he sings out slowly, as
if his words did not come up readily to his mouth:--

"`Mr Car-car-car-cass, is that you?'

"`Sir!' said the ghost, turning round and coming aft.

"`Mr Car-car-car-cass, is that you?' again sings out the lieutenant.

"`Sir!' answers the boatswain, and he came nearer.

"The lieutenant stepped back, so did we, all the whole watch tumbling
over on each other. Still facing for'ard, the gallant lieutenant kept
retreating, and the ghost kept coming on slowly, as ghosts always do,
I'm told, though I can't say as I've had much experience with those sort
of gentry. At last the ghost sings out:--

"`Pardon me, Mr Pringle, what's the matter? have all the people gone
mad?'

"`Who are you?' asked the lieutenant.

"`I am Richard Carcass, bo'sun of this here ship, to the best of my
knowledge, and was never anybody else, sir.'

"`What! ain't you dead?' says the lieutenant.

"`Not that I knows on,' answers the ghost. `I was alive when it struck
eight bells in the middle watch, and its now only just gone two. I take
it it is the morning watch, for I heard it strike just before that
stupid sentry put out his light, and for some reason or other I couldn't
make out, took to his heels.'

"`Why, the doctor said you were dead,' says the lieutenant.

"`The doctor, then, doesn't know a dead bo'sun from a live one,'
answered Mr Carcass.

"`Well, I wish you'd let him see you, and hear what he's got to say on
the subject;' and he ordered the midshipman of the watch to call the
doctor, who came on deck, grumbling not a little at being roused out
from his berth. When he saw the bo'sun he seemed mighty pleased, and
taking him by the hand told us all that he was as alive as ever he was,
and advised him to turn in again and get some sleep, as the night was
cold, and he was on the sick list.

"Well, ladies, that was the only ghost I ever saw. He was not dead
either, but had been in a sort of trance, and when he heard two bells
strike, not knowing how many days had passed since he had gone to sleep,
he called for a light, but not getting it, he dressed in the dark and
came on deck, thinking he ought to be there."

Jerry spun other yarns before he took his leave. He was once, he
declared, on board a trader bound out from Ireland to the West Indies
with butter and cheese, "The _Jane and Mary_, that was her name," he
continued. "We were off the coast of Saint Domingo, almost becalmed,
when we made out a cou