120 THE JERSEY COAST. 



administration, and shipwrecked passengers die 

 while political favorites draw the two hundred dol- 

 lars a year pay for the station-master." 



" Now, Bill, stop your talk about the public 

 wrongs, and tell us something more interesting. 

 Have you ever heard one of Bill's ghost stories ?" 

 This inquiry was addressed to the public. 



Bill's face lengthened ; he sat silently nursing his 

 leg and smoking his brierwood pipe, while a shadow 

 seemed to settle on his countenance. " Come, Bill," 

 we responded, " let's have the story." 



Bill answered not, and the shadow deepened, and 

 the smoke was puffed in heavier masses from his 

 lips. 



" Bill is afraid ; he don't like ghosts, and don't 

 dare to talk of them." 



" I am not easily skeered," he answered at last ; 

 " but if you had seen what I have on this shore, you 

 would not talk so easy about it 'Lige,. do you re- 

 member the time we saw that ship ? There had been 

 a heavy storm, and when we got up next day early, 

 there lay a vessel on the beach ; she must have been 

 most everlastingly a harpin' it." 



" What is that ?" was asked wonderingly, on the 

 utterance of this peculiar expression. 



" Why, she had come clear in over the bar, and 

 must have been going some to do that ; for there 

 she lay, bow on, with her bowsprit sticking way up 

 ashore, just below the station yonder. Her masts 

 were standing, and we clapped on our clothes and 

 started for the beach. The wind was blowin' hard, 



