is again!"

But the skipper, although startled by the sudden appearance of the
mysterious vessel in the first instance, as his ejaculation on catching
sight of her showed, evidently did not regard her in the same light as
the boatswain and myself.

"Why, Haldane, what's the matter with you, my lad?" he said in a joking
way, "You seem all of a tremble; and, by George, you grip tight!"

"I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," I stammered out, trying to pull
myself together as I released his arm. "But--but--did you--did you--see
her, sir?"

"See that ship just now? Yes, of course I did. I suppose she sighted
us lying here like a log and wanted us to report her or something,
though why they lit that flare-up over her stern I am sure I can't
imagine. They couldn't expect us to read her name at that distance.
She must have been close on five miles off!"

"But, sir," I cried out quickly. "She's the same!"

"The same what, Haldane?"

"Why, the ship in distress, sir, that I sighted at sunset on Friday
night just before our breakdown."

Captain Applegarth whistled through his teeth.

"My good lad," he said incredulously, "that's simply impossible!"

"Well, sir, you may not believe me," I urged, rather nettled that he
should put me down in this way, "but I declare to you she is the
identical vessel I saw that evening, as I told you at the time, and of
which we went in chase till the gale stopped us and our machinery gave
out! I cannot doubt the evidence of my own eyes, sir."

"My dear boy," replied the skipper, in kinder tones than I expected to
this outburst, for he was a hot-tempered man generally, and disliked
anything like argument from his officers when he had once said his say,
being of the opinion that his word should be last. "Just reflect a
moment and let your own natural good sense decide the point. How can it
be likely that the vessel you asserted you saw on Friday night, hundreds
of miles away from here, should come across us now under precisely
similar circumstances, considering all that has happened since?"

"She's the same ship, sir, nevertheless," I maintained stubbornly,
though I was a bit puzzled on my own account, mind, by his putting the
case so strongly. "The vessel I saw on Friday night was a full-rigged
ship, with her sails knocked about and had her ensign hoisted half-mast
high at the peak, and this one seemed the same in every particular. I
did not notice all that when she burnt the fla