself behind with its
hands. The eyes were wide open, and he looked at us for a moment,
and said slowly, 'I've been to the Mediterranean, but I didn't
see Tom.' Then the body sank back again, and this time the old
Commodore was really dead. But it was not a pleasant thing to
happen to one, sir. I do not remember anything like it in my
forty years' practice."

CHAPTER XXII

DEPARTURES EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED

There was a silence of a few seconds after the Captain had
finished his story, all the men sitting with eyes fixed on him,
and not a little surprised at the results of their call. Drysdale
was the first to break the silence, which he did with a "By
George!" and a long respiration; but, as he did not seem prepared
with any further remark, Tom took up the running.

"What a strange story," he said; "and that really happened to
you, Captain Hardy?"

"To me sir, in the Mediterranean, more than forty years ago."

"The strangest thing about it is that the old Commodore should
have managed to get all the way to the ship, and then not have
known where his nephew was," said Blake.

"He only knew his nephew's berth, you see, sir," said the
Captain.

"But he might have beat about through the ship till he had found
him."

"You must remember that he was at his last breat