tain and crew, he had insisted, after he was put into
the boat, upon going back to the ship to secure a casket of immense
value, containing diamonds and other precious stones, which he had
forgotten; they added, that while they were waiting for him the ship
suddenly plunged her bowsprit under, and went down head foremost, and
that it was with difficulty they had themselves escaped. They had
waited for some time to ascertain if he would rise again to the surface,
but he appeared no more.

"I knew that something would happen," observed the captain of the sunken
vessel, after he had been sitting a short time in the cabin with Philip
and the captain of the Batavia; "we saw the Fiend or Devil's Ship, as
they call her, but three days before."

"What! the Flying Dutchman, as they name her?" asked Philip.

"Yes; that, I believe, is the name they give her," replied the captain.
"I have often heard of her; but it never was my fate to fall in with her
before, and I hope it never will be again, for I am a ruined man, and
must begin the world afresh."

"I have heard of that vessel," observed the captain of the Batavia.
"Pray, how did she appear to you?"

"Why, the fact is, I did not see anything but the loom of her hull,"
replied the other. "It was very strange; the night was fine, and the
heavens clear; we were under top-gallant sails, for I do not carry on
during the night, or else we might have put the royals on her; she would
have carried them with the breeze. I had turned in, when about two
o'clock in the morning, the mate called me to come on deck. I demanded
what was the matter, and he replied he could hardly tell, but that the
men were much frightened, and that there was a Ghost Ship, as the
sailors termed it, in sight. I went on deck; all the horizon was clear,
but on our quarter was a sort of fog, round as a ball, and not more than
two cables' length from us. We were going about four knots and a half
free, and yet we could not escape from this mist. `Look there,' said
the mate. `Why, what the devil can it be?' said I, rubbing my eyes.
`No banks up to windward, and yet a fog in the middle of a clear sky,
with a fresh breeze, and with water all around it;' for you see the fog
did not cover more than half a dozen cables' length, as we could
perceive by the horizon on each side of it. `Hark, sir!' said the
mate--`they are speaking again.' `Speaking!' said I, and I listened;
and from out this ball of fog I heard