, for that second mate was
a smart, intelligent fellow, and I looked forward to his taking an
interest in our work and being our companion in many a pleasant trip."

"Oh, it's horrible," said Brace bitterly. "So well and strong only
yesterday when seeing to our cases and luggage, and now--"

"Dead," said Sir Humphrey sadly, "and--"

"Boat ahoy!" shouted one of the men, drawing attention to a canoe
paddled by a black, coming down with the tide in mid-stream, and only a
few hundred yards above where the brig swung from her chain cable, which
dipped down from her bows into the muddy water.

At the hail a second man; a white, with a coloured handkerchief tied
about his head, rose up in the stern of the fragile vessel, snatched off
the handkerchief to wave it above his head, and nearly capsized the
canoe, only saving it by dropping down at once.

"Ugh!" yelled one of the crew, a big bronzed fellow of six- or
seven-and-twenty, and, turning sharply round, he upset one of his mates
as he made for the forecastle hatch, but was hindered from going below
by the brothers, who were standing between him and the opening.

"What is it, Tommy, mate?" shouted one of the men.

"Look, look!" groaned the scared sailor. "His ghost--his ghost!"

In an instant the rest of the men took fright and shrank away from the
bows, to hang together in a scared-looking group, the first man,
addressed as Tommy, holding one hand to his mouth as if to check his
chattering teeth.

"Stand by there with a rope," came from the boat; but not a man stirred,
and just then the captain and mate came trotting up from aft.

"Here, what's the matter, my lads?" cried the former.

"Master Lynton's ghost, sir," stammered the trembling sailors.

"Mr Lynton's grandmother!" roared the captain, snatching up a coil of
rope and flinging it to the bareheaded man in the boat, who caught it
deftly as it opened out in rings. "Here, what do you mean by that
cock-and-bull story, Dick Dellow?"

"Cock-and-bull?" stuttered the mate, scratching his head.

"Yes, cock-and-bull," roared the captain. "Can't you see he's there,
all alive, oh! in that canoe? Here, you, Tom Jinks, lay hold of this
rope, and don't stand making faces there like a jibbering idiot. Catch
hold."

"No, no," faltered the great sailor; "it's his--"

"Catch hold!" roared the captain; "if any man here says ghost to me, law
or no law, I'll rope's-end him."

The big sailor's hands trembled as he t