lying
jib-boom, and then Jim, the cabin-boy, followed it out with a handspike,
and poked at it as hard as he could, until at last it lost its hold, and
down it went into the water, and Jim and the handspike went along with
it, for Jim, in his last poke at the cat, lost his balance, so away they
went together. Well, there was a great hurry in manning the boat, and
picking up poor Jim and the handspike; but the cat we saw no more, for
it was just dark at the time. Well, when it was all over, we began to
think what we had done, and as soon as we had put on the hatches and
secured the hold we went down below into the fore-peak, where the smell
of brimstone did not make us feel more comfortable, I can tell you, and
we began to talk over the matter, for you see the cat should not have
been thrown overboard but put on shore. But we were called away to man
the boat again, for the fellow had come to his senses, and swore that he
would not stay in the ship, but go on shore and take the law of the
first mate; and the first mate and captain thought the sooner he was out
of the ship the better, for we were to sail before daylight, and there
might not be a wherry for him to get into. So the fellow took his kit,
and we pulled him on shore and landed him on Southsea beach, he swearing
vengeance the whole way; and as he stepped out on the beach he turned
round to us and said, as he shook his fist, 'You've thrown overboard a
_black tom cat_, recollect that! and now you'll see the consequence; a
pleasant voyage to you. I wouldn't sail in that vessel if you were to
offer her to me as a present as soon as she got to Smyrna; because why,
you've thrown overboard a _black tom cat_, and you'll never get
there--_never!_' cried he again, and off he ran with his bundle.

"Well, we didn't much like it, and if the second mate hadn't been in the
boat, I'm not sure that we shouldn't all have gone on shore rather than
sail in the vessel; but there was no help for it. The next morning
before daylight we started, for the captain wouldn't wait to get another
hand, and we were soon out of soundings, and well into the Bay of
Biscay.

"We had just passed Cape Finisterre, when Jim, the cabin-boy, says one
morning, 'I'm blessed if I didn't hear that cat last night, or the ghost
on it!' So we laughed at him; for, you see, he slept abaft, just outside
the cabin door, close to the pantry, and not forward with the rest of
us.

"'Well,' says he, 'I heard her mia