that the body seemed to be
chained fast to the engine of the sunken boat.

At this news, the Captain became greatly excited.

"Men!" he exclaimed in accents of dismay. "Hain't it been enough for
this old, weather-beaten, storm-tossed hulk of an Ichabod to have gone
through more'n most young fellers could stand without now havin' a
murder to be investigated at his very door? Didn't ye hear them words o'
Sumner Jenkins? He says as how the body is chained to the ingine. It's
fitten, boys, as we should go right plumb up thar, an' have a look fer
ourselves."

A few minutes later, Ichabod and his companions were lying alongside the
wreck, and were leaning over gunwales, looking intently down into the
transparent depths of the sea. And there, sure enough, lay the form of a
man, with distorted features and wide-open dead eyes gazing back up at
them. Around the waist of the corpse there was to be seen distinctly the
chain that tightly encircled the body and thence ran to the engine
frame, around which it was twisted, and held immovable by a huge
padlock. Thus fettered, the unfortunate wretch had been carried down to
his doom in the sea.

The gruesome discovery had been made that morning by pure chance on the
part of a fisherman who, out of curiosity to view the wreck, had brought
his boat up into the wind there. A careless glance over the side had
shown him the ghastly face of the corpse beneath the waves. At the
sight, the fisherman had let his craft slip off before the wind. He
sailed straight to Beaufort, and told the town his news. It was the
tidings carried by him that brought the morbid crowd of sightseers.

The combined efforts of those present had been insufficient to raise the
engine and the body of the dead man to the surface. Now they were
arranging a windlass, with block and fall, to bring the victim up to
where the Coroner was impatiently waiting to perform his duty.
Presently, then, the energetic workers secured a firm hold with the
tackle on the engine frame. It was hauled to the surface, bringing with
it the attached body. The padlock was smashed, and the stiffened form
released from its iron bonds. Forthwith, the body was removed in one of
the small boats to the sandy beach of Captain Ichabod's Island. The
Coroner would have preferred that it should be taken into the shack for
the holding of the inquest. But when the official made his request to
the fisherman, the reply was by no means favorable.

"It see