w there were, indeed, whose
well-known and long-established characters raised them above suspicion,
but there were others who knew that their character had not yet been
established on so firm a basis, and they felt that until the matter
should be cleared up, their honesty would be, mentally at least, called
in question by their companions.

With the exception of the disposition to mutiny related in a previous
chapter, this was the first cloud that had risen to interrupt the
harmony of the shipwrecked sailors, and as they returned to their work,
sundry suggestions and remarks were made in reference to the possibility
of discovering the delinquent.

"I didn't think it wos poss'ble," said Rokens. "I thought as how there
wasn't a man in the ship as could ha' done sich a low, mean thing as
that."

"No more did I," said Dick Barnes.

"Wall, boys," observed Nikel Sling emphatically, "I guess as how that I
don't believe it yet."

"Arrah! D'ye think the bottle o' brandy stole his-self?" inquired
Briant.

"I ain't a-goin' fur to say that; but a ghost might ha' done it, p'raps,
a-purpose to get us into a scrape."

There was a slight laugh at this, and from that moment the other men
suspected that Sling was the culprit. The mere fact of his being the
first to charge the crime upon any one else--even a ghost--caused them,
in spite of themselves, to come to this conclusion. They did not,
however, by word or look, show what was passing in their minds, for the
Yankee was a favourite with his comrades, and each felt unwilling that
his suspicion should prove to be correct.

"I don't agree with you," said Tarquin, who feared that suspicion might
attach to himself, seeing that he had been the ringleader in the recent
mutiny; "I don't believe that ghosts drink."

"Och! that's all ye know!" cried Phil Briant. "Av ye'd only lived a
month or two in Owld Ireland, ye'd have seen raison to change yer mind,
ye would. Sure I've seed a ghost the worse o' liquor meself."

"Oh! Phil, wot a stunner!" cried Gurney.

"It's as true as me name's Phil Briant--more's the pity. Did I niver
tell ye o' the Widdy Morgan, as had a ghost come to see her frequently?"

"No, never--let's hear it."

"Stop that noise with yer hammer, then, Tim Rokens, jist for five
minutes, and I'll tell it ye."

The men ceased work for a few minutes while their comrade spoke as
follows--

"It's not a long story, boys, but it's long enough to prove that ghos