er being relieved, and said nothing to any one
about what I had heard. In the morning the captain sent for me, told me
not to speak about what he had said last night, but that he had been
told that his days were numbered. He pointed to the log-book, in which
he had put down, that he had seen his wife come into the cabin, and that
she spoke to him, and told him something about himself. He then
requested me to sign his statement in the book, and ordered me not to
say a word to any of the men as long as he lived. I told him not to
think anything about it, as such things were only imaginations, and were
caused by the stomach being a little out of order. I did not think it
at the time, although I thought it would quiet him by telling him so.

"We lay-to all that day; the captain came on deck once, but spoke to no
one. In the afternoon I went down to him to ask about getting a little
sail up again; I found him reading his Bible, a thing that I had never
heard of his doing before. He put it down and came on deck; ordered me
to get up the fore-topsail; I went forward to see about it, and the
skipper walked on to the poop; the helm was still lashed, and no one was
there but him. I was giving the men orders to go aloft, when I heard a
crack astern, and felt a jar through the whole ship. I turned round and
found the pitching had caused the heavy boom of the trysail to break the
guy that fastened it, and it was swinging from side to side with every
lurch of the ship. I ran aft with all the men, and with great
difficulty made it fast again; it took us some time to settle, and I
then went down to tell the captain. His cabin was just as I had left it
before, and no one in it; I came out and asked for him on deck, but no
one had seen him there. The men said that he was on the poop when the
guy gave way; there was a general call throughout the ship, but the
captain was not found.

"The first mate and I then went on the poop, and looked well all round.
On the bulwarks near the stern there was a slight dent, and close beside
it a streak of blood: there was no doubt that the boom in its first
swing had knocked the skipper clean overboard, and the chances were, had
smashed some of his limbs too. We never saw him more. The first mate
took the command, and I told him about the captain's vision; he laughed
at me, and told me I was a fool to believe in such rubbish, and
recommended me not to talk about it. I quietly tore the leaf