THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 263 
and volunteered to go in a boat to ascertain. The 
boat was lowered, and the two mates, with the boat’s 
crew, each armed with sword and pistol, rowed at 
some distance round the ship. 
On the officer’s return, they reported that they 
could neither hear nor see any thing. Silence pre- 
vailed while they reported this to the captain, every 
one being desirous to know the issue of the search. 
Instantly, the same “Ship ahoy!’ was heard, 
though much less audibly, and, apparently, at a 
greater distance than before. The next moment 
it was heard much louder and closer. A feeling of 
intense excitement now prevailed in each of the 
crowd of persons on board the transport. More than 
an hour had passed since the ship was hove to; every 
one had repeatedly heard the stranger’s hail, coming 
through the darkness, but nothing had been seen 
of him, and no further question or answer could be 
elicited. The screams of the women and children, 
and the muttering of the men, showed that super- 
stitious dread of something supernatural and un- 
earthly was creeping over every one. The captain 
issued orders to shoulder arms and to make ready 
the guns. 
Just at this crisis, one of the cabin-boys, who had 
been standing near the mainmast, stepped aft to the 
chief mate, and said, “It’s a fowl in the hencoop, 
sir, that’s a-making that ’ere noise.” That officer 
indignantly bestowed on him a sound box on the 
ear for his information, but immediately recollecting 
that he was an intelligent lad, accompanied him to 
