“Faix, I wish it was a dhrame itself. But I was wide awake, sure, sitting at the head iv the ladher there, and gazing at a great star, and wondering how far it was off, and what it would be like if one could take howld iv it. And sure I got tired iv that, and I riz up, so I did, and seeing there was none iv thim bastes iv saymen about, I thought I’d take a turn on the deck. And sure I hadn’t walked tin steps afore, happening to rise my head, there I saw the ghost iv me gay Tom standing right foreninst me own two looking eyes. Ow-oo! Ow-ootch!” “Hush, Judith; don’t scream so. Tell me what he looked like,” said Miss Conyers, convinced in her own mind that the girl had been dreaming. “Troth, ain’t I afther telling yez before? Sure a raw head and bloody bones he was! Thin as a skillippin! pale as a spicter! and tall as the mainmast, wid a white linen cloth bound round his head, and his right fut tied up in a rag! and his left arm in a sling! and he a-laning on a crutch!” “Judith, it was one of the convalescent wounded men you saw.” “Divil a bit! It was the ghost iv me own Foretop Tom. Sure wouldn’t I know it when I saw it standing there forninst me own two looking eyes! And didn’t I like to die wid the fright? And didn’t I wish the ship would open and let me down into the say?” “Did it speak to you, Judith?” laughed Justin. “Spake to me? Lorrd help ye! do you think I was going to wait there for it to spake to me? No, I ran down into the cabin here as fast as me hales would bring me!” “What do you think the ghost wanted of you, Judith?” inquired Lieutenant Ethel. This was an unlucky question for Judith’s equanimity. It set her speculating in horrors. “What it wanted iv me, is it? Ah, Lorrd kape us, who can tell! Maybe to warn me iv another shipwreck, whin we would all be dhrowned. Or another say fight, whin we should all be murthered. Or at laste of me own death itself. Sure a ghost nivir appears for nothing.” “Never,” said Lieutenant Ethel, mischievously. “Ow-oo! Ow-ootch!” screamed Judith, falling into fresh spasms. And it became necessary to give her more brandy. And then Miss Conyers coaxed her off into her stateroom and made her go to bed, and sat with her until, under the influence of the brandy she had taken, Judith fell asleep. “What could have frightened her so?” inquired Miss Conyers, as she came out into the cabin. “It was as you suggested, either a dream of the figure of one of our convalescent wounded men, I suppose,” said young Ethel. And this explanation seemed so plausible that it was adopted by all. “You have very little good of your attendant, I fear, Miss Conyers. Since I have known her she has certainly been more trouble than use,” said the lieutenant. Britomarte laughed and answered: