fellows, who feared neither ghosts nor devils; but it was impossible they could hold out so for ever, you know; and as the weather continued still in the same unsettled way, they soon began to fag and fall off, through sheer want of sleep and hard work. 66 They were in this hard-up and dreary way one dismal, rainy, and squally night, and the few hands that would work, after making the old hooker as snug as they could, had just thrown themselves on the deck, under a tarpauling, in order to snatch a momentary repose, when the mate of the watch was roused to attention by a strange, hollow, and uncommon harsh voice, singing out from the main top On deck, there! Now, you must know, my lads, that this same mate was none of your shilly-shally shorebred fellows who start at mere trifles, but a regular thorough-bred sea-goer, and had besides the character of having as bold a heart and as sound a head as ever the port of Liverpool produced; but what argulfies all that, when one's taken by surprise-and so, d'ye see, whether or not the ghost story had come into his head, I'll not say, thof it's likely enough; but he were just standing firmly gazing on the top, waiting to see whether the bright sheets of lightning, which ever and anon were streaming athwart the horizon, would let him see who it was that were thus bawling before he would answer, when the same voice sung out a second time, On deck, there! still louder than before. He immediately roused his watch-mates, and had just begun to tell them the story, when all hands were astounded with horror, with hearing On deck, there! bawled out a third time in a most thundering manner. 'What do you want?' cried the man at the wheel; when he was answered with a peal of the wildest and loudest laughter arising in the top, which seemed to sail away and die in the breeze. As soon as they recovered themselves from the fright, for they neither heard nor saw anything more that night, they mustered their hands, and found all present, excepting the Captain, who had stowed himself away below. "Well, my lads, you needn't fear but all this here story was fully and faithfully conned over to all hands by those who kept the watch; and if things were bad before, you may swear that it made them no better; every soul being now convinced that the ghost of Morelle haunted the ship, and the devil of it was, no one either had the pluck to speak to it, or knew how to get rid on't. Some stout hearts there were, indeed, who seemed to think the story all a bamm, and even volunteered to go and sit in the top until the ghost made its appearance; but, avast there, the nearer the time approached, the more their courage gave way, and the watch were jeering the arrival of the last of these bravaders on deck, when the old thundering voice sung out as usual, On deck, there! "Blast my eyes and limbs!' cried a forecastleman, jumping to the rigging, but I'll see this same bawler, be he the devil himself; though I strongly suspect that 'tis some frolicsome whoreson making game of us all the time. Hark'ee, maties, keep a bright eye on the lee rigging there, that no one slides down, while I go aloft and examine the top.' He had just begun to ascend the rigging, when the same wild and awfully loud voice sung out a second time, On deck, there! 6 Ay, ay,' replied the undaunted forecastleman, redoubling his speed, I'll be with you directly, my hearty; and if you're what I suspect you to be, the devil a rope's end in the hooker shall be heavy enough to lace your shoulders with.' "He had now got his head barely above the top rim, and what he saw, Heaven only knows; but with the eyes of all the watch anxiously fixed upon him, he gave a dreadful scream of horror, let go his hold, and rolled right overboard,-while, for the third time, On deck, there! resounded in all their ears, succeeded as before with the same wild laughter, mingled with shrieks and groans. Heaven have mercy upon us!' cried the mate, as the awful sounds died away, ' for this is no fool's trick.' "The melancholy fate of this brave lad, who was beloved by all hands, entirely put an end to all duty and subordination; so that the following day, the never a he of them all would enter the main-top, even in day-light, without the Captain, or some one of his mates along with them; and when night came on, it was only by the Captain assuring them that he would keep the first and middle watches himself, that he could contrive to muster a suf ficient number to agree to keep it along with him. Accordingly, Captain Oram, accompanied by Madame Morelle, kept the deck the whole of the first watch, during which everything was quiet and orderly. Eight bells were struck and gone, and he was just standing before her, at the top of the companion, advising her to go below, as the dew was beginning to be cold and chilly, when the whole deck again resounded with the usual cry of On deck, there! which, whether it were the sound of that wild voice, or the sudden shock, seemed completely to paralyze all the powers of Madame Morelle, who immediately gave a loud shriek, and fell back into the arms of a female negress, her attendant, in a faint. As for Oram, he seemed to get rank raving mad on the instant; for leaving his wench to look after herself, he sprung forward, and with eyes flashing fury on the top, he sung out, Hilloah! "By the Lord, lads, he hadn't to wait for an answer. "Stand from under! was the terrible response. "Let fall and be d-d! cried the intrepid Oram, and immediately a Bread Bag was precipitated to the deck, streaming in blood, the mouth of which bursting open, a human head rolled out, and lay at his feet, which all the watch could recognize as that of the unfortunate Morelle. Oram gazed at the mangled remains for an instant, with a countenance in which horror, desperation, and madness, were strongly depicted, then cried, Hell and the devil! are you there again ?Away, away, blast you! away, and be food to the first shark that meets you! In saying which, he first made the ghastly head spin from his kick like a foot-ball, then clutched like a fury on the Bloody Bread-Bag, and, with a strength almost supernatural, made it fly over the lee gangway. He now ran aft to where the doctor and some others were assisting the recovery of Madame Morelle, roaring out, Anabell, my dear wench, I have given him a passage again, and he'll bother us no more-What! is she dead-fairly stone dead? Have I done all for this-Have I committed murder, and thrown my hopes of Heaven at my heels for nought! -then die, Jerry, die, and be'-and he instantly fell flat on the deck, in a state of complete insensibility. They were both taken below; a fever was the consequence and before they recovered, the Benjamin arrived at her port, and Oliver was one of the first to leave her. 2 "Now, my lads, pray what d'ye think of my old ship-mate's story? wouldn't it convince any fellow of any sense at all, that murder will not hide on ship-board, and that the ghost will never cease to haunt and flipper round the body, until it has got Christian burial? What say you, Davis, eh? for I see you are smuggling a laugh, and be d―d to you.” Nothing was ever more true; for Edward having hitherto succeeded with great difficulty in restraining his risible faculties, no sooner received this half good-humoured interrogation, than his mirth overleaped all bounds, and he now laughed away so heartily and so highly to the satisfaction of the mirth-loving Mahony, that he instantly joined in the chorus, to the infinite astonishment of the chagrined storyteller. "There it is, now-dang it, I were sartain of it!"-exclaimed the angry Lyson, his eyes fixed furiously on the merry muscles of the laughing pair;"I'll warrant me, they don't believe a single word on all I've said, mates, thof I've told them I were told it by ould Oliver, and have both heard it read it in a printed book, and sung in a ballad, such as we gets from the shore at Portsmouth and the Nore, you know.-As for you, Denny, I'd have thought better on you, than to have sneered so lustily at what I've heard you say a hundred times, you firmly believed; but as for Davis, there, I an't surprised at him in the least; for it's always the way with your d-d saucy landlubber pen-andink swabs, that they are so cursedly conceited,-they're for ever thinking the ne'er a one is up to anything but themselves. But avast there, my hearts! Master Davis may come cheery to Bill Lyson for the next story he tells him, that's all." Both Edward and Dennis, perfectly aware that they had gone rather too far, were now at some pains to mollify and sooth down the irritated feelings of the credulous old man; in which task, Mahony, by a dexterous application of the real native blarney, succeeded so wonderfully, that it was not long before a smile began to curl his thin cheek, and he heard Edward's praises of his story with some seeming satisfaction. "But after all, Lyson, I must say," concluded our hero, "that I think your story rather incomplete,-pray what became of Madame Morelle, as you call her? for, as for the Captain, you know, you already told us he died raving mad." Ay, my lad, mad as a March hare, as they say a-shore. But, in faith, what became of his fancy-wench, is more than I ever heard say; thof I'd naturally suppose as how her father would take her home again." "I'd as naturally supposed, Lyson," cried a listener, 66 as how they'd both been hung." "Pshaw, pshaw, Master Simpleton, you fly wide of the mark. Hung, quotha! For sartain, my lad, you're thinking of Old England, when you bundle in your Jack of the Halter so readily; since, in those days, who ever heard of a Planter's daughter being hung for murder in the West Indies, or a slave Captain either. Why, you silly fool, doesn't know that they could do in that there quarter what they pleased?" "So it would appear," rejoined a third, shrugging up his shoulders, " and the more is the pity, I say-for they both, to my mind, richly deserved it; particularly that petticoated she-hyæna, who was the 'casion of all, D-n me, but I'd shut her up with a deck load of monkeys, who'd have fondled her to death.' The discourse was here most disa- . greeably interrupted by the bell toll-ing eight, backed with the boatswain's mate's pipe, and lusty call of All the larboard watch, a-hoy! who immediately hurrying below, and bawling out in gruff and bitter accents, D'ye hear there, larbolians, up on deck, up on deck, all of you"-speedily dispersed these visionaries and their crowded assemblies. CHAPTER IX. "Say, shall I sing of a war-ship's humbugging, THE watch was no sooner on deck, and the usual process of muster over, than Edward, with a curiosity peculiar to his character, would have immediately proceeded to obtain a view of the corpse of the unfortunate Zamba, had he not met with an opposition which both mortified and surprised him. He had no difficulty in discovering that it was deposited under the boats on the booms, for there two large and well-blacked tarpaulins having been thrown right across, the ends hung down in sombre sadness on the deck, and as effectually precluded the smallest glimpse of the little body, as if it had already reached the bottom of the ocean. To raise these substantial hangings, so far as to be able to gratify his curiosity, was matter of no trifling consequence, as it would infallibly have given great offence to a body of men, who, it was impossible for him not to see, both by their general gloom and evident repugnance to approach a spot so carefully enclosed throughout the whole watch, as well as by the many frightful and ridiculous stories, which were liberally 66 whispered forth in every corner, were in no fit humour to be trifled with. In this dilemma, he resolved to consult with his new friend and instructor Dennis Mahony, who heard him to an end in unusual silence, and then replied, with great seriousness, “ I'll tell you what it is, Ned, and I hope you'll think your Dennis the devil an inch the bigger coward for it, I wouldn't go for to raise that there tarpauling, and so be after disturbing the dead, d'ye see, no! not for a mount of money, as big, by the hokey, as the ould Hill of Howth. No, no, Davis, my darling! I like you well enough, sure now, and I own it; but, thanks to good ould Father Daniel, who, Lord love him, larnt me my letters before I could spake, I like ould Mother Church a trifle or so better, my dear. Bubbaboo! will you belay now," continued he, clapping his bulky hand coaxingly on Edward's mouth, "for the devil a word more will I hear on the subject. What! you wouldn't, sure, have Dennis guilty of that terrible thing-what d'ye call it again?-sacrilege?-Murder and wounds! but your Scotch re ligion must be a curious one, if it's any at all, at all, that allows you to be after going so coolly and needlessly about disturbing the dead, sure." Dennis was evidently too serious in all this, for Edward any farther to press the subject; and he therefore amused himself in listening in silence to the various marvels with which every obscure corner abounded. In defiance, however, of the most dismal presages, the night proved one of uncommon beauty; the silver moon shone with peculiar brilliancy on the gentle ripple of the dark blue ocean; and such a resplendent galaxy of glory twinkled all o'er the face of the clear and unclouded heavens, as had the happiest effects in composing the mind. to the most delightful serenity; and the period of the watch thus pleasingly stole away without any of those supernatural appearances, or dire mishaps, so confidently predicted, and so minutely described. Next morning, immediately after divisions, had been appointed for the funeral-which proved to be a matter of infinite brevity and great simplicity. Captain Switchem appeared on deck in a mourning scarf and sword, followed by his officers and Mr Fudgeforit, who carried a splendidly bound Prayer-book under his arm: and all hands being summoned to the lee gangway, he immediately commenced operations, by prefacing the service of the dead with a few pithy and rather sarcastic observations on the heedlessness, stupidity, and other bright qualities of the living. Meanwhile, four boys having slowly advanced with a grating, on which the corpse lay extended, firmly sewed up in its ham mock, (the operating needles being thrust transversely through its nose)and having taken up a position, with it at their feet, on each side of an open port-hole, which had been cleared for the purpose, he immediately doffed his hat, followed by all hands, opened the Prayer-book, and began the Churchservice in a tone of voice at once grave and dignified, until, coming to the words expressive of committing the body to the deep, the four boys immediately gradually elevated one end of the grating, when the weight of the shots enclosed under the feet of the corpse, hurried it off into the ocean, where it disappeared in a twinkling. Having thus finished the service with . infinite decorum, Captain Switchem had shut the Prayer-book, had handed it to his bowing secretary, and had once more begun to descant, with his usual acrimony, on the excessive carelessness, and slovenly, bustling manner in which the work was gone through by all hands-to which causes he very adroitly imputed the boy's death and the total want of that steady coolness, order, and dexterity, which he had ever been accustomed to, and which he was still determined to enforce, when the swelling current of his caustic elocution was rudely interrupted by the look-out vociferating from the mast-head-" On deck, there!" *Hilloah!" returned the Captain. "Land a-head!" bawled the lookout. "Point to it, my lad!" cried the Captain, leaping to the capstan, and hurrying with his glass to the forecastle. The look-out held out his arm, at the same time bawling down," About two points on the weather bow!" This intelligence seemed to produce a sensation in the mind of Captain Switchem, quite discordant to farther discussion; and, of course, sermonizing immediately gave way to more active and unpremeditative duty. "Mr Marlin," cried the Captain, hurrying aft;" Where is the Boatswain?-Call me Mr Marlin directly -d'ye hear there, young gentlemen ?" This was unnecessary, however, for the Boatswain, shouting "Here I come, sir!" immediately stood before him. "Pipe, Make sail! directly, Marlin, there's a good fellow," cried the Captain-then turning to his first Lieutenant, he continued,—" And harkye, Fyke, shake out every reef, and clap every inch of canvass on her you can. I'd like to have a surveillance of the coast ere night fall.-Mr Fudgeforit, lay hold of these things and follow me-I'll be with you again in a minute, Fyke." "It shall be done, sir," replied his first Lieutenant, as he disappeared from the deck, and immediately walked forward to put the people in motion. Meantime, the Boatswain had executed his orders, the topmen were aloft-the reefs were shaken out-the topsails hoisted-the fore and main tacks hauled close on board-top-gallant sails and flying gear followed and no long period elapsed ere all hands beheld their fancy vessel snoring through it, with the land right a-head, at a rate little short of twelve knots an hour. At this rate she stood on for some time, when Captain Switchem deeming her to be as close in shore as he thought it prudent, ordered her on the other tack, and she now ran along the bleak and darkwooded coast of Norway, with a fine steady breeze from the land. She thus continued making way steadily, while Captain Switchem, and most of his officers, were busily employed with their glasses in a strict reconnoitre of the numerous groups of dark black clustering rocks, small islands, and innumerable creeks and openings of that strangely shattered coast, when nothing appearing, and the day beginning to close, the Tottumfog was finally put about, and once more stood to sea under shortened sail. "Well, my mates, here we have had the devil's own day of it, after all, now that it's done," cried Bill Lyson, sitting down at the mess table; " but indeed I never saw it otherwise with a dead body in company-always a gale of wind, a mast going by the board, a chase, or some one ugly customer or t'other to bother a fellow." "Phew! my lovely bright boy of the mountain !" cried Dennis, just arrived from the deck, " as the ould Goody of Gillingham says to her eels, when, you know, she's after skinning them alive, Why can't you be azy, honies, sure it is nothing at all, at all, when once you are used to it. Devil a haypurth!'—and Mahony agrees with her to a tittle. Troth does he-and the devil a skirrach's worth of bother it shall cost him, though he knows, shipmate-ay, that he does-that if you have had the devil's own day on't, gragh, you are likely to be blessed with his mother's own night of it, by way of good company, that's all. Och, by my soul, are you;-so keep your beautiful tongue lying azy; for I heard Mr Fyke speaking with that long ill-spun cooper of ours about water and I'm sure you knows very well what follows that, dear." "A devilish sight too well, in faith, Denny," replied Lyson;-" but are you certain it was the cooper? for you know it's a little darkish on deck at present." you say? by the powers! as well might you ask me, am I sure if myself s Dennis Mahony, dear. Oho, shipmate of mine! the ould chopper of cask staves is by much too like a hop-pole for me to mistake him so azily. But the devil another squeak will I make on the subject at all at all, honey; for may I never knock my beautiful fist through a biscuit again, if there isn't Tom Bird himself coming down the ladder, and he'll soon be after telling you all about it, darling." It was sure enough the huge fellow, who, taking his stance on the foregratings, and bending down his enormous carcase to get his head on a line with the beams of the upper deck, growled out in a thundering voice, D'ye hear below there, fore and aft, it is the Captain's orders, that you all turn to, man and mother's son of you, and get ready, without loss of time or hinderance of business, for a good jolly hard spell at washing and scrubbing. The cooper has orders to supply all the messes with a gallon of fresh water a-man, which the ship's cook will boil for you in a jiffy; and that will serve for your shirts, embroidered trowsers, silk frocks, gold-laced jackets, and other such shore and church-going gear. If any on you wants soap, they must keep the Boatswain in their eye. The idlers, fancy men, and other loblollys, not forgetting Jack in the Dust, may either wash in the first or middle watches, just as their honours please. The clothes-lines to be hoisted as soon as the morning watch is turned up-but them only, mind me. Bags and hammocks to be scrubbed in the morning-watch, and nothing but clean hammocks to be stowed in the nettings. And, last of all, the whole clothes, bags, and hammocks of the hooker, will be mustered on Sunday after divisions, when the fellow who is dirty will of course be found lazy, and either get a cat or a broomstick to fondle.-So mark me, fore and aft, as you've all got fair warning, you may take your own minds on't—it's all one to Bird.-D'ye hear there, you captains of the tops, you'll see and have your clothes-lines properly marked and rove in good time, or else, by the Lord Harry, you'll catch it." After this brilliant declaration, a scene ensued that completely beggars description-both decks being sudden"Am I sure it was the cooper, did ly metamorphosed into a complete |