and I had seen. Had the
Second Mate seen something--someone? I hurried on, and then stopped,
suddenly. In the same moment there came the shrill blast of the Second's
whistle; he was whistling for the watch, and I turned and ran to the
fo'cas'le to rouse them out. Another minute, and I was hurrying aft with
them to see what was wanted.

His voice met us half-way:

"Up the main some of you, smartly now, and find out who that damned fool
is up there. See what mischief he's up to."

"i, i, Sir," several of the men sung out, and a couple jumped into the
weather rigging. I joined them, and the rest were proceeding to follow;
but the Second shouted for some to go up to leeward--in case the fellow
tried to get down that side.

As I followed the other two aloft, I heard the Second Mate tell Tammy,
whose time-keeping it was, to get down on to the maindeck with the other
'prentice, and keep an eye on the fore and aft stays.

"He may try down one of them if he's cornered," I heard him explain. "If
you see anything, just sing out for me, right away."

Tammy hesitated.

"Well?" said the Second Mate, sharply.

"Nothing, Sir," said Tammy, and went down on to the maindeck.

The first man to wind'ard had reached the futtock shrouds; his head was
above the top, and he was taking a preliminary look, before venturing
higher.

"See anythin', Jock?" asked Plummer, the man next above me.

"Na'!" said Jock, tersely, and climbed over the top, and so disappeared
from my sight.

The fellow ahead of me, followed. He reached the futtock rigging, and
stopped to expectorate. I was close at his heels, and he looked down to
me.

"What's up, anyway?" he said. "What's 'e seen? 'oo're we chasin' after?"

I said I didn't know, and he swung up into the topmast rigging. I
followed on. The chaps on the lee side were about level with us. Under
the foot of the topsail, I could see Tammy and the other 'prentice down
on the maindeck, looking upwards.

The fellows were a bit excited in a sort of subdued way; though I am
inclined to think there was far more curiosity and, perhaps, a certain
consciousness of the strangeness of it all. I know that, looking to
leeward, there was a tendancy to keep well together, in which I
sympathised.

"Must be a bloomin' stowaway," one of the men suggested.

I grabbed at the idea, instantly. Perhaps--And then, in a moment, I
dismissed it. I remembered how that first thing had stepped over the
rail _into the se