“‘Look! Good heavens! look!--Don’t you see?’ With one hand he gripped me tightly by the shoulder, with the other he pointed to the _Mary Gleeson_ anchored in mid-stream. ‘Look! _The yellow jack!_’ “I gazed with him across to the ship and to my horrified astonishment saw that dreaded yellow flag which denotes the presence of yellow fever fluttering in the evening breeze. Shocked and alarmed, I asked myself who was the victim. There was no sickness among the ship’s company when we went ashore. But I knew well enough the swiftness of death in these latitudes. “‘Quick! Get a sampan!’ ordered the captain. “Privately, I doubted whether any boatman would venture into the tainted neighbourhood of a ship with yellow fever on board, and I was agreeably surprised to find that my only difficulty was to choose among the swarm that offered themselves. I could only conclude that they did not understand the meaning of the emblem. A moment or two later we were being propelled swiftly across the stream, our eyes fixed upon that fatal flag. The second officer stood at the top of the ladder to greet us as we climbed on board. “‘All well, sir,’ I heard him report in a perfectly normal voice. “‘What?’ ejaculated the captain in astonishment above me. “‘All well, sir,’ he repeated. “By that time I had joined the captain on the deck and we exchanged a puzzled glance. Then we looked around us. To our utter bewilderment, of the yellow jack there was no sign at all. There was not a rag of bunting about the ship. “The captain bit his lip and wrinkled his brow. I could comprehend his perplexity. He turned sharply to the second officer. “‘Svendson! Has any one been monkeying with the signal-flags?’ “‘No, sir!’ The prompt denial was both surprised and emphatic. ‘I have been on deck myself ever since you went ashore, sir.’ “‘H’m! All right!’ The captain shrugged his shoulders and turned to me. ‘You saw it, didn’t you?’ he asked. “‘Yes, sir,’ I replied, confidently. “‘A most extraordinary hallucination!’ he said. ‘But don’t let it worry you. Come and have supper with me at six bells.’ “I could see plainly that he was much perturbed, and I myself felt very uneasy as I went below. Following upon the shock of the captain’s narrow escape from the snake in the deserted temple, the strange trick of the conjurer at the café and this hallucination, shared by both of us, of the most dreaded flag a sailor knows, combined to awake a primitive superstitious fear in me. My nerves were in a state of acute tension, and I found myself starting at the most ordinary sounds.