storm had ceased, or probably the ship had only
been struck by a sudden squall, which had passed over.

My first impulse was again to try and strike the cask and to shout out,
but I could only utter a few low groans. I managed, however, to give
some blows on the cask, which resounded through the hold. The noise was
loud enough, I fancy, to be heard on deck, or indeed in every part of
the ship. I beat on and on. Presently the tarpaulin was drawn off, and
I heard some feet moving directly above me. A voice said distinctly,
"Below! What's that?"

Almost immediately the hatch was removed, and as I looked up a flood of
light burst down upon me. For some seconds I could see nothing.
Gradually I made out a number of human faces peering down through the
hatchway.

"Why, what can that be?" exclaimed one of the men.

"Ghost of a ghost," cried another.

"It can't be a live thing," said a third.

"Why, Jack, I do believe it's a boy," exclaimed a fourth; "we must get
him up whatever he is, but how could he have come there?"

Presently a ladder was let down. None of the men seemed inclined to
descend, evidently having some doubts as to my character, till the last
speaker, calling the others cowards, came down. Instead of at first
reviving me, the effect of the fresh air was to make me faint away.
When I recovered I found myself lying on the deck, surrounded by a
number of strange faces. A seaman--the one who, I suppose, had brought
me up--was supporting me and applying a wet cloth to my head and
shoulders, while another, kneeling down, was examining my countenance.

"Why, youngster, how did you come aboard here? Where have you been ever
since we sailed from the Mersey?" he asked.

Too weak to answer, I could only stretch out my hand and then point to
my lips, to show that I wanted food and water.

"If you've been down in the hold all these weeks, no wonder that you
want something to eat," he remarked.

Still he didn't move, or propose to obtain any refreshment for me. As
my lack-lustre eyes looked up at him, I recognised Gregory Growles, the
old seaman to whom I had at first spoken with my cutter under my arm.
No wonder that he didn't recollect me in my present forlorn and
dirt-begrimed condition. At last the seaman against whom I leant told
one of his messmates to get me some water. With indifference, if not
unwillingness, the man did as requested, and going to the water-butt on
deck brought me a mugful, w