"No, sir, I don't believe any one else saw it." "Then," continued the commodore, "it must have been all fancy. How had you lived that morning?" "Why, sir, I was weak from want of food--indeed fairly worn out. Yet that the object was as palpable to me as if it had really been there, there is no disputing. I was startled at the time, I will confess; but"--here my superstitious feelings again began to rise up,--"he was never seen afterwards." "Then your simple and entire opinion is--_that he is gone_?" We bowed our heads in melancholy acquiescence. "Never mind then," said Sir Oliver. "Never mind, God's blessed will be done. But, gentlemen, come and breakfast with me at half past eight." And we found ourselves straightway on deck again. "I say, friend Sprawl," said I, so soon as we arrived at the upper regions--"have patience with me once more, and tell me seriously, what think you of me as a ghost seer; how do _you_ account for the figure that I saw at the masthead?" "In this very simple way, Benjie, as I told you before, that, at the best, you are an enthusiast; but in the present instance, being worn out by fatigue and starvation, you really and truly fancied you saw what was uppermost in your mind, and, so far as your excited fancy was concerned,--why, you _did_ see it. But come down below--come down below. Let us go and rig for our appearance before the commodore. So come along." And straight we dived into the gunroom. I had, verily, as my excellent friend Sprawl said, been much excited, and while we were below, I had time to gather my thoughts about me. My first feeling was, that I had done very foolishly in telling my absurd story to the commodore; my second, that I had, which was really the simple fact, been imposed on by a false impression on my senses. "Donovan, my darling," said I, addressing our friend, who was lying in his berth close to us, "I can forgive you now for being mad a bit, Dennis, dear." "Come now, Brail, no quizzing, if you please; I am deuced weak yet." We made our toilet, and presently we were in the cabin again. Sir Oliver, when we entered, was sitting at the breakfast table. He had dressed; and although he was still very pale, there was nothing peculiar in his manner, if it were not that he was, if any thing, kinder than usual. He led the conversation as far away from the recent expedition as he decently could, until breakfast was nearly over, when he suddenly addressed me. "Do you think, Mr Brail, since _you_ saw him last, that there is any, the remotest chance of that poor boy being alive? Would it, in your opinion, be of any avail our hovering off the coast for a few days, and sending in the boats occasionally?" I looked at old Bloody Politeful, who thereupon took the word up. "No, commodore, I believe the poor boy is gone. I conceive it would be lost time remaining here in the hope of his being alive."