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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11474 ***
+
+DEEP WATERS
+
+By W.W. JACOBS
+
+
+
+
+SAM'S GHOST
+
+Yes, I know, said the night-watchman, thoughtfully, as he sat with a cold
+pipe in his mouth gazing across the river.  I've 'eard it afore.  People
+tell me they don't believe in ghosts and make a laugh of 'em, and all I
+say is: let them take on a night-watchman's job.  Let 'em sit 'ere all
+alone of a night with the water lapping against the posts and the wind
+moaning in the corners; especially if a pal of theirs has slipped
+overboard, and there is little nasty bills stuck up just outside in the
+High Street offering a reward for the body.  Twice men 'ave fallen
+overboard from this jetty, and I've 'ad to stand my watch here the same
+night, and not a farthing more for it.
+
+One of the worst and artfullest ghosts I ever 'ad anything to do with was
+Sam Bullet.  He was a waterman at the stairs near by 'ere; the sort o'
+man that 'ud get you to pay for drinks, and drink yours up by mistake
+arter he 'ad finished his own.  The sort of man that 'ad always left his
+baccy-box at 'ome, but always 'ad a big pipe in 'is pocket.
+
+He fell overboard off of a lighter one evening, and all that his mates
+could save was 'is cap.  It was on'y two nights afore that he 'ad knocked
+down an old man and bit a policeman's little finger to the bone, so that,
+as they pointed out to the widder, p'r'aps he was taken for a wise
+purpose.  P'r'aps he was 'appier where he was than doing six months.
+
+"He was the sort o' chap that'll make himself 'appy anywhere," ses one of
+'em, comforting-like.
+
+"Not without me," ses Mrs. Bullet, sobbing, and wiping her eyes on
+something she used for a pocket-hankercher.  "He never could bear to be
+away from me.  Was there no last words?"
+
+"On'y one," ses one o' the chaps, Joe Peel by name.
+
+"As 'e fell overboard," ses the other.
+
+Mrs. Bullet began to cry agin, and say wot a good 'usband he 'ad been.
+"Seventeen years come Michaelmas," she ses, "and never a cross word.
+Nothing was too good for me.  Nothing.  I 'ad only to ask to 'ave."
+
+"Well, he's gorn now," ses Joe, "and we thought we ought to come round
+and tell you."
+
+"So as you can tell the police," ses the other chap.
+
+That was 'ow I came to hear of it fust; a policeman told me that night as
+I stood outside the gate 'aving a quiet pipe.  He wasn't shedding tears;
+his only idea was that Sam 'ad got off too easy.
+
+"Well, well," I ses, trying to pacify 'im, "he won't bite no more
+fingers; there's no policemen where he's gorn to."
+
+He went off grumbling and telling me to be careful, and I put my pipe out
+and walked up and down the wharf thinking.  On'y a month afore I 'ad lent
+Sam fifteen shillings on a gold watch and chain wot he said an uncle 'ad
+left 'im.  I wasn't wearing it because 'e said 'is uncle wouldn't like
+it, but I 'ad it in my pocket, and I took it out under one of the lamps
+and wondered wot I ought to do.
+
+My fust idea was to take it to Mrs. Bullet, and then, all of a sudden,
+the thought struck me: "Suppose he 'adn't come by it honest?"
+
+I walked up and down agin, thinking.  If he 'adn't, and it was found out,
+it would blacken his good name and break 'is pore wife's 'art.  That's
+the way I looked at it, and for his sake and 'er sake I determined to
+stick to it.
+
+I felt 'appier in my mind when I 'ad decided on that, and I went round to
+the Bear's Head and 'ad a pint.  Arter that I 'ad another, and then I
+come back to the wharf and put the watch and chain on and went on with my
+work.
+
+Every time I looked down at the chain on my waistcoat it reminded me of
+Sam.  I looked on to the river and thought of 'im going down on the ebb.
+Then I got a sort o' lonesome feeling standing on the end of the jetty
+all alone, and I went back to the Bear's Head and 'ad another pint.
+
+They didn't find the body, and I was a'most forgetting about Sam when one
+evening, as I was sitting on a box waiting to get my breath back to 'ave
+another go at sweeping, Joe Peel, Sam's mate, came on to the wharf to see
+me.
+
+He came in a mysterious sort o' way that I didn't like: looking be'ind
+'im as though he was afraid of being follered, and speaking in a whisper
+as if 'e was afraid of being heard.  He wasn't a man I liked, and I was
+glad that the watch and chain was stowed safe away in my trowsis-pocket.
+
+"I've 'ad a shock, watchman," he ses.
+
+"Oh!" I ses.
+
+"A shock wot's shook me all up," he ses, working up a shiver.  "I've seen
+something wot I thought people never could see, and wot I never want to
+see agin.  I've seen Sam!"
+
+I thought a bit afore I spoke.  "Why, I thought he was drownded," I ses.
+
+"So 'e is," ses Joe.  "When I say I've seen 'im I mean that I 'ave seen
+his ghost!"
+
+He began to shiver agin, all over.
+
+"Wot was it like?"  I ses, very calm.
+
+"Like Sam," he ses, rather short.
+
+"When was it?" I ses.
+
+"Last night at a quarter to twelve," he ses.  "It was standing at my
+front door waiting for me."
+
+"And 'ave you been shivering like that ever since?" I ses.
+
+"Worse than that," ses Joe, looking at me very 'ard.  "It's wearing off
+now.  The ghost gave me a message for you."
+
+I put my 'and in my trowsis-pocket and looked at 'im.  Then I walked very
+slow, towards the gate.
+
+"It gave me a message for you," ses Joe, walking beside me.  "'We was
+always pals, Joe,'" it ses, "'you and me, and I want you to pay up
+fifteen bob for me wot I borrowed off of Bill the watchman.  I can't rest
+until it's paid,' it ses.  So here's the fifteen bob, watchman."
+
+He put his 'and in 'is pocket and takes out fifteen bob and 'olds it out
+to me.
+
+"No, no," I ses.  "I can't take your money, Joe Peel.  It wouldn't be
+right.  Pore Sam is welcome to the fifteen bob--I don't want it."
+
+"You must take it," ses Joe.  "The ghost said if you didn't it would come
+to me agin and agin till you did, and I can't stand any more of it."
+
+"I can't 'elp your troubles," I ses.
+
+"You must," ses Joe.  "'Give Bill the fifteen bob,' it ses, 'and he'll
+give you a gold watch and chain wot I gave 'im to mind till it was
+paid.'"
+
+I see his little game then.  "Gold watch and chain," I ses, laughing.
+"You must ha' misunderstood it, Joe."
+
+"I understood it right enough," ses Joe, getting a bit closer to me as I
+stepped outside the gate.  "Here's your fifteen bob; are you going to
+give me that watch and chain?"
+
+"Sartainly not," I ses.  "I don't know wot you mean by a watch and chain.
+If I 'ad it and I gave it to anybody, I should give it to Sam's widder,
+not to you."
+
+"It's nothing to do with 'er," ses Joe, very quick.  "Sam was most
+pertikler about that."
+
+"I expect you dreamt it all," I ses.  "Where would pore Sam get a gold
+watch and chain from?  And why should 'e go to you about it?  Why didn't
+'e come to me?  If 'e thinks I 'ave got it let 'im come to me."
+
+"All right, I'll go to the police-station," ses Joe.
+
+"I'll come with you," I ses.  "But 'ere's a policeman coming along.
+Let's go to 'im."
+
+I moved towards 'im, but Joe hung back, and, arter using one or two words
+that would ha' made any ghost ashamed to know 'im, he sheered off.  I 'ad
+a word or two with the policeman about the weather, and then I went
+inside and locked the gate.
+
+My idea was that Sam 'ad told Joe about the watch and chain afore he fell
+overboard.  Joe was a nasty customer, and I could see that I should 'ave
+to be a bit careful.  Some men might ha' told the police about it--but I
+never cared much for them.  They're like kids in a way, always asking
+questions--most of which you can't answer.
+
+It was a little bit creepy all alone on the wharf that night.  I don't
+deny it.  Twice I thought I 'eard something coming up on tip-toe behind
+me.  The second time I was so nervous that I began to sing to keep my
+spirits up, and I went on singing till three of the hands of the Susan
+Emily, wot was lying alongside, came up from the fo'c'sle and offered to
+fight me.  I was thankful when daylight came.
+
+Five nights arterwards I 'ad the shock of my life.  It was the fust night
+for some time that there was no craft up.  A dark night, and a nasty
+moaning sort of a wind.  I 'ad just lighted the lamp at the corner of the
+warehouse, wot 'ad blown out, and was sitting down to rest afore putting
+the ladder away, when I 'appened to look along the jetty and saw a head
+coming up over the edge of it.  In the light of the lamp I saw the dead
+white face of Sam Bullet's ghost making faces at me.
+
+[Illustration: IN THE LIGHT OF THE LAMP I SAW THE DEAD WHITE FACE]
+
+I just caught my breath, sharp like, and then turned and ran for the
+gate like a race-horse.  I 'ad left the key in the padlock, in case of
+anything happening, and I just gave it one turn, flung the wicket open
+and slammed it in the ghost's face, and tumbled out into the road.
+
+I ran slap into the arms of a young policeman wot was passing.  Nasty,
+short-tempered chap he was, but I don't think I was more glad to see
+anybody in my life.  I hugged 'im till 'e nearly lost 'is breath, and
+then he sat me down on the kerb-stone and asked me wot I meant by it.
+
+Wot with the excitement and the running I couldn't speak at fust, and
+when I did he said I was trying to deceive 'im.
+
+"There ain't no such thing as ghosts," he ses; "you've been drinking."
+
+"It came up out o' the river and run arter me like the wind," I ses.
+
+"Why didn't it catch you, then?" he ses, looking me up and down and all
+round about.  "Talk sense."
+
+He went up to the gate and peeped in, and, arter watching a moment,
+stepped inside and walked down the wharf, with me follering.  It was my
+dooty; besides, I didn't like being left all alone by myself.
+
+Twice we walked up and down and all over the wharf.  He flashed his
+lantern into all the dark corners, into empty barrels and boxes, and then
+he turned and flashed it right into my face and shook his 'ead at me.
+
+"You've been having a bit of a lark with me," he ses, "and for two pins
+I'd take you.  Mind, if you say a word about this to anybody, I will."
+
+He stalked off with his 'ead in the air, and left me all alone in charge
+of a wharf with a ghost on it.  I stayed outside in the street, of
+course, but every now and then I fancied I heard something moving about
+the other side of the gate, and once it was so distinct that I run along
+to the Bear's Head and knocked 'em up and asked them for a little brandy,
+for illness.
+
+I didn't get it, of course; I didn't expect to; but I 'ad a little
+conversation with the landlord from 'is bedroom-winder that did me more
+good than the brandy would ha' done.  Once or twice I thought he would
+'ave fallen out, and many a man has 'ad his licence taken away for less
+than a quarter of wot 'e said to me that night.  Arter he thought he 'ad
+finished and was going back to bed agin, I pointed' out to 'im that he
+'adn't kissed me "good night," and if it 'adn't ha' been for 'is missis
+and two grown-up daughters and the potman I believe he'd ha' talked to me
+till daylight.
+
+'Ow I got through the rest of the night I don't know.  It seemed to be
+twenty nights instead of one, but the day came at last, and when the
+hands came on at six o'clock they found the gate open and me on dooty
+same as usual.
+
+I slept like a tired child when I got 'ome, and arter a steak and onions
+for dinner I sat down and lit my pipe and tried to think wot was to be
+done.  One thing I was quite certain about: I wasn't going to spend
+another night on that wharf alone.
+
+I went out arter a bit, as far as the Clarendon Arms, for a breath of
+fresh air, and I 'ad just finished a pint and was wondering whether I
+ought to 'ave another, when Ted Dennis came in, and my mind was made up.
+He 'ad been in the Army all 'is life, and, so far, he 'ad never seen
+anything that 'ad frightened 'im.  I've seen him myself take on men twice
+'is size just for the love of the thing, and, arter knocking them silly,
+stand 'em a pint out of 'is own pocket.  When I asked 'im whether he was
+afraid of ghosts he laughed so 'ard that the landlord came from the other
+end of the bar to see wot was the matter.
+
+I stood Ted a pint, and arter he 'ad finished it I told 'im just how
+things was.  I didn't say anything about the watch and chain, because
+there was no need to, and when we came outside agin I 'ad engaged an
+assistant-watchman for ninepence a night.
+
+"All you've got to do," I ses, "is to keep me company.  You needn't turn
+up till eight o'clock of a night, and you can leave 'arf an hour afore me
+in the morning."
+
+"Right-o!" ses Ted.  "And if I see the ghost I'll make it wish it 'ad
+never been born."
+
+It was a load off my mind, and I went 'ome and ate a tea that made my
+missis talk about the work-'ouse, and orstritches in 'uman shape wot would
+eat a woman out of 'ouse and 'ome if she would let 'em.
+
+I got to the wharf just as it was striking six, and at a quarter to seven
+the wicket was pushed open gentle and the ugly 'ead of Mr. Joe Peel was
+shoved inside.
+
+"Hullo!" I ses.  "Wot do you want?"
+
+"I want to save your life," he ses, in a solemn voice.  "You was within a
+inch of death last night, watchman."
+
+"Oh!" I ses, careless-like.  "'Ow do you know!"
+
+"The ghost o' Sam Bullet told me," ses Joe.  "Arter it 'ad chased you up
+the wharf screaming for 'elp, it came round and told me all about it."
+
+"It seems fond of you," I ses.  "I wonder why?"
+
+"It was in a terrible temper," ses Joe, "and its face was awful to look
+at.  'Tell the watchman,' it ses, 'that if he don't give you the watch
+and chain I shall appear to 'im agin and kill 'im.'"
+
+"All right," I ses, looking behind me to where three of the 'ands of the
+Daisy was sitting on the fo'c'sle smoking.  "I've got plenty of company
+to-night."
+
+"Company won't save you," ses Joe.  "For the last time, are you going to
+give me that watch and chain, or not?  Here's your fifteen bob."
+
+"No," I ses; "even if I 'ad got it I shouldn't give it to you; and it's
+no use giving' it to the ghost, because, being made of air, he 'asn't got
+anywhere to put it."
+
+"Very good," ses Joe, giving me a black look.  "I've done all I can to
+save you, but if you won't listen to sense, you won't.  You'll see Sam
+Bullet agin, and you'll not on'y lose the watch and chain but your life
+as well."
+
+"All right," I ses, "and thank you kindly, but I've got an assistant, as
+it 'appens--a man wot wants to see a ghost."
+
+"An' assistant?" ses Joe, staring.
+
+"An old soldier," I ses.  "A man wot likes trouble and danger.  His idea
+is to shoot the ghost and see wot 'appens."
+
+"Shoot!" ses Joe.  "Shoot a pore 'armless ghost.  Does he want to be
+'ung?  Ain't it enough for a pore man to be drownded, but wot you must
+try and shoot 'im arterwards?  Why, you ought to be ashamed o' yourself.
+Where's your 'art?"
+
+"It won't be shot if it don't come on my wharf," I ses.  "Though I don't
+mind if it does when I've got somebody with me.  I ain't afraid of
+anything living, and I don't mind ghosts when there's two of us.  Besides
+which, the noise of the pistol 'll wake up 'arf the river."
+
+"You take care you don't get woke up," ses Joe, 'ardly able to speak for
+temper.
+
+He went off stamping, and grinding 'is teeth, and at eight o'clock to the
+minute, Ted Dennis turned up with 'is pistol and helped me take care of
+the wharf.  Happy as a skylark 'e was, and to see him 'iding behind a
+barrel with his pistol ready, waiting for the ghost, a'most made me
+forget the expense of it all.
+
+It never came near us that night, and Ted was a bit disappointed next
+morning as he took 'is ninepence and went off.  Next night was the same,
+and the next, and then Ted gave up hiding on the wharf for it, and sat
+and snoozed in the office instead.
+
+A week went by, and then another, and still there was no sign of Sam
+Bullet's ghost, or Joe Peel, and every morning I 'ad to try and work up a
+smile as I shelled out ninepence for Ted.  It nearly ruined me, and,
+worse than that, I couldn't explain why I was short to the missis.  Fust
+of all she asked me wot I was spending it on, then she asked me who I was
+spending it on.  It nearly broke up my 'ome--she did smash one kitchen-
+chair and a vase off the parlour mantelpiece--but I wouldn't tell 'er,
+and then, led away by some men on strike at Smith's wharf, Ted went on
+strike for a bob a night.
+
+That was arter he 'ad been with me for three weeks, and when Saturday
+came, of course I was more short than ever, and people came and stood at
+their doors all the way down our street to listen to the missis taking my
+character away.
+
+I stood it as long as I could, and then, when 'er back was turned for
+'arf a moment, I slipped out.  While she'd been talking I'd been
+thinking, and it came to me clear as daylight that there was no need for
+me to sacrifice myself any longer looking arter a dead man's watch and
+chain.
+
+I didn't know exactly where Joe Peel lived, but I knew the part, and
+arter peeping into seven public-'ouses I see the man I wanted sitting by
+'imself in a little bar.  I walked in quiet-like, and sat down opposite
+'im.
+
+"Morning," I ses.
+
+Joe Peel grunted.
+
+"'Ave one with me?" I ses.
+
+He grunted agin, but not quite so fierce, and I fetched the two pints
+from the counter and took a seat alongside of 'im.
+
+"I've been looking for you," I ses.
+
+"Oh!" he ses, looking me up and down and all over.  "Well, you've found
+me now."
+
+"I want to talk to you about the ghost of pore Sam Bullet," I ses.
+
+Joe Peel put 'is mug down sudden and looked at me fierce.  "Look 'ere!
+Don't you come and try to be funny with me," he ses.  "'Cos I won't 'ave
+it."
+
+"I don't want to be funny," I ses.  "Wot I want to know is, are you in
+the same mind about that watch and chain as you was the other day?"
+
+He didn't seem to be able to speak at fust, but arter a time 'e gives a
+gasp.  "Woes the game?"  he ses.
+
+"Wot I want to know is, if I give you that watch and chain for fifteen
+bob, will that keep the ghost from 'anging round my wharf agin?"  I ses.
+
+"Why, o' course," he ses, staring; "but you ain't been seeing it agin,
+'ave you?"
+
+"I've not, and I don't want to," I ses.  "If it wants you to 'ave the
+watch and chain, give me the fifteen bob, and it's yours."
+
+He looked at me for a moment as if he couldn't believe 'is eyesight, and
+then 'e puts his 'and into 'is trowsis-pocket and pulls out one shilling
+and fourpence, 'arf a clay-pipe, and a bit o' lead-pencil.
+
+"That's all I've got with me," he ses.  "I'll owe you the rest.  You
+ought to ha' took the fifteen bob when I 'ad it."
+
+There was no 'elp for it, and arter making 'im swear to give me the rest
+o' the money when 'e got it, and that I shouldn't see the ghost agin, I
+'anded the things over to 'im and came away.  He came to the door to see
+me off, and if ever a man looked puzzled, 'e did.  Pleased at the same
+time.
+
+It was a load off of my mind.  My con-science told me I'd done right, and
+arter sending a little boy with a note to Ted Dennis to tell 'im not to
+come any more, I felt 'appier than I 'ad done for a long time.  When I
+got to the wharf that evening it seemed like a diff'rent place, and I was
+whistling and smiling over my work quite in my old way, when the young
+policeman passed.
+
+"Hullo !"  he ses.  "'Ave you seen the ghost agin?"
+
+"I 'ave not," I ses, drawing myself up. "'Ave you?"
+
+"No," he ses.
+
+"We missed it."
+
+"Missed it?" I ses, staring at 'im.
+
+"Yes," he ses, nodding.  "The day arter you came out screaming, and
+cuddling me like a frightened baby, it shipped as A.B. on the barque
+Ocean King, for Valparaiso.  We missed it by a few hours.  Next time you
+see a ghost, knock it down fust and go and cuddle the police arterwards."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sam's Ghost, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11474 ***