ing exactly as you did just now, 'Lock! lock! lock!' but it sounded
ever so far away.

"'It's some of those theatre people coming back to the _Will-o'-the-Wisp_
house-boat,' I said to myself, 'and I'm not going to turn out for them.'
The lock was full at the time, so I thought I would just let them work
it for themselves. I waited a bit, expecting to hear them every minute
come up, singing and swearing as they do, but they never came, and I was
just dropping off when I heard the call again. It was not an ordinary
sort of voice, but a long, wailing cry, just as if some one was in
trouble or drowning. 'Hi! hi! Lock! lo-oock!' it went.

"I got up then and went out. The moon was up now and quite bright, and
the mist had cleared off, so I went to the bridge on the upper gates and
looked up stream. This is where I was standing, sir, just as we are
standing now. I could see right up to the bend, and there was not the
sign of a boat. I stood straining my eyes, expecting to see a boat come
round every moment, when I heard the cry again, and this time it sounded
not fifty yards up stream. I could not make it out at all, so I shouted
out as loud as I could, 'Who are you? What's the matter?' but there was
no answer; and then suddenly, the next instant, close below me, from
_inside_ the lock this time, just here, came a shout, piercing, shrill,
and loud, 'Open the lock, quick, quick! Open the lock!'

"I tell you, sir, my heart seemed to stand dead still, and I nearly fell
back over the bridge. I wheeled round sharp, but there was nothing in
the lock, that I'll swear to my dying day--for I could see all over it,
and nothing could have got in there without passing me. The moon was
quite bright, and I could see all round it. Without knowing what I was
doing, I rushed down like mad to the lower gates, and began to wind up
one of the sluices, and then I stood there and waited, but nothing came.
As the lock emptied I looked down, but there was no sign of anything
anywhere, so I let down the sluice without opening the gates, and then
filled up the lock again. I stood by the post, hardly daring to move,
when, about half-past five, thank God, I heard the whistle of a tug,
and, after seeing her through, it was broad daylight.

"That's the whole story, sir, and how I'm going to live through the
night again I don't know. It was a spirit if ever there was one in the
world. It's a warning to me, sir; and what's going to happen I don't
know."