ng from the
train of thought in which I had been indulging; yet I rose to my feet
and, walking over to the skylight, peered through it at the cabin clock
to ascertain what the time might actually be. _It was on the stroke of
two o'clock_! Therefore if, as I had assured myself, the sounds were
imaginary, it was at least a singular coincidence that they should have
reached me just at that precise moment. I walked to the fore end of the
poop, upon the rail guarding which the ship's bell was mounted, and
sharply struck four bells, after which I again called to the crew
forward to maintain a sharp look-out.

"Now," thought I, "if those sounds originated outside my own imagination
some of those fellows for'ard will certainly have heard them, and will
mention it." But my call elicited nothing more than the stereotyped
"Ay, ay, sir!" and a faint momentary shuffling of feet--meant, no doubt,
to convey to me the impression that the look-outs were on the alert and
then deep silence, as before, so far as any report of suspicious sounds
was concerned. I stood for quite two minutes listening intently for any
further sounds out of the darkness, but none came to me, nor could I
detect any light or other evidence of another craft in our
neighbourhood. At length, fully confirmed in my conviction that my
imagination had been playing a trick with me, I returned to the chair in
which I had been sitting, and there finished out the watch, merely
leaving my seat to strike six, and finally eight, bells. But I placed
my chair in such a position that while still sitting in it I could keep
my eye on the clock, and as the hands crept round its face, marking
first three and then four o'clock, I strained my listening powers to
their utmost in the hope that those elusive bell-strokes might again
come stealing across the sea to me, but without result. When four
o'clock came round, after striking eight bells with perhaps a little
more vigour than usual, I called Marcel, resigned the deck to him, and
went below.

Yet, although I had felt drowsy enough on deck, and although Tourville's
ravings had ceased and he seemed to have fallen asleep, when I flung off
my clothes and stretched myself on top of the bedding in my bunk,
expecting to instantly drop off to sleep, I found, to my annoyance, that
I had never been less inclined to slumber than I was just then. The
fact was that in spite of myself those ghostly tinklings were still
worrying me. Wer