204 WHALING AND FISHING. 



thinking, as he remarked to me afterward, that " if 

 it was really a ghost, and it did the poor thing any 

 good to groan, he had not the slightest objection/' 



In a short time the sounds could be heard upon 

 deck, and then they gradually died away, until 

 presently quiet was restored, and the affrighted 

 fugitives returned to the vessel. 



" It is a ghost or spirit, that's certain," assevera- 

 ted the steward, who had told the captain of it, 

 already before the latter got out of his boat. 



" If you talk to me of ghosts again, stupid, I'll 

 put your head in a bucket of water," was the 

 reply. 



This threat put an effectual stop to the dissent - 

 nation of spiritualism in the after part of the ship ; 

 but meantime, our ship-keepers had laid their 

 experience before the forecastle, the story of course 

 gaining fresh horrors with every recital. The 

 case was so plain even the cook, who laughed at 

 the whole matter, having to own that he heard 

 the sounds, and that they were marvelously like 

 human groans that most of our greenhorns soon 

 became devout believers in the immediate pres- 

 ence of a spirit in our midst, and the poor Portu 

 guese, whose nature it was to be superstitious, 

 turned a sickly yellow, and began to shake in their 

 boots. 



Having heard the matter duly discussed, I ven- 

 tured to suggest that it was clearly a humpback 

 that made the mysterious noise. This was treated, 

 however, with that degree of scorn which is 



