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diff --git a/24584.txt b/24584.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a00d117 --- /dev/null +++ b/24584.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2196 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Man Overboard!, by F(rancis) Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Man Overboard! + +Author: F(rancis) Marion Crawford + +Release Date: February 12, 2008 [EBook #24584] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAN OVERBOARD! *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Roberta Staehlin, Grinnell +College Library and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + Man Overboard! + BY + F. MARION CRAWFORD + + AUTHOR OF "THE UPPER BERTH," "CECILIA," + "THE WITCH OF PRAGUE," ETC. + + [Illustration] + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. + 1903 + + _All rights reserved_ + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, + BY F. MARION CRAWFORD. + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + Set up and electrotyped April, 1903. + + Norwood Press + J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. + Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Portrait of F. Marion Crawford _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + "He let go of the knife, and the point + stuck into the deck" 54 + + "One of his wet, shiny arms was round + Mamie's waist" 92 + + + + +MAN OVERBOARD + + +Yes--I have heard "Man overboard!" a good many times since I was +a boy, and once or twice I have seen the man go. There are more +men lost in that way than passengers on ocean steamers ever learn +of. I have stood looking over the rail on a dark night, when +there was a step beside me, and something flew past my head like +a big black bat--and then there was a splash! Stokers often go +like that. They go mad with the heat, and they slip up on deck +and are gone before anybody can stop them, often without being +seen or heard. Now and then a passenger will do it, but he +generally has what he thinks a pretty good reason. I have seen a +man empty his revolver into a crowd of emigrants forward, and +then go over like a rocket. Of course, any officer who respects +himself will do what he can to pick a man up, if the weather is +not so heavy that he would have to risk his ship; but I don't +think I remember seeing a man come back when he was once fairly +gone more than two or three times in all my life, though we have +often picked up the life-buoy, and sometimes the fellow's cap. +Stokers and passengers jump over; I never knew a sailor to do +that, drunk or sober. Yes, they say it has happened on hard +ships, but I never knew a case myself. Once in a long time a man +is fished out when it is just too late, and dies in the boat +before you can get him aboard, and--well, I don't know that I +ever told that story since it happened--I knew a fellow who went +over, and came back dead. I didn't see him after he came back; +only one of us did, but we all knew he was there. + +No, I am not giving you "sharks." There isn't a shark in this +story, and I don't know that I would tell it at all if we weren't +alone, just you and I. But you and I have seen things in various +parts, and maybe you will understand. Anyhow, you know that I am +telling what I know about, and nothing else; and it has been on +my mind to tell you ever since it happened, only there hasn't +been a chance. + +It's a long story, and it took some time to happen; and it began +a good many years ago, in October, as well as I can remember. I +was mate then; I passed the local Marine Board for master about +three years later. She was the _Helen B. Jackson_, of New York, +with lumber for the West Indies, four-masted schooner, Captain +Hackstaff. She was an old-fashioned one, even then--no steam +donkey, and all to do by hand. There were still sailors in the +coasting trade in those days, you remember. She wasn't a hard +ship, for the old man was better than most of them, though he +kept to himself and had a face like a monkey-wrench. We were +thirteen, all told, in the ship's company; and some of them +afterwards thought that might have had something to do with it, +but I had all that nonsense knocked out of me when I was a boy. I +don't mean to say that I like to go to sea on a Friday, but I +_have_ gone to sea on a Friday, and nothing has happened; and +twice before that we have been thirteen, because one of the hands +didn't turn up at the last minute, and nothing ever happened +either--nothing worse than the loss of a light spar or two, or a +little canvas. Whenever I have been wrecked, we had sailed as +cheerily as you please--no thirteens, no Fridays, no dead men in +the hold. I believe it generally happens that way. + +I dare say you remember those two Benton boys that were so much +alike? It is no wonder, for they were twin brothers. They shipped +with us as boys on the old _Boston Belle_, when you were mate +and I was before the mast. I never was quite sure which was which +of those two, even then; and when they both had beards it was +harder than ever to tell them apart. One was Jim, and the other +was Jack; James Benton and John Benton. The only difference I +ever could see was, that one seemed to be rather more cheerful +and inclined to talk than the other; but one couldn't even be +sure of that. Perhaps they had moods. Anyhow, there was one of +them that used to whistle when he was alone. He only knew one +tune, and that was "Nancy Lee," and the other didn't know any +tune at all; but I may be mistaken about that, too. Perhaps they +both knew it. + +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. + +They had good togs, too, and they were neat and clean men in the +forecastle. I knew they had nobody belonging to them ashore,--no +mother, no sisters, and no wives; but somehow they both looked as +if a woman overhauled them now and then. I remember that they had +one ditty bag between them, and they had a woman's thimble in it. +One of the men said something about it to them, and they looked +at each other; and one smiled, but the other didn't. Most of +their clothes were alike, but they had one red guernsey between +them. For some time I used to think it was always the same one +that wore it, and I thought that might be a way to tell them +apart. But then I heard one asking the other for it, and saying +that the other had worn it last. So that was no sign either. The +cook was a West Indiaman, called James Lawley; his father had +been hanged for putting lights in cocoanut trees where they +didn't belong. But he was a good cook, and knew his business; and +it wasn't soup-and-bully and dog's-body every Sunday. That's +what I meant to say. On Sunday the cook called both those boys +Jim, and on week-days he called them Jack. He used to say he must +be right sometimes if he did that, because even the hands on a +painted clock point right twice a day. + +What started me to trying for some way of telling the Bentons +apart was this. I heard them talking about a girl. It was at +night, in our watch, and the wind had headed us off a little +rather suddenly, and when we had flattened in the jibs, we clewed +down the topsails, while the two Benton boys got the spanker +sheet aft. One of them was at the helm. I coiled down the +mizzen-topsail downhaul myself, and was going aft to see how she +headed up, when I stopped to look at a light, and leaned against +the deck-house. While I was standing there I heard the two boys +talking. It sounded as if they had talked of the same thing +before, and as far as I could tell, the voice I heard first +belonged to the one who wasn't quite so cheerful as the +other,--the one who was Jim when one knew which he was. + +"Does Mamie know?" Jim asked. + +"Not yet," Jack answered quietly. He was at the wheel. "I mean to +tell her next time we get home." + +"All right." + +That was all I heard, because I didn't care to stand there +listening while they were talking about their own affairs; so I +went aft to look into the binnacle, and I told the one at the +wheel to keep her so as long as she had way on her, for I thought +the wind would back up again before long, and there was land to +leeward. When he answered, his voice, somehow, didn't sound like +the cheerful one. Perhaps his brother had relieved the wheel +while they had been speaking, but what I had heard set me +wondering which of them it was that had a girl at home. There's +lots of time for wondering on a schooner in fair weather. + +After that I thought I noticed that the two brothers were more +silent when they were together. Perhaps they guessed that I had +overheard something that night, and kept quiet when I was about. +Some men would have amused themselves by trying to chaff them +separately about the girl at home, and I suppose whichever one it +was would have let the cat out of the bag if I had done that. +But, somehow, I didn't like to. Yes, I was thinking of getting +married myself at that time, so I had a sort of fellow-feeling +for whichever one it was, that made me not want to chaff him. + +They didn't talk much, it seemed to me; but in fair weather, when +there was nothing to do at night, and one was steering, the other +was everlastingly hanging round as if he were waiting to relieve +the wheel, though he might have been enjoying a quiet nap for all +I cared in such weather. Or else, when one was taking his turn at +the lookout, the other would be sitting on an anchor beside him. +One kept near the other, at night more than in the daytime. I +noticed that. They were fond of sitting on that anchor, and they +generally tucked away their pipes under it, for the _Helen B._ +was a dry boat in most weather, and like most fore-and-afters was +better on a wind than going free. With a beam sea we sometimes +shipped a little water aft. We were by the stern, anyhow, on that +voyage, and that is one reason why we lost the man. + +We fell in with a southerly gale, south-east at first; and then +the barometer began to fall while you could watch it, and a long +swell began to come up from the south'ard. A couple of months +earlier we might have been in for a cyclone, but it's "October +all over" in those waters, as you know better than I. It was just +going to blow, and then it was going to rain, that was all; and +we had plenty of time to make everything snug before it breezed +up much. It blew harder after sunset, and by the time it was +quite dark it was a full gale. We had shortened sail for it, but +as we were by the stern we were carrying the spanker close reefed +instead of the storm trysail. She steered better so, as long as +we didn't have to heave to. I had the first watch with the Benton +boys, and we had not been on deck an hour when a child might have +seen that the weather meant business. + +The old man came up on deck and looked round, and in less than a +minute he told us to give her the trysail. That meant heaving to, +and I was glad of it; for though the _Helen B._ was a good vessel +enough, she wasn't a new ship by a long way, and it did her no +good to drive her in that weather. I asked whether I should call +all hands, but just then the cook came aft, and the old man said +he thought we could manage the job without waking the sleepers, +and the trysail was handy on deck already, for we hadn't been +expecting anything better. We were all in oilskins, of course, +and the night was as black as a coal mine, with only a ray of +light from the slit in the binnacle shield, and you couldn't tell +one man from another except by his voice. The old man took the +wheel; we got the boom amidships, and he jammed her into the wind +until she had hardly any way. It was blowing now, and it was all +that I and two others could do to get in the slack of the +downhaul, while the others lowered away at the peak and throat, +and we had our hands full to get a couple of turns round the wet +sail. It's all child's play on a fore-and-after compared with +reefing topsails in anything like weather, but the gear of a +schooner sometimes does unhandy things that you don't expect, and +those everlasting long halliards get foul of everything if they +get adrift. I remember thinking how unhandy that particular job +was. Somebody unhooked the throat-halliard block, and thought he +had hooked it into the head-cringle of the trysail, and sang out +to hoist away, but he had missed it in the dark, and the heavy +block went flying into the lee rigging, and nearly killed him +when it swung back with the weather roll. Then the old man got +her up in the wind until the jib was shaking like thunder; then +he held her off, and she went off as soon as the head-sails +filled, and he couldn't get her back again without the spanker. +Then the _Helen B._ did her favourite trick, and before we had +time to say much we had a sea over the quarter and were up to our +waists, with the parrels of the trysail only half becketed round +the mast, and the deck so full of gear that you couldn't put your +foot on a plank, and the spanker beginning to get adrift again, +being badly stopped, and the general confusion and hell's delight +that you can only have on a fore-and-after when there's nothing +really serious the matter. Of course, I don't mean to say that +the old man couldn't have steered his trick as well as you or I +or any other seaman; but I don't believe he had ever been on +board the _Helen B._ before, or had his hand on her wheel till +then; and he didn't know her ways. I don't mean to say that what +happened was his fault. I don't know whose fault it was. Perhaps +nobody was to blame. But I knew something happened somewhere on +board when we shipped that sea, and you'll never get it out of my +head. I hadn't any spare time myself, for I was becketing the +rest of the trysail to the mast. We were on the starboard tack, +and the throat-halliard came down to port as usual, and I suppose +there were at least three men at it, hoisting away, while I was +at the beckets. + +Now I am going to tell you something. You have known me, man and +boy, several voyages; and you are older than I am; and you have +always been a good friend to me. Now, do you think I am the sort +of man to think I hear things where there isn't anything to hear, +or to think I see things when there is nothing to see? No, you +don't. Thank you. Well now, I had passed the last becket, and I +sang out to the men to sway away, and I was standing on the jaws +of the spanker-gaff, with my left hand on the bolt-rope of the +trysail, so that I could feel when it was board-taut, and I +wasn't thinking of anything except being glad the job was over, +and that we were going to heave her to. It was as black as a +coal-pocket, except that you could see the streaks on the seas as +they went by, and abaft the deck-house I could see the ray of +light from the binnacle on the captain's yellow oilskin as he +stood at the wheel--or rather I might have seen it if I had +looked round at that minute. But I didn't look round. I heard a +man whistling. It was "Nancy Lee," and I could have sworn that +the man was right over my head in the crosstrees. Only somehow I +knew very well that if anybody could have been up there, and +could have whistled a tune, there were no living ears sharp +enough to hear it on deck then. I heard it distinctly, and at the +same time I heard the real whistling of the wind in the weather +rigging, sharp and clear as the steam-whistle on a Dago's +peanut-cart in New York. That was all right, that was as it +should be; but the other wasn't right; and I felt queer and +stiff, as if I couldn't move, and my hair was curling against the +flannel lining of my sou'wester, and I thought somebody had +dropped a lump of ice down my back. + +I said that the noise of the wind in the rigging was real, as if +the other wasn't, for I felt that it wasn't, though I heard it. +But it was, all the same; for the captain heard it, too. When I +came to relieve the wheel, while the men were clearing up decks, +he was swearing. He was a quiet man, and I hadn't heard him swear +before, and I don't think I did again, though several queer +things happened after that. Perhaps he said all he had to say +then; I don't see how he could have said anything more. I used to +think nobody could swear like a Dane, except a Neapolitan or a +South American; but when I had heard the old man I changed my +mind. There's nothing afloat or ashore that can beat one of your +quiet American skippers, if he gets off on that tack. I didn't +need to ask him what was the matter, for I knew he had heard +"Nancy Lee," as I had, only it affected us differently. + +He did not give me the wheel, but told me to go forward and get +the second bonnet off the staysail, so as to keep her up better. +As we tailed on to the sheet when it was done, the man next me +knocked his sou'wester off against my shoulder, and his face came +so close to me that I could see it in the dark. It must have been +very white for me to see it, but I only thought of that +afterwards. I don't see how any light could have fallen upon it, +but I knew it was one of the Benton boys. I don't know what made +me speak to him. "Hullo, Jim! Is that you?" I asked. I don't know +why I said Jim, rather than Jack. + +"I am Jack," he answered. We made all fast, and things were much +quieter. + +"The old man heard you whistling 'Nancy Lee,' just now," I said, +"and he didn't like it." + +It was as if there were a white light inside his face, and it was +ghastly. I know his teeth chattered. But he didn't say anything, +and the next minute he was somewhere in the dark trying to find +his sou'wester at the foot of the mast. + +When all was quiet, and she was hove to, coming to and falling +off her four points as regularly as a pendulum, and the helm +lashed a little to the lee, the old man turned in again, and I +managed to light a pipe in the lee of the deck-house, for there +was nothing more to be done till the gale chose to moderate, and +the ship was as easy as a baby in its cradle. Of course the cook +had gone below, as he might have done an hour earlier; so there +were supposed to be four of us in the watch. There was a man at +the lookout, and there was a hand by the wheel, though there was +no steering to be done, and I was having my pipe in the lee of +the deck-house, and the fourth man was somewhere about decks, +probably having a smoke too. I thought some skippers I had sailed +with would have called the watch aft, and given them a drink +after that job, but it wasn't cold, and I guessed that our old +man wouldn't be particularly generous in that way. My hands and +feet were red-hot, and it would be time enough to get into dry +clothes when it was my watch below; so I stayed where I was, and +smoked. But by and by, things being so quiet, I began to wonder +why nobody moved on deck; just that sort of restless wanting to +know where every man is that one sometimes feels in a gale of +wind on a dark night. So when I had finished my pipe I began to +move about. I went aft, and there was a man leaning over the +wheel, with his legs apart and both hands hanging down in the +light from the binnacle, and his sou'wester over his eyes. Then +I went forward, and there was a man at the lookout, with his back +against the foremast, getting what shelter he could from the +staysail. I knew by his small height that he was not one of the +Benton boys. Then I went round by the weather side, and poked +about in the dark, for I began to wonder where the other man was. +But I couldn't find him, though I searched the decks until I got +right aft again. It was certainly one of the Benton boys that was +missing, but it wasn't like either of them to go below to change +his clothes in such warm weather. The man at the wheel was the +other, of course. I spoke to him. + +"Jim, what's become of your brother?" + +"I am Jack, sir." + +"Well, then, Jack, where's Jim? He's not on deck." + +"I don't know, sir." + +When I had come up to him he had stood up from force of instinct, +and had laid his hands on the spokes as if he were steering, +though the wheel was lashed; but he still bent his face down, and +it was half hidden by the edge of his sou'wester, while he seemed +to be staring at the compass. He spoke in a very low voice, but +that was natural, for the captain had left his door open when he +turned in, as it was a warm night in spite of the storm, and +there was no fear of shipping any more water now. + +"What put it into your head to whistle like that, Jack? You've +been at sea long enough to know better." + +He said something, but I couldn't hear the words; it sounded as +if he were denying the charge. + +"Somebody whistled," I said. + +He didn't answer, and then, I don't know why, perhaps because the +old man hadn't given us a drink, I cut half an inch off the plug +of tobacco I had in my oilskin pocket, and gave it to him. He +knew my tobacco was good, and he shoved it into his mouth with a +word of thanks. I was on the weather side of the wheel. + +"Go forward and see if you can find Jim," I said. + +He started a little, and then stepped back and passed behind me, +and was going along the weather side. Maybe his silence about the +whistling had irritated me, and his taking it for granted that +because we were hove to and it was a dark night, he might go +forward any way he pleased. Anyhow, I stopped him, though I spoke +good-naturedly enough. + +"Pass to leeward, Jack," I said. + +He didn't answer, but crossed the deck between the binnacle and +the deck-house to the lee side. She was only falling off and +coming to, and riding the big seas as easily as possible, but the +man was not steady on his feet and reeled against the corner of +the deck-house and then against the lee rail. I was quite sure he +couldn't have had anything to drink, for neither of the brothers +were the kind to hide rum from their shipmates, if they had any, +and the only spirits that were aboard were locked up in the +captain's cabin. I wondered whether he had been hit by the +throat-halliard block and was hurt. + +I left the wheel and went after him, but when I got to the corner +of the deck-house I saw that he was on a full run forward, so I +went back. I watched the compass for a while, to see how far she +went off, and she must have come to again half a dozen times +before I heard voices, more than three or four, forward; and then +I heard the little West Indies cook's voice, high and shrill +above the rest:-- + +"Man overboard!" + +There wasn't anything to be done, with the ship hove-to and the +wheel lashed. If there was a man overboard, he must be in the +water right alongside. I couldn't imagine how it could have +happened, but I ran forward instinctively. I came upon the cook +first, half-dressed in his shirt and trousers, just as he had +tumbled out of his bunk. He was jumping into the main rigging, +evidently hoping to see the man, as if any one could have seen +anything on such a night, except the foam-streaks on the black +water, and now and then the curl of a breaking sea as it went +away to leeward. Several of the men were peering over the rail +into the dark. I caught the cook by the foot, and asked who was +gone. + +"It's Jim Benton," he shouted down to me. "He's not aboard this +ship!" + +There was no doubt about that. Jim Benton was gone; and I knew in +a flash that he had been taken off by that sea when we were +setting the storm trysail. It was nearly half an hour since then; +she had run like wild for a few minutes until we got her hove-to, +and no swimmer that ever swam could have lived as long as that in +such a sea. The men knew it as well as I, but still they stared +into the foam as if they had any chance of seeing the lost man. I +let the cook get into the rigging and joined the men, and asked +if they had made a thorough search on board, though I knew they +had and that it could not take long, for he wasn't on deck, and +there was only the forecastle below. + +"That sea took him over, sir, as sure as you're born," said one +of the men close beside me. + +We had no boat that could have lived in that sea, of course, and +we all knew it. I offered to put one over, and let her drift +astern two or three cable's-lengths by a line, if the men thought +they could haul me aboard again; but none of them would listen to +that, and I should probably have been drowned if I had tried it, +even with a life-belt; for it was a breaking sea. Besides, they +all knew as well as I did that the man could not be right in our +wake. I don't know why I spoke again. "Jack Benton, are you +there? Will you go if I will?" + +"No, sir," answered a voice; and that was all. + +By that time the old man was on deck, and I felt his hand on my +shoulder rather roughly, as if he meant to shake me. + +"I'd reckoned you had more sense, Mr. Torkeldsen," he said. "God +knows I would risk my ship to look for him, if it were any use; +but he must have gone half an hour ago." + +He was a quiet man, and the men knew he was right, and that they +had seen the last of Jim Benton when they were bending the +trysail--if anybody had seen him then. The captain went below +again, and for some time the men stood around Jack, quite near +him, without saying anything, as sailors do when they are sorry +for a man and can't help him; and then the watch below turned in +again, and we were three on deck. + +Nobody can understand that there can be much consolation in a +funeral, unless he has felt that blank feeling there is when a +man's gone overboard whom everybody likes. I suppose landsmen +think it would be easier if they didn't have to bury their +fathers and mothers and friends; but it wouldn't be. Somehow the +funeral keeps up the idea of something beyond. You may believe in +that something just the same; but a man who has gone in the dark, +between two seas, without a cry, seems much more beyond reach +than if he were still lying on his bed, and had only just stopped +breathing. Perhaps Jim Benton knew that, and wanted to come back +to us. I don't know, and I am only telling you what happened, and +you may think what you like. + +Jack stuck by the wheel that night until the watch was over. I +don't know whether he slept afterwards, but when I came on deck +four hours later, there he was again, in his oilskins, with his +sou'wester over his eyes, staring into the binnacle. We saw that +he would rather stand there, and we left him alone. Perhaps it +was some consolation to him to get that ray of light when +everything was so dark. It began to rain, too, as it can when a +southerly gale is going to break up, and we got every bucket and +tub on board, and set them under the booms to catch the fresh +water for washing our clothes. The rain made it very thick, and I +went and stood under the lee of the staysail, looking out. I +could tell that day was breaking, because the foam was whiter in +the dark where the seas crested, and little by little the black +rain grew grey and steamy, and I couldn't see the red glare of +the port light on the water when she went off and rolled to +leeward. The gale had moderated considerably, and in another hour +we should be under way again. I was still standing there when +Jack Benton came forward. He stood still a few minutes near me. +The rain came down in a solid sheet, and I could see his wet +beard and a corner of his cheek, too, grey in the dawn. Then he +stooped down and began feeling under the anchor for his pipe. We +had hardly shipped any water forward, and I suppose he had some +way of tucking the pipe in, so that the rain hadn't floated it +off. Presently he got on his legs again, and I saw that he had +two pipes in his hand. One of them had belonged to his brother, +and after looking at them a moment I suppose he recognised his +own, for he put it in his mouth, dripping with water. Then he +looked at the other fully a minute without moving. When he had +made up his mind, I suppose, he quietly chucked it over the lee +rail, without even looking round to see whether I was watching +him. I thought it was a pity, for it was a good wooden pipe, with +a nickel ferrule, and somebody would have been glad to have it. +But I didn't like to make any remark, for he had a right to do +what he pleased with what had belonged to his dead brother. He +blew the water out of his own pipe, and dried it against his +jacket, putting his hand inside his oilskin; he filled it, +standing under the lee of the foremast, got a light after wasting +two or three matches, and turned the pipe upside down in his +teeth, to keep the rain out of the bowl. I don't know why I +noticed everything he did, and remember it now; but somehow I +felt sorry for him, and I kept wondering whether there was +anything I could say that would make him feel better. But I +didn't think of anything, and as it was broad daylight I went aft +again, for I guessed that the old man would turn out before long +and order the spanker set and the helm up. But he didn't turn out +before seven bells, just as the clouds broke and showed blue sky +to leeward--"the Frenchman's barometer," you used to call it. + +Some people don't seem to be so dead, when they are dead, as +others are. Jim Benton was like that. He had been on my watch, +and I couldn't get used to the idea that he wasn't about decks +with me. I was always expecting to see him, and his brother was +so exactly like him that I often felt as if I did see him and +forgot he was dead, and made the mistake of calling Jack by his +name; though I tried not to, because I knew it must hurt. If ever +Jack had been the cheerful one of the two, as I had always +supposed he had been, he had changed very much, for he grew to be +more silent than Jim had ever been. + +One fine afternoon I was sitting on the main-hatch, overhauling +the clock-work of the taffrail-log, which hadn't been registering +very well of late, and I had got the cook to bring me a +coffee-cup to hold the small screws as I took them out, and a +saucer for the sperm-oil I was going to use. I noticed that he +didn't go away, but hung round without exactly watching what I +was doing, as if he wanted to say something to me. I thought if +it were worth much he would say it anyhow, so I didn't ask him +questions; and sure enough he began of his own accord before +long. There was nobody on deck but the man at the wheel, and the +other man away forward. + +"Mr. Torkeldsen," the cook began, and then stopped. + +I supposed he was going to ask me to let the watch break out a +barrel of flour, or some salt horse. + +"Well, doctor?" I asked, as he didn't go on. + +"Well, Mr. Torkeldsen," he answered, "I somehow want to ask you +whether you think I am giving satisfaction on this ship, or not?" + +"So far as I know, you are, doctor. I haven't heard any +complaints from the forecastle, and the captain has said nothing, +and I think you know your business, and the cabin-boy is bursting +out of his clothes. That looks as if you are giving satisfaction. +What makes you think you are not?" + +I am not good at giving you that West Indies talk, and sha'n't +try; but the doctor beat about the bush awhile, and then he told +me he thought the men were beginning to play tricks on him, and +he didn't like it, and thought he hadn't deserved it, and would +like his discharge at our next port. I told him he was a d----d +fool, of course, to begin with; and that men were more apt to try +a joke with a chap they liked than with anybody they wanted to +get rid of; unless it was a bad joke, like flooding his bunk, or +filling his boots with tar. But it wasn't that kind of practical +joke. The doctor said that the men were trying to frighten him, +and he didn't like it, and that they put things in his way that +frightened him. So I told him he was a d----d fool to be +frightened, anyway, and I wanted to know what things they put in +his way. He gave me a queer answer. He said they were spoons and +forks, and odd plates, and a cup now and then, and such things. + +I set down the taffrail-log on the bit of canvas I had put under +it, and looked at the doctor. He was uneasy, and his eyes had a +sort of hunted look, and his yellow face looked grey. He wasn't +trying to make trouble. He was in trouble. So I asked him +questions. + +He said he could count as well as anybody, and do sums without +using his fingers, but that when he couldn't count any other way +he did use his fingers, and it always came out the same. He said +that when he and the cabin-boy cleared up after the men's meals +there were more things to wash than he had given out. There'd be +a fork more, or there'd be a spoon more, and sometimes there'd be +a spoon and a fork, and there was always a plate more. It wasn't +that he complained of that. Before poor Jim Benton was lost they +had a man more to feed, and his gear to wash up after meals, and +that was in the contract, the doctor said. It would have been if +there were twenty in the ship's company; but he didn't think it +was right for the men to play tricks like that. He kept his +things in good order, and he counted them, and he was responsible +for them, and it wasn't right that the men should take more +things than they needed when his back was turned, and just soil +them and mix them up with their own, so as to make him think-- + +He stopped there, and looked at me, and I looked at him. I didn't +know what he thought, but I began to guess. I wasn't going to +humour any such nonsense as that, so I told him to speak to the +men himself, and not come bothering me about such things. + +"Count the plates and forks and spoons before them when they sit +down to table, and tell them that's all they'll get; and when +they have finished, count the things again, and if the count +isn't right, find out who did it. You know it must be one of +them. You're not a green hand; you've been going to sea ten or +eleven years, and don't want any lesson about how to behave if +the boys play a trick on you." + +"If I could catch him," said the cook, "I'd have a knife into him +before he could say his prayers." + +Those West India men are always talking about knives, especially +when they are badly frightened. I knew what he meant, and didn't +ask him, but went on cleaning the brass cogwheels of the patent +log and oiling the bearings with a feather. "Wouldn't it be +better to wash it out with boiling water, sir?" asked the cook, +in an insinuating tone. He knew that he had made a fool of +himself, and was anxious to make it right again. + +I heard no more about the odd platter and gear for two or three +days, though I thought about his story a good deal. The doctor +evidently believed that Jim Benton had come back, though he +didn't quite like to say so. His story had sounded silly enough +on a bright afternoon, in fair weather, when the sun was on the +water, and every rag was drawing in the breeze, and the sea +looked as pleasant and harmless as a cat that has just eaten a +canary. But when it was toward the end of the first watch, and +the waning moon had not risen yet, and the water was like still +oil, and the jibs hung down flat and helpless like the wings of a +dead bird--it wasn't the same then. More than once I have started +then, and looked round when a fish jumped, expecting to see a +face sticking up out of the water with its eyes shut. I think we +all felt something like that at the time. + +One afternoon we were putting a fresh service on the +jib-sheet-pennant. It wasn't my watch, but I was standing by +looking on. Just then Jack Benton came up from below, and went to +look for his pipe under the anchor. His face was hard and drawn, +and his eyes were cold like steel balls. He hardly ever spoke +now, but he did his duty as usual, and nobody had to complain of +him, though we were all beginning to wonder how long his grief +for his dead brother was going to last like that. I watched him +as he crouched down, and ran his hand into the hiding-place for +the pipe. When he stood up, he had two pipes in his hand. + +Now, I remembered very well seeing him throw one of those pipes +away, early in the morning after the gale; and it came to me now, +and I didn't suppose he kept a stock of them under the anchor. I +caught sight of his face, and it was greenish white, like the +foam on shallow water, and he stood a long time looking at the +two pipes. He wasn't looking to see which was his, for I wasn't +five yards from him as he stood, and one of those pipes had been +smoked that day, and was shiny where his hand had rubbed it, and +the bone mouthpiece was chafed white where his teeth had bitten +it. The other was water-logged. It was swelled and cracking with +wet, and it looked to me as if there were a little green weed on +it. + +Jack Benton turned his head rather stealthily as I looked away, +and then he hid the thing in his trousers pocket, and went aft on +the lee side, out of sight. The men had got the sheet pennant on +a stretch to serve it, but I ducked under it and stood where I +could see what Jack did, just under the fore-staysail. He +couldn't see me, and he was looking about for something. His hand +shook as he picked up a bit of half-bent iron rod, about a foot +long, that had been used for turning an eye-bolt, and had been +left on the main-hatch. His hand shook as he got a piece of +marline out of his pocket, and made the water-logged pipe fast to +the iron. He didn't mean it to get adrift, either, for he took +his turns carefully, and hove them taut and then rode them, so +that they couldn't slip, and made the end fast with two +half-hitches round the iron, and hitched it back on itself. Then +he tried it with his hands, and looked up and down the deck +furtively, and then quietly dropped the pipe and iron over the +rail, so that I didn't even hear the splash. If anybody was +playing tricks on board, they weren't meant for the cook. + +I asked some questions about Jack Benton, and one of the men told +me that he was off his feed, and hardly ate anything, and +swallowed all the coffee he could lay his hands on, and had used +up all his own tobacco and had begun on what his brother had +left. + +"The doctor says it ain't so, sir," said the man, looking at me +shyly, as if he didn't expect to be believed; "the doctor says +there's as much eaten from breakfast to breakfast as there was +before Jim fell overboard, though there's a mouth less and +another that eats nothing. I says it's the cabin-boy that gets +it. He's bu'sting." + +I told him that if the cabin-boy ate more than his share, he must +work more than his share, so as to balance things. But the man +laughed queerly, and looked at me again. + +"I only said that, sir, just like that. We all know it ain't so." + +"Well, how is it?" + +"How is it?" asked the man, half-angry all at once. "I don't know +how it is, but there's a hand on board that's getting his whack +along with us as regular as the bells." + +"Does he use tobacco?" I asked, meaning to laugh it out of him, +but as I spoke I remembered the water-logged pipe. + +"I guess he's using his own still," the man answered, in a queer, +low voice. "Perhaps he'll take some one else's when his is all +gone." + +It was about nine o'clock in the morning, I remember, for just +then the captain called to me to stand by the chronometer while +he took his fore observation. Captain Hackstaff wasn't one of +those old skippers who do everything themselves with a pocket +watch, and keep the key of the chronometer in their waistcoat +pocket, and won't tell the mate how far the dead reckoning is +out. He was rather the other way, and I was glad of it, for he +generally let me work the sights he took, and just ran his eye +over my figures afterwards. I am bound to say his eye was pretty +good, for he would pick out a mistake in a logarithm, or tell me +that I had worked the "Equation of Time" with the wrong sign, +before it seemed to me that he could have got as far as "half the +sum, minus the altitude." He was always right, too, and besides +he knew a lot about iron ships and local deviation, and adjusting +the compass, and all that sort of thing. I don't know how he came +to be in command of a fore-and-aft schooner. He never talked +about himself, and maybe he had just been mate on one of those +big steel square-riggers, and something had put him back. Perhaps +he had been captain, and had got his ship aground, through no +particular fault of his, and had to begin over again. Sometimes +he talked just like you and me, and sometimes he would speak more +like books do, or some of those Boston people I have heard. I +don't know. We have all been shipmates now and then with men who +have seen better days. Perhaps he had been in the Navy, but what +makes me think he couldn't have been, was that he was a thorough +good seaman, a regular old wind-jammer, and understood sail, +which those Navy chaps rarely do. Why, you and I have sailed with +men before the mast who had their master's certificates in their +pockets,--English Board of Trade certificates, too,--who could +work a double altitude if you would lend them a sextant and give +them a look at the chronometer, as well as many a man who +commands a big square-rigger. Navigation ain't everything, nor +seamanship, either. You've got to have it in you, if you mean to +get there. + +I don't know how our captain heard that there was trouble +forward. The cabin-boy may have told him, or the men may have +talked outside his door when they relieved the wheel at night. +Anyhow, he got wind of it, and when he had got his sight that +morning he had all hands aft, and gave them a lecture. It was +just the kind of talk you might have expected from him. He said +he hadn't any complaint to make, and that so far as he knew +everybody on board was doing his duty, and that he was given to +understand that the men got their whack, and were satisfied. He +said his ship was never a hard ship, and that he liked quiet, and +that was the reason he didn't mean to have any nonsense, and the +men might just as well understand that, too. We'd had a great +misfortune, he said, and it was nobody's fault. We had lost a +man we all liked and respected, and he felt that everybody in the +ship ought to be sorry for the man's brother, who was left +behind, and that it was rotten lubberly childishness, and unjust +and unmanly and cowardly, to be playing schoolboy tricks with +forks and spoons and pipes, and that sort of gear. He said it had +got to stop right now, and that was all, and the men might go +forward. And so they did. + +It got worse after that, and the men watched the cook, and the +cook watched the men, as if they were trying to catch each other; +but I think everybody felt that there was something else. One +evening, at supper-time, I was on deck, and Jack came aft to +relieve the wheel while the man who was steering got his supper. +He hadn't got past the main-hatch on the lee side, when I heard a +man running in slippers that slapped on the deck, and there was a +sort of a yell and I saw the coloured cook going for Jack, with +a carving-knife in his hand. I jumped to get between them, and +Jack turned round short, and put out his hand. I was too far to +reach them, and the cook jabbed out with his knife. But the blade +didn't get anywhere near Benton. The cook seemed to be jabbing it +into the air again and again, at least four feet short of the +mark. Then he dropped his right hand, and I saw the whites of his +eyes in the dusk, and he reeled up against the pin-rail, and +caught hold of a belaying-pin with his left. I had reached him by +that time, and grabbed hold of his knife-hand and the other too, +for I thought he was going to use the pin; but Jack Benton was +standing staring stupidly at him, as if he didn't understand. But +instead, the cook was holding on because he couldn't stand, and +his teeth were chattering, and he let go of the knife, and the +point stuck into the deck. + +"He's crazy!" said Jack Benton, and that was all he said; and he +went aft. + +[Illustration: HE LET GO OF THE KNIFE, AND THE POINT STUCK INTO +THE DECK.] + +When he was gone, the cook began to come to, and he spoke quite +low, near my ear. + +"There were two of them! So help me God, there were two of them!" + +I don't know why I didn't take him by the collar, and give him a +good shaking; but I didn't. I just picked up the knife and gave +it to him, and told him to go back to his galley, and not to make +a fool of himself. You see, he hadn't struck at Jack, but at +something he thought he saw, and I knew what it was, and I felt +that same thing, like a lump of ice sliding down my back, that I +felt that night when we were bending the trysail. + +When the men had seen him running aft, they jumped up after him, +but they held off when they saw that I had caught him. By and by, +the man who had spoken to me before told me what had happened. He +was a stocky little chap, with a red head. + +"Well," he said, "there isn't much to tell. Jack Benton had been +eating his supper with the rest of us. He always sits at the +after corner of the table, on the port side. His brother used to +sit at the end, next him. The doctor gave him a thundering big +piece of pie to finish up with, and when he had finished he +didn't stop for a smoke, but went off quick to relieve the wheel. +Just as he had gone, the doctor came in from the galley, and when +he saw Jack's empty plate he stood stock still staring at it; and +we all wondered what was the matter, till we looked at the plate. +There were two forks in it, sir, lying side by side. Then the +doctor grabbed his knife, and flew up through the hatch like a +rocket. The other fork was there all right, Mr. Torkeldsen, for +we all saw it and handled it; and we all had our own. That's all +I know." + +I didn't feel that I wanted to laugh when he told me that story; +but I hoped the old man wouldn't hear it, for I knew he wouldn't +believe it, and no captain that ever sailed likes to have +stories like that going round about his ship. It gives her a bad +name. But that was all anybody ever saw except the cook, and he +isn't the first man who has thought he saw things without having +any drink in him. I think, if the doctor had been weak in the +head as he was afterwards, he might have done something foolish +again, and there might have been serious trouble. But he didn't. +Only, two or three times I saw him looking at Jack Benton in a +queer, scared way, and once I heard him talking to himself. + +"There's two of them! So help me God, there's two of them!" + +He didn't say anything more about asking for his discharge, but I +knew well enough that if he got ashore at the next port we should +never see him again, if he had to leave his kit behind him, and +his money, too. He was scared all through, for good and all; and +he wouldn't be right again till he got another ship. It's no use +to talk to a man when he gets like that, any more than it is to +send a boy to the main truck when he has lost his nerve. + +Jack Benton never spoke of what happened that evening. I don't +know whether he knew about the two forks, or not; or whether he +understood what the trouble was. Whatever he knew from the other +men, he was evidently living under a hard strain. He was quiet +enough, and too quiet; but his face was set, and sometimes it +twitched oddly when he was at the wheel, and he would turn his +head round sharp to look behind him. A man doesn't do that +naturally, unless there's a vessel that he thinks is creeping up +on the quarter. When that happens, if the man at the wheel takes +a pride in his ship, he will almost always keep glancing over his +shoulder to see whether the other fellow is gaining. But Jack +Benton used to look round when there was nothing there; and what +is curious, the other men seemed to catch the trick when they +were steering. One day the old man turned out just as the man at +the wheel looked behind him. + +"What are you looking at?" asked the captain. + +"Nothing, sir," answered the man. + +"Then keep your eye on the mizzen-royal," said the old man, as if +he were forgetting that we weren't a square-rigger. + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the man. + +The captain told me to go below and work up the latitude from the +dead-reckoning, and he went forward of the deck-house and sat +down to read, as he often did. When I came up, the man at the +wheel was looking round again, and I stood beside him and just +asked him quietly what everybody was looking at, for it was +getting to be a general habit. He wouldn't say anything at first, +but just answered that it was nothing. But when he saw that I +didn't seem to care, and just stood there as if there were +nothing more to be said, he naturally began to talk. + +He said that it wasn't that he saw anything, because there wasn't +anything to see except the spanker sheet just straining a little, and +working in the sheaves of the blocks as the schooner rose to the short +seas. There wasn't anything to be seen, but it seemed to him that the +sheet made a queer noise in the blocks. It was a new manilla sheet; and +in dry weather it did make a little noise, something between a creak and +a wheeze. I looked at it and looked at the man, and said nothing; and +presently he went on. He asked me if I didn't notice anything peculiar +about the noise. I listened awhile, and said I didn't notice anything. +Then he looked rather sheepish, but said he didn't think it could be his +own ears, because every man who steered his trick heard the same thing +now and then,--sometimes once in a day, sometimes once in a night, +sometimes it would go on a whole hour. + +"It sounds like sawing wood," I said, just like that. + +"To us it sounds a good deal more like a man whistling 'Nancy +Lee.'" He started nervously as he spoke the last words. "There, +sir, don't you hear it?" he asked suddenly. + +I heard nothing but the creaking of the manilla sheet. It +was getting near noon, and fine, clear weather in southern +waters,--just the sort of day and the time when you would least +expect to feel creepy. But I remembered how I had heard that same +tune overhead at night in a gale of wind a fortnight earlier, +and I am not ashamed to say that the same sensation came over +me now, and I wished myself well out of the _Helen B._, and +aboard of any old cargo-dragger, with a windmill on deck, and an +eighty-nine-forty-eighter for captain, and a fresh leak whenever +it breezed up. + +Little by little during the next few days life on board that +vessel came to be about as unbearable as you can imagine. It +wasn't that there was much talk, for I think the men were shy +even of speaking to each other freely about what they thought. +The whole ship's company grew silent, until one hardly ever heard +a voice, except giving an order and the answer. The men didn't +sit over their meals when their watch was below, but either +turned in at once or sat about on the forecastle smoking their +pipes without saying a word. We were all thinking of the same +thing. We all felt as if there were a hand on board, sometimes +below, sometimes about decks, sometimes aloft, sometimes on the +boom end; taking his full share of what the others got, but doing +no work for it. We didn't only feel it, we knew it. He took up no +room, he cast no shadow, and we never heard his footfall on deck; +but he took his whack with the rest as regular as the bells, +and--he whistled "Nancy Lee." It was like the worst sort of dream +you can imagine; and I dare say a good many of us tried to +believe it was nothing else sometimes, when we stood looking over +the weather rail in fine weather with the breeze in our faces; +but if we happened to turn round and look into each other's eyes, +we knew it was something worse than any dream could be; and we +would turn away from each other with a queer, sick feeling, +wishing that we could just for once see somebody who didn't know +what we knew. + +There's not much more to tell about the _Helen B. Jackson_ so far +as I am concerned. We were more like a shipload of lunatics than +anything else when we ran in under Morro Castle, and anchored in +Havana. The cook had brain fever, and was raving mad in his +delirium; and the rest of the men weren't far from the same +state. The last three or four days had been awful, and we had +been as near to having a mutiny on board as I ever want to be. +The men didn't want to hurt anybody; but they wanted to get away +out of that ship, if they had to swim for it; to get away from +that whistling, from that dead shipmate who had come back, and +who filled the ship with his unseen self. I know that if the old +man and I hadn't kept a sharp lookout the men would have put a +boat over quietly on one of those calm nights, and pulled away, +leaving the captain and me and the mad cook to work the schooner +into harbour. We should have done it somehow, of course, for we +hadn't far to run if we could get a breeze; and once or twice I +found myself wishing that the crew were really gone, for the +awful state of fright in which they lived was beginning to work +on me too. You see I partly believed and partly didn't; but +anyhow I didn't mean to let the thing get the better of me, +whatever it was. I turned crusty, too, and kept the men at work +on all sorts of jobs, and drove them to it until they wished I +was overboard, too. It wasn't that the old man and I were trying +to drive them to desert without their pay, as I am sorry to say +a good many skippers and mates do, even now. Captain Hackstaff +was as straight as a string, and I didn't mean those poor fellows +should be cheated out of a single cent; and I didn't blame them +for wanting to leave the ship, but it seemed to me that the only +chance to keep everybody sane through those last days was to work +the men till they dropped. When they were dead tired they slept a +little, and forgot the thing until they had to tumble up on deck +and face it again. That was a good many years ago. Do you believe +that I can't hear "Nancy Lee" now, without feeling cold down my +back? For I heard it too, now and then, after the man had +explained why he was always looking over his shoulder. Perhaps it +was imagination. I don't know. When I look back it seems to me +that I only remember a long fight against something I couldn't +see, against an appalling presence, against something worse than +cholera or Yellow Jack or the plague--and goodness knows the +mildest of them is bad enough when it breaks out at sea. The men +got as white as chalk, and wouldn't go about decks alone at +night, no matter what I said to them. With the cook raving in +his bunk the forecastle would have been a perfect hell, and +there wasn't a spare cabin on board. There never is on a +fore-and-after. So I put him into mine, and he was more quiet +there, and at last fell into a sort of stupor as if he were going +to die. I don't know what became of him, for we put him ashore +alive and left him in the hospital. + +The men came aft in a body, quiet enough, and asked the captain +if he wouldn't pay them off, and let them go ashore. Some men +wouldn't have done it, for they had shipped for the voyage, and +had signed articles. But the captain knew that when sailors get +an idea into their heads they're no better than children; and if +he forced them to stay aboard he wouldn't get much work out of +them, and couldn't rely on them in a difficulty. So he paid them +off, and let them go. When they had gone forward to get their +kits, he asked me whether I wanted to go too, and for a minute I +had a sort of weak feeling that I might just as well. But I +didn't, and he was a good friend to me afterwards. Perhaps he was +grateful to me for sticking to him. + +When the men went off he didn't come on deck; but it was my duty +to stand by while they left the ship. They owed me a grudge for +making them work during the last few days, and most of them +dropped into the boat without so much as a word or a look, as +sailors will. Jack Benton was the last to go over the side, and +he stood still a minute and looked at me, and his white face +twitched. I thought he wanted to say something. + +"Take care of yourself, Jack," said I. "So long!" + +It seemed as if he couldn't speak for two or three seconds; then +his words came thick. + +"It wasn't my fault, Mr. Torkeldsen. I swear it wasn't my fault!" + +That was all; and he dropped over the side, leaving me to wonder +what he meant. + +The captain and I stayed on board, and the ship-chandler got a +West India boy to cook for us. + +That evening, before turning in, we were standing by the rail +having a quiet smoke, watching the lights of the city, a quarter +of a mile off, reflected in the still water. There was music of +some sort ashore, in a sailors' dance-house, I dare say; and I +had no doubt that most of the men who had left the ship were +there, and already full of jiggy-jiggy. The music played a lot of +sailors' tunes that ran into each other, and we could hear the +men's voices in the chorus now and then. One followed another, +and then it was "Nancy Lee," loud and clear, and the men singing +"Yo-ho, heave-ho!" + +"I have no ear for music," said Captain Hackstaff, "but it +appears to me that's the tune that man was whistling the night we +lost the man overboard. I don't know why it has stuck in my head, +and of course it's all nonsense; but it seems to me that I have +heard it all the rest of the trip." + +I didn't say anything to that, but I wondered just how much the +old man had understood. Then we turned in, and I slept ten hours +without opening my eyes. + +I stuck to the _Helen B. Jackson_ after that as long as I could +stand a fore-and-after; but that night when we lay in Havana was +the last time I ever heard "Nancy Lee" on board of her. The spare +hand had gone ashore with the rest, and he never came back, and +he took his tune with him; but all those things are just as clear +in my memory as if they had happened yesterday. + +After that I was in deep water for a year or more, and after I +came home I got my certificate, and what with having friends and +having saved a little money, and having had a small legacy from +an uncle in Norway, I got the command of a coastwise vessel, with +a small share in her. I was at home three weeks before going to +sea, and Jack Benton saw my name in the local papers, and wrote +to me. + +He said that he had left the sea, and was trying farming, and he +was going to be married, and he asked if I wouldn't come over for +that, for it wasn't more than forty minutes by train; and he and +Mamie would be proud to have me at the wedding. I remembered how +I had heard one brother ask the other whether Mamie knew. That +meant, whether she knew he wanted to marry her, I suppose. She +had taken her time about it, for it was pretty nearly three years +then since we had lost Jim Benton overboard. + +I had nothing particular to do while we were getting ready for +sea; nothing to prevent me from going over for a day, I mean; +and I thought I'd like to see Jack Benton, and have a look at the +girl he was going to marry. I wondered whether he had grown +cheerful again, and had got rid of that drawn look he had when he +told me it wasn't his fault. How could it have been his fault, +anyhow? So I wrote to Jack that I would come down and see him +married; and when the day came I took the train, and got there +about ten o'clock in the morning. I wish I hadn't. Jack met me at +the station, and he told me that the wedding was to be late in +the afternoon, and that they weren't going off on any silly +wedding trip, he and Mamie, but were just going to walk home from +her mother's house to his cottage. That was good enough for him, +he said. I looked at him hard for a minute after we met. When we +had parted I had a sort of idea that he might take to drink, but +he hadn't. He looked very respectable and well-to-do in his black +coat and high city collar; but he was thinner and bonier than +when I had known him, and there were lines in his face, and I +thought his eyes had a queer look in them, half shifty, half +scared. He needn't have been afraid of me, for I didn't mean to +talk to his bride about the _Helen B. Jackson_. + +He took me to his cottage first, and I could see that he was +proud of it. It wasn't above a cable's-length from high-water +mark, but the tide was running out, and there was already a broad +stretch of hard wet sand on the other side of the beach road. +Jack's bit of land ran back behind the cottage about a quarter of +a mile, and he said that some of the trees we saw were his. The +fences were neat and well kept, and there was a fair-sized barn a +little way from the cottage, and I saw some nice-looking cattle +in the meadows; but it didn't look to me to be much of a farm, +and I thought that before long Jack would have to leave his wife +to take care of it, and go to sea again. But I said it was a nice +farm, so as to seem pleasant, and as I don't know much about +these things I dare say it was, all the same. I never saw it but +that once. Jack told me that he and his brother had been born in +the cottage, and that when their father and mother died they +leased the land to Mamie's father, but had kept the cottage to +live in when they came home from sea for a spell. It was as neat +a little place as you would care to see: the floors as clean as +the decks of a yacht, and the paint as fresh as a man-o'-war. +Jack always was a good painter. There was a nice parlour on the +ground floor, and Jack had papered it and had hung the walls with +photographs of ships and foreign ports, and with things he had +brought home from his voyages: a boomerang, a South Sea club, +Japanese straw hats and a Gibraltar fan with a bull-fight on it, +and all that sort of gear. It looked to me as if Miss Mamie had +taken a hand in arranging it. There was a bran-new polished iron +Franklin stove set into the old fireplace, and a red table-cloth +from Alexandria, embroidered with those outlandish Egyptian +letters. It was all as bright and homelike as possible, and he +showed me everything, and was proud of everything, and I liked +him the better for it. But I wished that his voice would sound +more cheerful, as it did when we first sailed in the _Helen B._, +and that the drawn look would go out of his face for a minute. +Jack showed me everything, and took me upstairs, and it was all +the same: bright and fresh and ready for the bride. But on the +upper landing there was a door that Jack didn't open. When we +came out of the bedroom I noticed that it was ajar, and Jack shut +it quickly and turned the key. + +"That lock's no good," he said, half to himself. "The door is +always open." + +I didn't pay much attention to what he said, but as we went down +the short stairs, freshly painted and varnished so that I was +almost afraid to step on them, he spoke again. + +"That was his room, sir. I have made a sort of store-room of it." + +"You may be wanting it in a year or so," I said, wishing to be +pleasant. + +"I guess we won't use his room for that," Jack answered in a low +voice. + +Then he offered me a cigar from a fresh box in the parlour, and +he took one, and we lit them, and went out; and as we opened the +front door there was Mamie Brewster standing in the path as if +she were waiting for us. She was a fine-looking girl, and I +didn't wonder that Jack had been willing to wait three years for +her. I could see that she hadn't been brought up on steam-heat +and cold storage, but had grown into a woman by the sea-shore. +She had brown eyes, and fine brown hair, and a good figure. + +"This is Captain Torkeldsen," said Jack. "This is Miss Brewster, +captain; and she is glad to see you." + +"Well, I am," said Miss Mamie, "for Jack has often talked to us +about you, captain." + +She put out her hand, and took mine and shook it heartily, and I +suppose I said something, but I know I didn't say much. + +The front door of the cottage looked toward the sea, and there +was a straight path leading to the gate on the beach road. There +was another path from the steps of the cottage that turned to the +right, broad enough for two people to walk easily, and it led +straight across the fields through gates to a larger house about +a quarter of a mile away. That was where Mamie's mother lived, +and the wedding was to be there. Jack asked me whether I would +like to look round the farm before dinner, but I told him I +didn't know much about farms. Then he said he just wanted to look +round himself a bit, as he mightn't have much more chance that +day; and he smiled, and Mamie laughed. + +"Show the captain the way to the house, Mamie," he said. "I'll +be along in a minute." + +So Mamie and I began to walk along the path, and Jack went up +toward the barn. + +"It was sweet of you to come, captain," Miss Mamie began, "for I +have always wanted to see you." + +"Yes," I said, expecting something more. + +"You see, I always knew them both," she went on. "They used to +take me out in a dory to catch codfish when I was a little girl, +and I liked them both," she added thoughtfully. "Jack doesn't +care to talk about his brother now. That's natural. But you won't +mind telling me how it happened, will you? I should so much like +to know." + +Well, I told her about the voyage and what happened that night +when we fell in with a gale of wind, and that it hadn't been +anybody's fault, for I wasn't going to admit that it was my old +captain's, if it was. But I didn't tell her anything about what +happened afterwards. As she didn't speak, I just went on talking +about the two brothers, and how like they had been, and how when +poor Jim was drowned and Jack was left, I took Jack for him. I +told her that none of us had ever been sure which was which. + +"I wasn't always sure myself," she said, "unless they were +together. Leastways, not for a day or two after they came home +from sea. And now it seems to me that Jack is more like poor Jim, +as I remember him, than he ever was, for Jim was always more +quiet, as if he were thinking." + +I told her I thought so, too. We passed the gate and went into +the next field, walking side by side. Then she turned her head to +look for Jack, but he wasn't in sight. I sha'n't forget what she +said next. + +"Are you sure now?" she asked. + +I stood stock-still, and she went on a step, and then turned and +looked at me. We must have looked at each other while you could +count five or six. + +"I know it's silly," she went on, "it's silly, and it's awful, +too, and I have got no right to think it, but sometimes I can't +help it. You see it was always Jack I meant to marry." + +"Yes," I said stupidly, "I suppose so." + +She waited a minute, and began walking on slowly before she went +on again. + +"I am talking to you as if you were an old friend, captain, and I +have only known you five minutes. It was Jack I meant to marry, +but now he is so like the other one." + +When a woman gets a wrong idea into her head, there is only one +way to make her tired of it, and that is to agree with her. +That's what I did, and she went on talking the same way for a +little while, and I kept on agreeing and agreeing until she +turned round on me. + +"You know you don't believe what you say," she said, and +laughed. "You know that Jack is Jack, right enough; and it's Jack +I am going to marry." + +Of course I said so, for I didn't care whether she thought me a +weak creature or not. I wasn't going to say a word that could +interfere with her happiness, and I didn't intend to go back on +Jack Benton; but I remembered what he had said when he left the +ship in Havana: that it wasn't his fault. + +"All the same," Miss Mamie went on, as a woman will, without +realising what she was saying, "all the same, I wish I had seen +it happen. Then I should know." + +Next minute she knew that she didn't mean that, and was afraid +that I would think her heartless, and began to explain that she +would really rather have died herself than have seen poor Jim go +overboard. Women haven't got much sense, anyhow. All the same, I +wondered how she could marry Jack if she had a doubt that he +might be Jim after all. I suppose she had really got used to him +since he had given up the sea and had stayed ashore, and she +cared for him. + +Before long we heard Jack coming up behind us, for we had walked +very slowly to wait for him. + +"Promise not to tell anybody what I said, captain," said Mamie, +as girls do as soon as they have told their secrets. + +Anyhow, I know I never did tell any one but you. This is the +first time I have talked of all that, the first time since I took +the train from that place. I am not going to tell you all about +the day. Miss Mamie introduced me to her mother, who was a quiet, +hard-faced old New England farmer's widow, and to her cousins and +relations; and there were plenty of them too at dinner, and there +was the parson besides. He was what they call a Hard-shell +Baptist in those parts, with a long, shaven upper lip and a +whacking appetite, and a sort of superior look, as if he didn't +expect to see many of us hereafter--the way a New York pilot +looks round, and orders things about when he boards an Italian +cargo-dragger, as if the ship weren't up to much anyway, though +it was his business to see that she didn't get aground. That's +the way a good many parsons look, I think. He said grace as if he +were ordering the men to sheet home the topgallant-sail and get +the helm up. After dinner we went out on the piazza, for it was +warm autumn weather; and the young folks went off in pairs along +the beach road, and the tide had turned and was beginning to come +in. The morning had been clear and fine, but by four o'clock it +began to look like a fog, and the damp came up out of the sea and +settled on everything. Jack said he'd go down to his cottage and +have a last look, for the wedding was to be at five o'clock, or +soon after, and he wanted to light the lights, so as to have +things look cheerful. + +"I will just take a last look," he said again, as we reached the +house. We went in, and he offered me another cigar, and I lit it +and sat down in the parlour. I could hear him moving about, first +in the kitchen and then upstairs, and then I heard him in the +kitchen again; and then before I knew anything I heard somebody +moving upstairs again. I knew he couldn't have got up those +stairs as quick as that. He came into the parlour, and he took a +cigar himself, and while he was lighting it I heard those steps +again overhead. His hand shook, and he dropped the match. + +"Have you got in somebody to help?" I asked. + +"No," Jack answered sharply, and struck another match. + +"There's somebody upstairs, Jack," I said. "Don't you hear +footsteps?" + +"It's the wind, captain," Jack answered; but I could see he was +trembling. + +"That isn't any wind, Jack," I said; "it's still and foggy. I'm +sure there's somebody upstairs." + +"If you are so sure of it, you'd better go and see for yourself, +captain," Jack answered, almost angrily. + +He was angry because he was frightened. I left him before the +fireplace, and went upstairs. There was no power on earth that +could make me believe I hadn't heard a man's footsteps overhead. +I knew there was somebody there. But there wasn't. I went into +the bedroom, and it was all quiet, and the evening light was +streaming in, reddish through the foggy air; and I went out on +the landing and looked in the little back room that was meant for +a servant girl or a child. And as I came back again I saw that +the door of the other room was wide open, though I knew Jack had +locked it. He had said the lock was no good. I looked in. It was +a room as big as the bedroom, but almost dark, for it had +shutters, and they were closed. There was a musty smell, as of +old gear, and I could make out that the floor was littered with +sea chests, and that there were oilskins and stuff piled on the +bed. But I still believed that there was somebody upstairs, and I +went in and struck a match and looked round. I could see the four +walls and the shabby old paper, an iron bed and a cracked +looking-glass, and the stuff on the floor. But there was nobody +there. So I put out the match, and came out and shut the door and +turned the key. Now, what I am telling you is the truth. When I +had turned the key, I heard footsteps walking away from the door +inside the room. Then I felt queer for a minute, and when I went +downstairs I looked behind me, as the men at the wheel used to +look behind them on board the _Helen B._ + +Jack was already outside on the steps, smoking. I have an idea +that he didn't like to stay inside alone. + +"Well?" he asked, trying to seem careless. + +"I didn't find anybody," I answered, "but I heard somebody moving +about." "I told you it was the wind," said Jack, contemptuously. +"I ought to know, for I live here, and I hear it often." + +There was nothing to be said to that, so we began to walk down +toward the beach. Jack said there wasn't any hurry, as it would +take Miss Mamie some time to dress for the wedding. So we +strolled along, and the sun was setting through the fog, and the +tide was coming in. I knew the moon was full, and that when she +rose the fog would roll away from the land, as it does sometimes. +I felt that Jack didn't like my having heard that noise, so I +talked of other things, and asked him about his prospects, and +before long we were chatting as pleasantly as possible. + +I haven't been at many weddings in my life, and I don't suppose +you have, but that one seemed to me to be all right until it was +pretty near over; and then, I don't know whether it was part of +the ceremony or not, but Jack put out his hand and took Mamie's +and held it a minute, and looked at her, while the parson was +still speaking. + +Mamie turned as white as a sheet and screamed. It wasn't a loud +scream, but just a sort of stifled little shriek, as if she were +half frightened to death; and the parson stopped, and asked her +what was the matter, and the family gathered round. + +"Your hand's like ice," said Mamie to Jack, "and it's all wet!" + +She kept looking at it, as she got hold of herself again. + +"It don't feel cold to me," said Jack, and he held the back of +his hand against his cheek. "Try it again." + +Mamie held out hers, and touched the back of his hand, timidly at +first, and then took hold of it. + +"Why, that's funny," she said. + +"She's been as nervous as a witch all day," said Mrs. Brewster, +severely. + +"It is natural," said the parson, "that young Mrs. Benton should +experience a little agitation at such a moment." + +Most of the bride's relations lived at a distance, and were busy +people, so it had been arranged that the dinner we'd had in the +middle of the day was to take the place of a dinner afterwards, +and that we should just have a bite after the wedding was over, +and then that everybody should go home, and the young couple +would walk down to the cottage by themselves. When I looked out I +could see the light burning brightly in Jack's cottage, a quarter +of a mile away. I said I didn't think I could get any train to +take me back before half-past nine, but Mrs. Brewster begged me +to stay until it was time, as she said her daughter would want to +take off her wedding dress before she went home; for she had put +on something white with a wreath, that was very pretty, and she +couldn't walk home like that, could she? + +So when we had all had a little supper the party began to break +up, and when they were all gone Mrs. Brewster and Mamie went +upstairs, and Jack and I went out on the piazza, to have a +smoke, as the old lady didn't like tobacco in the house. + +The full moon had risen now, and it was behind me as I looked +down toward Jack's cottage, so that everything was clear and +white, and there was only the light burning in the window. The +fog had rolled down to the water's edge, and a little beyond, for +the tide was high, or nearly, and was lapping up over the last +reach of sand, within fifty feet of the beach road. + +Jack didn't say much as we sat smoking, but he thanked me for +coming to his wedding, and I told him I hoped he would be happy; +and so I did. I dare say both of us were thinking of those +footsteps upstairs, just then, and that the house wouldn't seem +so lonely with a woman in it. By and by we heard Mamie's voice +talking to her mother on the stairs, and in a minute she was +ready to go. She had put on again the dress she had worn in the +morning, and it looked black at night, almost as black as Jack's +coat. + +Well, they were ready to go now. It was all very quiet after the +day's excitement, and I knew they would like to walk down that +path alone now that they were man and wife at last. I bade them +good-night, although Jack made a show of pressing me to go with +them by the path as far as the cottage, instead of going to the +station by the beach road. It was all very quiet, and it seemed +to me a sensible way of getting married; and when Mamie kissed +her mother good-night I just looked the other way, and knocked my +ashes over the rail of the piazza. So they started down the +straight path to Jack's cottage, and I waited a minute with Mrs. +Brewster, looking after them, before taking my hat to go. They +walked side by side, a little shyly at first, and then I saw Jack +put his arm round her waist. As I looked he was on her left, and +I saw the outline of the two figures very distinctly against the +moonlight on the path; and the shadow on Mamie's right was broad +and black as ink, and it moved along, lengthening and shortening +with the unevenness of the ground beside the path. + +I thanked Mrs. Brewster, and bade her good-night; and though she +was a hard New England woman her voice trembled a little as she +answered, but being a sensible person she went in and shut the +door behind her as I stepped out on the path. I looked after the +couple in the distance a last time, meaning to go down to the +road, so as not to overtake them; but when I had made a few steps +I stopped and looked again, for I knew I had seen something +queer, though I had only realised it afterwards. I looked again, +and it was plain enough now; and I stood stock-still, staring at +what I saw. Mamie was walking between two men. The second man was +just the same height as Jack, both being about a half a head +taller than she; Jack on her left in his black tail-coat and +round hat, and the other man on her right--well, he was a +sailor-man in wet oilskins. I could see the moonlight shining on +the water that ran down him, and on the little puddle that had +settled where the flap of his sou'wester was turned up behind: +and one of his wet, shiny arms was round Mamie's waist, just +above Jack's. I was fast to the spot where I stood, and for a +minute I thought I was crazy. We'd had nothing but some cider for +dinner, and tea in the evening, otherwise I'd have thought +something had got into my head, though I was never drunk in my +life. It was more like a bad dream after that. + +I was glad Mrs. Brewster had gone in. As for me, I couldn't help +following the three, in a sort of wonder to see what would +happen, to see whether the sailor-man in his wet togs would just +melt away into the moonshine. But he didn't. + +[Illustration: ONE OF HIS WET, SHINY ARMS WAS ROUND MAMIE'S WAIST.] + +I moved slowly, and I remembered afterwards that I walked on the +grass, instead of on the path, as if I were afraid they might +hear me coming. I suppose it all happened in less than five +minutes after that, but it seemed as if it must have taken an +hour. Neither Jack nor Mamie seemed to notice the sailor. She +didn't seem to know that his wet arm was round her, and little by +little they got near the cottage, and I wasn't a hundred yards +from them when they reached the door. Something made me stand +still then. Perhaps it was fright, for I saw everything that +happened just as I see you now. + +Mamie set her foot on the step to go up, and as she went forward +I saw the sailor slowly lock his arm in Jack's, and Jack didn't +move to go up. Then Mamie turned round on the step, and they all +three stood that way for a second or two. She cried out then,--I +heard a man cry like that once, when his arm was taken off by a +steam-crane,--and she fell back in a heap on the little piazza. + +I tried to jump forward, but I couldn't move, and I felt my hair +rising under my hat. The sailor turned slowly where he stood, and +swung Jack round by the arm steadily and easily, and began to +walk him down the pathway from the house. He walked him straight +down that path, as steadily as Fate; and all the time I saw the +moonlight shining on his wet oilskins. He walked him through the +gate, and across the beach road, and out upon the wet sand, where +the tide was high. Then I got my breath with a gulp, and ran for +them across the grass, and vaulted over the fence, and stumbled +across the road. But when I felt the sand under my feet, the two +were at the water's edge; and when I reached the water they were +far out, and up to their waists; and I saw that Jack Benton's +head had fallen forward on his breast, and his free arm hung limp +beside him, while his dead brother steadily marched him to his +death. The moonlight was on the dark water, but the fog-bank was +white beyond, and I saw them against it; and they went slowly and +steadily down. The water was up to their armpits, and then up to +their shoulders, and then I saw it rise up to the black rim of +Jack's hat. But they never wavered; and the two heads went +straight on, straight on, till they were under, and there was +just a ripple in the moonlight where Jack had been. + +It has been on my mind to tell you that story, whenever I got a +chance. You have known me, man and boy, a good many years; and I +thought I would like to hear your opinion. Yes, that's what I +always thought. It wasn't Jim that went overboard; it was Jack, +and Jim just let him go when he might have saved him; and then +Jim passed himself off for Jack with us, and with the girl. If +that's what happened, he got what he deserved. People said the +next day that Mamie found it out as they reached the house, and +that her husband just walked out into the sea, and drowned +himself; and they would have blamed me for not stopping him if +they'd known that I was there. But I never told what I had seen, +for they wouldn't have believed me. I just let them think I had +come too late. + +When I reached the cottage and lifted Mamie up, she was raving +mad. She got better afterwards, but she was never right in her +head again. + +Oh, you want to know if they found Jack's body? I don't know +whether it was his, but I read in a paper at a Southern port +where I was with my new ship that two dead bodies had come ashore +in a gale down East, in pretty bad shape. They were locked +together, and one was a skeleton in oilskins. + + + * * * * * + + + Francis Marion Crawford, the youngest of the four + children of the well-known sculptor Thomas Crawford, + was born in Rome, educated by a French governess; + then at St Paul's School, Concord, N.H.; in the + quiet country village of Hatfield Regis, under an + English tutor; at Trinity College, Cambridge, where + they thought him a mathematician in those days; at + Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, and at the University of + Rome, where a special interest in Oriental languages + sent him to India with the idea of preparing for a + professorship. + + At one time in India hard times nearly forced him + into enlistment in the British army, but a chance + opening sent him as editor of the _Indian Herald_ to + Allahabad. It was during the next eighteen months + that he met at Simla the hero of his first novel, + "Mr. Isaacs." "If it had not been for him," Mr. + Crawford has been known to say, "I might at this + moment be a professor of Sanskrit in some American + college;" for that idea persisted after his return + to the United States, where he entered Harvard for + special study of the subject. + + But from the May evening when the story of the + interesting man at Simla was first told in a club + smoking-room overlooking Madison Square, Mr. Crawford's + life has been one of hard literary work. He returned to + Italy in 1883, spent most of the next year in + Constantinople, where he was married to a daughter + of General Berdan. From 1885 he has made his home in + Sorrento, Italy, visiting America at intervals. + + "Mr. Isaacs," published in 1882, was followed almost + at once by "Dr. Claudius." Then _The Atlantic + Monthly_ claimed a serial, "A Roman Singer," in + 1883. Since that time the list of his novels has + been increased to thirty-two, besides the historical + and descriptive works entitled "Ave Roma Immortalis" + and "The Rulers of the South." + + To Mr. Crawford, the development of a story and of + the character which suggested it, is the preeminent + thing. As the critics say:-- + + "He is an artist, a born story-teller and + colourist, imaginative and dramatic, virile and + vivid." + + His wide range as a traveller has contributed doubtless + to another characteristic quality:-- + + "... his strength in unexcelled portraits of odd + characters and his magical skill in seeming to make + his readers witnesses of the spectacles." + + His intimate knowledge of many countries has resulted in + an unequalled series of brilliant romances, including + varied characters from the old families of Rome, the + glassblowers of Venice, the silversmiths of Rome, the + cigarette makers of Munich, the court of old Madrid, the + Turks of Stamboul and the Bosphorus, simple sailors on the + coast of Spain, Americans of modern New York and Bar Harbor, + to Crusaders of the twelfth century. But whether the scene + be in modern India, rural England, the Black Forest, or the + palaces of Babylon, the story seizes on the imagination and + fascinates the reader. + + "The romantic reader will find here a tale of love + passionate and pure; the student of character, the + subtle analysis and deft portrayal he loves; the + historian will approve its conscientious historic + accuracy; the lover of adventure will find his + blood stir and pulses quicken as he reads." + + * * * * * + + + + THE NOVELS OF + F. MARION CRAWFORD + + NEW UNIFORM EDITION + + Dr. Claudius + A Roman Singer + Zoroaster + Don Orsino + Marion Darche + A Cigarette Maker's Romance and Khaled + Taquisara + Via Crucis + Sant' Ilario + The Ralstons + Adam Johnstone's Son and A Rose of Yesterday + Mr. Isaacs + A Tale of a Lonely Parish + Saracinesca + Paul Patoff + The Witch of Prague + Pietro Ghisleri + Corleone + Children of the King + Katherine Lauderdale + To Leeward + + Each, bound in cloth, green and gold, $1.80 + + * * * * * + + _In preparation in the Uniform Edition_ + + An American Politician + Marzio's Crucifix + With the Immortals + Greifenstein + The Three Fates + Casa Braccio. 2 vols. + Love in Idleness + + * * * * * + + F. MARION CRAWFORD'S + MOST RECENT NOVELS + + CECILIA: A Story of Modern Rome + _Cloth_, $1.50 + "The reincarnation of a great love + is the real story, and that is well worth + reading."--_San Francisco Chronicle._ + + MARIETTA: A Maid of Venice + _Cloth_, $1.50 + + IN THE PALACE OF THE KING + A Love Story of Old Madrid + _Illustrated, Cloth_, $1.50 + + * * * * * + + HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIVE BOOKS + + AVE ROMA IMMORTALIS + Studies from the Chronicles of Rome + _New edition. Revised. _x_ + 613 pp. 8vo. $3.00, net._ + + RULERS OF THE SOUTH + Sicily, Calabria, Malta + _In two volumes. Crown 8vo. $6.00, net._ + + * * * * * + + The Macmillan Little Novels + BY FAVOURITE AUTHORS + + Handsomely Bound in Decorated Cloth + 16mo. 50 cents each + + PHILOSOPHY FOUR + A STORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY + By Owen Wister + Author of "The Virginian" etc. + + MAN OVERBOARD + By F. Marion Crawford + Author of "Cecilia," "Marietta," etc. + + MR. KEEGAN'S ELOPEMENT + By Winston Churchill + Author of "The Crisis," "Richard Carvel," etc. + + MRS. PENDLETON'S FOUR-IN-HAND + By Gertrude Atherton + Author of "The Conqueror," "The Splendid Idle + Forties," etc. + + * * * * * + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Man Overboard!, by F(rancis) Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAN OVERBOARD! *** + +***** This file should be named 24584.txt or 24584.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/8/24584/ + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Roberta Staehlin, Grinnell +College Library and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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