by W. W. Jacobs
be 'ung, and a young ordinary seaman wot wasstanding beside 'im said he would sooner I was boiled. I believe they'ad words about it, but I was feeling too upset to take much notice.
"'Looking miserable won't bring 'er back to life agin,' ses the skipper,looking up at me and shaking his 'ead. 'You'd better go down to my cabinand get yourself a drop o' whisky; there's a bottle on the table. You'llwant all your wits about you when the police come. And wotever you dodon't say nothing to criminate yourself.'
"'We'll do the criminating for 'im all right,' ses the cook.
"'If I was the pore gal I'd haunt 'im,' ses the ordinary seaman; 'everynight of 'is life I'd stand afore 'im dripping with water and moaning.'
"'P'r'aps she will,' ses the cook; 'let's 'ope so, at any rate.'
"I didn't answer 'em; I was too dead-beat. Besides which, I've got a'orror of ghosts, and the idea of being on the wharf alone of a nightarter such a thing was a'most too much for me. I went on board theLizzie and Annie, and down in the cabin I found a bottle o' whisky, asthe skipper 'ad said. I sat down on the locker and 'ad a glass, and thenI sat worrying and wondering wot was to be the end of it all.
"The whisky warmed me up a bit, and I 'ad just taken up the bottle to'elp myself agin when I 'eard a faint sort o' sound in the skipper'sstate-room. I put the bottle down and listened, but everything seemeddeathly still. I took it up agin, and 'ad just poured out a drop o'whisky when I distinctly 'eard a hissing noise and then a little moan.
"For a moment I sat turned to stone. Then I put the bottle down quiet,and 'ad just got up to go when the door of the state-room opened, and Isaw the drownded gal, with 'er little face and hair all wet and dripping,standing before me.
"Ted Sawyer 'as been telling everybody that I came up the companion-waylike a fog-horn that 'ad lost its ma; I wonder how he'd 'ave come up ifhe'd 'ad the evening I had 'ad?
"They were all on the jetty as I got there and tumbled into the skipper'sarms, and all asking at once wot was the matter. When I got my breathback a bit and told 'em, they laughed. All except the cook, and 'e saidit was only wot I might expect. Then, like a man in a dream, I see thegal come out of the companion and walk slowly to the side.
"'Look!' I ses. 'Look. There she is!'
"'You're dreaming,' ses the skipper, 'there's nothing there.'
"They all said the same, even when the gal stepped on to the side andclimbed on to the wharf. She came along towards me with 'er arms heldclose to 'er sides, and making the most 'orrible faces at me, and it tookfive of'em all their time to 'old me. The wharf and everything seemed tome to spin round and round. Then she came straight up to me and pattedme on the cheek.
"'Pore old gentleman,' she ses. 'Wot a shame it is, Ted! It's too bad.'
"They let go o' me then, and stamped up and down the jetty laughing fitto kill themselves. If they 'ad only known wot a exhibition they wasmaking of themselves, and 'ow I pitied them, they wouldn't ha' done it.And by and by Ted wiped his eyes and put his arm round the gal's waistand ses--
"'This is my intended, Miss Florrie Price,' he ses. 'Ain't she a littlewonder? Wot d'ye think of 'er?'
"'I'll keep my own opinion,' I ses. 'I ain't got nothing to say againstgals, but if I only lay my hands on that young brother of 'ers'
"They went off agin then, worse than ever; and at last the cook came andput 'is skinny arm round my neck and started spluttering in my ear. Ishoved 'im off hard, because I see it all then; and I should ha' seen itafore only I didn't 'ave time to think. I don't bear no malice, and allI can say is that I don't wish 'er any harder punishment than to bemarried to Ted Sawyer."