"i, i, Sir," several of the men sung out, and a couple jumped into the weather rigging. I joined them, and the rest were proceeding to follow; but the Second shouted for some to go up to leeward--in case the fellow tried to get down that side. As I followed the other two aloft, I heard the Second Mate tell Tammy, whose time-keeping it was, to get down on to the maindeck with the other 'prentice, and keep an eye on the fore and aft stays. "He may try down one of them if he's cornered," I heard him explain. "If you see anything, just sing out for me, right away." Tammy hesitated. "Well?" said the Second Mate, sharply. "Nothing, Sir," said Tammy, and went down on to the maindeck. The first man to wind'ard had reached the futtock shrouds; his head was above the top, and he was taking a preliminary look, before venturing higher. "See anythin', Jock?" asked Plummer, the man next above me. "Na'!" said Jock, tersely, and climbed over the top, and so disappeared from my sight. The fellow ahead of me, followed. He reached the futtock rigging, and stopped to expectorate. I was close at his heels, and he looked down to me. "What's up, anyway?" he said. "What's 'e seen? 'oo're we chasin' after?" I said I didn't know, and he swung up into the topmast rigging. I followed on. The chaps on the lee side were about level with us. Under the foot of the topsail, I could see Tammy and the other 'prentice down on the maindeck, looking upwards. The fellows were a bit excited in a sort of subdued way; though I am inclined to think there was far more curiosity and, perhaps, a certain consciousness of the strangeness of it all. I know that, looking to leeward, there was a tendancy to keep well together, in which I sympathised. "Must be a bloomin' stowaway," one of the men suggested. I grabbed at the idea, instantly. Perhaps--And then, in a moment, I dismissed it. I remembered how that first thing had stepped over the rail _into the sea. That_ matter could not be explained in such a manner. With regard to this, I was curious and anxious. I had seen nothing this time. What could the Second Mate have seen? I wondered. Were we chasing fancies, or was there really someone--something real, among the shadows above us? My thoughts returned to that thing, Tammy and I had seen near the log-reel. I remembered how incapable the Second Mate had been of seeing anything then. I remembered how natural it had seemed that he should not be able to see. I caught the word "stowaway" again. After all, that might explain away _this_ affair. It would---- My train of thought was broken suddenly. One of the men was shouting and gesticulating. "I sees 'im! I sees 'im!" He was pointing upwards over our heads. "Where?" said the man above me. "Where?"