"But I say, Mr Leigh, don't you go thinking that I went ashore carrying on and drinking, because I didn't." "I promise you I will not." "Thankye," said the mate, as he stood looking along the darkened deck, with the lanthorns now swinging aloft. Beneath a rough awning the captain had made the men rig up over the cabin, that gentleman was seated chatting with Sir Humphrey, while the first mate stood by them, listening to their conversation, and occasionally putting in a word. Three or four folding-chairs had been placed aft for the benefit of the passengers, one of which Brace had marked down for his own use, and he was thinking of fetching it along to where they stood, as he talked to the second and fastened the strap of his binocular case. "Ah," said the mate, "you'll find that little glass handy when you begin shooting for picking out the birds and serpents and things, and--" He took off his straw hat to wipe his forehead, for the air was hot, moist, and sultry. He did not, however, apply his handkerchief, but stood with it in his right hand, his straw hat in his left, gazing down at it. "Puzzles me," he said, changing the subject suddenly. "What: how to find the birds and reptiles among the leaves of the great trees?" "No, no," said the mate impatiently. "I mean, how it was this straw hat of mine came on board." Then, in a hoarse whisper: "Mr Leigh, sir: look--look there!" He stretched out his hand with the hat in it, using it to point towards the spot where one folding-chair stood, dimly seen, close up to the starboard bulwark. "Well, I see it," said Brace. "It does not seem any the worse for coming on board without you." "But I can't make it out," whispered the man, in a strange way. "I hung it up in the American gent's room--the one you had, sir--and the last I remember is seeing him sitting opposite to me across the table; and now look there. See him?" "No," said Brace; "I can see no him. What do you mean?" "The American," whispered Lynton, catching the young man by the arm. "There, can't you see him sitting in the dark yonder?" "No," said Brace quietly. "I say, Mr Lynton, you'll be better when you've had a good night's rest. You talk as if you could see a ghost." "That's it, sir; that's it," whispered the man wildly. "Come away--come away." "Nonsense, man. There's nothing over yonder, only--" Brace stopped short in blank astonishment, for the nearest lanthorn turned round a little as the brig heeled over, and there, faintly seen, and looking strangely transparent, the seated figure of the inquisitive American seemed to loom out of the shadow. But the startled fancy that it might be anything supernatural passed away in an instant, and he felt ready to laugh at the superstitious sailor, as he saw a glowing spot of light about on a level with the figure's lips, and directly after smelt the peculiar odour of tobacco as it was wafted to him by the warm night air.