Wandering ghostsCrawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
Science
Wandering ghosts
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
American fiction; Ghost stories; Horror tales; Short stories
Well, those two Benton boys turned up on board the _Helen B. Jackson_.
They had been on half a dozen ships since the _Boston Belle_, and they
had grown up and were good seamen. They had reddish beards and bright
blue eyes and freckled faces; and they were quiet fellows, good workmen
on rigging, pretty willing, and both good men at the wheel. They managed
to be in the same watch--it was the port watch on the _Helen B._, and
that was mine, and I had great confidence in them both. If there was any
job aloft that needed two hands, they were always the first to jump into
the rigging; but that doesn't often happen on a fore-and-aft schooner.
If it breezed up, and the jibtopsail was to be taken in, they never
minded a wetting, and they would be out at the bowsprit end before there
was a hand at the downhaul. The men liked them for that, and because
they didn't blow about what they could do. I remember one day in a
reefing job, the downhaul parted and came down on deck from the peak of
the spanker. When the weather moderated, and we shook the reefs out, the
downhaul was forgotten until we happened to think we might soon need it
again. There was some sea on, and the boom was off, and the gaff was
slamming. One of those Benton boys was at the wheel, and before I knew
what he was doing, the other was out on the gaff with the end of the new
downhaul, trying to reeve it through its block. The one who was steering
watched him, and got as white as cheese. The other one was swinging
about on the gaff end, and every time she rolled to leeward, he brought
up with a jerk that would have sent anything but a monkey flying into
space. But he didn't leave it until he had rove the new rope, and he got
back all right. I think it was Jack at the wheel; the one that seemed
more cheerful, the one that whistled "Nancy Lee." He had rather have
been doing the job himself than watch his brother do it, and he had a
scared look; but he kept her as steady as he could in the swell, and he
drew a long breath when Jim had worked his way back to the peak-halliard
block, and had something to hold on to. I think it was Jim.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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