f Yarmouth, and we even had difficulty in clearing them
and getting into sea-room by standing to the eastward. The weather
still continued very bad, and we were lying-to under storm sails for
several days, and at last found ourselves a degree and a half to the
northward, off the coast of Norfolk, when the weather moderated, and
the wind changed to the northward. It was a fine clear night, but with
no moon, and we were running before the wind to regain our
cruising-ground; but the wind again shifted and baffled us, and at
last it fell light, and, being on a wind, we did not make more than
four miles an hour, although there was very little sea. About one
o'clock in the morning, I had gone on deck, and was walking to and fro
with the first officer, Mr. James, when I thought that I heard a faint
hallo from to windward.

"Stop," said I; "silence there forward."

I listened, and thought that I heard the cry again. "Mr. James," said
I, "did you not hear some one shout?"

"No, Sir," replied he.

"Wait, then, and listen."

We did so, but I could not hear it repeated.

"I am certain that I heard a voice as if on the waters," said I.
"Perhaps some one has fallen overboard. Turn the hands up to muster,
and haul the fore-sheet to windward."

The men were mustered, but no one was missing.

"It was your fancy, Sir," observed the first officer.

"It may have been," replied I; "but I am still in my own mind
persuaded that such was the case. Perhaps I was mistaken."

"Shall we let draw the fore-sheet, Sir?" said Mr. James.

"Yes, we may as well; but the wind is lighter than it was. I think we
shall have a calm."

"It will be as much as she can do to stem the tide and hold her own,"
observed Mr. James. "Let draw the fore-sheet, my lads."

Somehow or another I had a feeling which I could not surmount, that I
certainly had heard a faint shout, and although admitting such to be
the case, there was little chance of being of service to any one, I
felt a reluctance to leave the spot, and as I walked the deck silent
and alone, this feeling became insurmountable.

I remained on deck till the tide turned, and then, instead of taking
advantage of it so as to gain to the southward, I put the schooner's
head the other way, so as to keep as near as I could to the spot where
I heard the voice, reducing her sail so as just to stem the tide. I
cannot now account for my anxiety, which, under the circumstances, I
most certainly never shou