Part 24 (2/2)
”Bedad,” said he unflinchingly, ”the banshees, sure, the saints presairve the good people from harmin' us! Can take virry good care ov thimselves; but, faith, if ye'd ivver sane wun, ye'd spake more rispictfully ov thim, sure!”
”Tell us,” inquired Joblins, the 'green hand,' you may recollect, who went on deck to fetch his second lot of grog with a spud-net and who, though he had been made a bit sharper since then by the chaff and jokes of his messmates, was still not by any means bright, ”did yer ever see one o' them ghostesses?”
”Hev Oi ivver sane wun?” repeated Mick, in a tone of intense scorn.
”Begorrah, Oi hev sane hoondreds!”
”Lor'!” exclaimed the simpleton, evidently impressed by this bold a.s.sertion of my chum, ”tell us, mate, wot they's like.”
This was enough for Mick.
”Ye won't be froightened, sure,” he began, in a very solemn tone, the more to impress the anxious listener, ”if Oi'm afther tillin' ye the whole thruth, now?”
”Frightened! No,” replied Joblins defiantly, but looking nervous all the same. ”I ain't so soon frightened as that, Mick!”
”All roight, me joker,” said Mick. ”Oi ownly thort ez how Oi'd not take ye onywheres, ye know; but, faith, ez Oi say ye're so brave a chap, Oi'll now carry on an' till ye all about a raal banshee Oi saw t'other noight.”
Joblins moved uneasily on his seat.
”What!” he cried. ”Yer doan't mean aboard this yere s.h.i.+p?”
”Ay, faith,” said Mick coolly; ”it wor aboord this virry s.h.i.+p, begorrah!”
”Lor'!” stammered out 'greeny,' whose face we could see was quite pale from the light of the s.h.i.+p's lantern near, it having got dark now on the lower deck through the closing in of the evening early, we being still in tropical lat.i.tudes. ”I thort them things only came on land.”
”That's where you're wrong, Joblins,” put in Harris, his old tormentor, backing up Mick most effectively in his attempt at taking a rise out of the yokel. ”Spirits aboard s.h.i.+p is pertic'lerly partial to water, as every one knows!”
Pa.s.sing by this ironical allusion of Harris to the current belief of all hands anent the watering of the men's grog by the steward, which was received with much favour by those standing round, Mick went on as gravely as a judge.
”Yis, sor, it wor aboord this viry s.h.i.+p thet Oi sayd me last spirrit, sure,” said he. ”Lit me say--it moost hev bin a wake, ay, or mebbe t'wor longer agone than thet. Oi wor a-coomin' oop the forepake afther dark, jist ez it mebbe now. Ye knows the forepake, Joblins?”
”Ye-e-es,” stuttered out 'greeny,' his jaw dropping with fright, and his mouth open as big as a teacup. ”I--I--I knows the forepeak, mate.”
”Will, thin,” continued Mick, ”ez Oi came out on d.i.c.k oop the fore- hatchway, be the powers, I says, sure, a tirrible big black thing roight foreninst me, wid its long arrums stritched oot on ayther soide; an'
whin Oi looked oop fur to say if the onairthly craychur hed ony hid on him--”
”Lor'!” cried Joblins, interrupting him at this thrilling point, all agog with excitement; ”what did you see, mate?”
”Faith,” replied my chum, with a grin, ”the poor craychur hed no hid at all, at all, sure! Begorrah, all he hed, sure, wor a spud-net, same as ye t.i.tched yer sicond 'lowance ov grog t'other day wid, Misther Joblins; an' this wor stuck atop ov wun ov the min's oilskins thet he'd hoong oot fur to dhry in the fore rigging. Thet wor the spirrit I sayd.”
The roar of the boatswain's mate calling 'all hands' to make sail, at this juncture drowned the general laugh that went round the mess at poor Joblins' expense; and, exchanging the warm atmosphere of the lower deck for the boisterous weather above, we were soon engaged in the more arduous task of pulling ropes than other people's legs!
We had run some distance scudding before the gale; and, as the navigating officer thought that we were now pretty well beyond the risk of experiencing any further ill effects from the stormy nor'-easter, the commodore made up his mind to utilise it and proceed on our voyage home.
So setting our topsails double-reefed again and bracing round the yards on a bowline, we shaped a course for the Azores or Western Islands; and getting into calmer lat.i.tudes ere morning, were able to make all plain sail again.
On the second day after this we had an awful thunderstorm, in which the lightning flashed from all points of the compa.s.s, and heaven's artillery pealed as if the sky was bursting asunder.
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