noises, they lifted the hatch,
and that he had gone down and discovered me.

"We shall hear by-and-by what he has to say for himself. In the
meantime, Trivett, take care of him, and I'll let the captain know he's
been found. He's the ghost you fellows have been frightened about,"
said the mate.

"We were no more frightened than he was," I heard some of the men utter,
"but who could tell where all those strange noises we heard came from
when any of us went down into the hold. He's precious ready to call us
cowards, but he was more frightened than we were. Why, he would never
go down unless he had a couple of hands with him." While this was going
on, Tom Trivett continued swabbing my head and neck. When the mate
walked aft he called to the cook to bring him a bucket of warm water
from the caboose, as well as a lump of soap, a scrubbing-brush, and a
piece of canvas.

The sun was shining brightly, and the air was warm, so that I did not
feel the exposure so much as it might have been felt. Tom forthwith set
about to scrape me clean, taking his own pocket-comb to disentangle my
matted hair after he had washed it. The operation, though somewhat
hazardous, greatly refreshed me. Before it was concluded, Julius
Caesar, the black cook, who had some tender spot in his heart, brought
out a basin of soup, from which Trivett fed me as tenderly as a nurse
would a young child. This still further revived me.

"You shall have some more, boy, when I have done a-cleaning you," said
Tom.

The rest of the crew sat round making remarks, but not even offering to
assist their shipmate, evidently perfectly indifferent as to what
happened to me, though perhaps curious to see whether I should revive
under the treatment to which I was being subjected. Judging by the
colour of the water after I had been washed in it, I must have been as
black as a coal. I rather think Julius Caesar must have fancied that I
was one of his own race, and must have been greatly astonished at seeing
a blackamoor washed white. When the operation was concluded, Growles
again came and had a look at me.

"Why, I do believe it's none other than the young chap who came aboard
us at Liverpool," he exclaimed. "I thought as when I saw him so often
that he was up to something, but never fancied that he was going to stow
himself away, or I should have been on the watch for him. Well, he'll
have to pay pretty smartly for the trick he has played us."

My frie