THE CONTRIBUTOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 35

THE CONTRIBUTOR.

CHARLIE'S GHOST STORY. By Cs. Chappeha. I never knew his other name. Although ' he had been in the district for years, nobody ever thought of calling him anything but Charlie. Sometimes (when looking at him washing up his dishes in the evening, and keeping up a continual flow of bantering conversation, his mahogany-coloured countenance glowing with heat and good humour) it seemed an absurdity to suppose that he had a surname. Charlie was short of stature, square built, " with wondrous le.rigth and strength of arm," and although a comparatively good station cook, it was. packing for musterers and doing the rough cooking in camp where he appeared to the best advantage. I remember, it was at the close of a hard day's muster, and we (some eight in number, including the " boss ") were lying stretched out before the fire doing an after supper pipe, when someone proposed that Charlie should tell a story. "Well, boys," said the individual as he finished drying the last tin plate, and seated himself on a pack saddle, " I don't mind if I do, an' I'll tell ye how I saw a ghost." " Good enough, Charlie," was the general comment, uttered in that tone that seems to imply a verdict given as the words themselves lead one to infer, instead of merely meaning assent, and amidst a sclemn silence Charlie commenced. " I s'pose ye all know that I've been a bit o' a sea-go s n' chap in my young days afore I took to the bush ; an' if ye don't it won't make much o' a difference. Ye see I was jisfc a bit nipper when I first went aboard the Dog Star, a sugar ship bound for the Island o' St. Kitts, in the West Indies. Leastways she wasn't a ship, she was only a barque, but I s'pose none o' yer could tell one from t'other anyhow ; an' so I may jisfc stow away 'my descriptive powers' — as the writer fellers call it — an' spin my yarn. As I was a sayin' I was jist a younker, praps about 14, when we sailed from the We3t India Docks, London, in the Dog Star, Thomas Boaster, commander — as the papers put it — an' I wasn't very big for my age, though that doesn't make any difference to my story, an' goes for very little at sea with regard to rough usage. • I didn't take much notice o' things.for the first few days, after we sailed, bein' pretty sea sick, but after a week or so I got on famously, an' afore we had got down to »th"c* Western Islands I could stow the main t'gal as good as some o' the chaps that had been at sea for two or three v'yages." '♦Now, Charlie," interrupted the boss, ♦• just tell us the story of the ghost or we'll think that you're trying to keep us here till you've .convinced us that you were a better seaman before you'd been a month at sea than those who had been at sea a lifetime. What d'ye say, boys, if we agree to consider that Charlie was the best man on board the Dog Star, and- so save valuable time 1 " We were all willing to concede that point, and so Charlie, with undisturbed T good humour, proceeded as follows :—: — \ '■ " In the cuddy we had three passengers." "Oh 1 of oourse," interjected Bob Tree (the sceptical man of the crowd). " Whoever knew a ship that didn't carry passengers to possess a ghost." "At anyrate there would be a ghost onboard if you were there, Bob," said Charlie ; " the ghost of some other fellow's idea, for I'm blessed if ever I heard yeu say anything that was your own thought." • As Charlie was beginning to show signs of temper we were unanimous in the suppression of Bob, and so amid solemn silence the story was told to the end. " I was a sayin' we had three passengers aboard — an old planter an' two young fellers (a clerk goin' out for a sugar refining company at Home an' a lawyer chap to try and start a business o' his own). I think we were about. a fortnight out when the old planter fell sick, and after a very short illness died. I thought then that the weather might have had something to do with hastening his end, but I've had reason to alter my mind since. All through his illness, which lasted, for only three days, were were lying ' hove to,' under a close-reefed topsail and storm staysail, an' I'll be jiggered if .the gale,, didn't break just as the old chap pegged out. 'Twas about six bells in the afternoon watch .vhen the old gent passed away, an' I had to lend a hand to sew him up in canvas, ready for burial. I remember having a sort of fear of the corpse, because his face didn't seem to me like what 1 supposed the face of a dead man would look like. He seemed as if he had been trying to " protest against something when he died, and the f satures still retained the impress of the last thought. That was, of course, the first body I ever saw prepared for burial at sea; and I couldn't keep from thinking of him all through the second dog watch as I paced up and down the lee side of the poop. It was too late to bury him that day, and so we lashed the body on the weather water tank till the following day. I never knew a boy ■ who couldn't sleep well at soa, and in spite of the ever-recurring thought of the dead man I enjoyed a sound enough sleep in the first watch. At eight bells in the middle watch, when the wheel and look-out were relieved, the remainder of the hands went forward to ' caulk ' under the break of the fo'castle, and 'the carpenter telling me to 'pass the wold' if anything wanted doing, left me on the quarter-deck alone and betook himself to the midship house to resume his infcerrapted slumbers. I can picture the whole scene yet. The wind was still blowing 'great guns,' while the sky was clear and Starry. The moon was riding high in the heavens, being near the fall, and making the great white-topped waves look as if every instant they would swallotv us up. Instead of going on the poop, as I was supposed to do, I paced the weather side of the quarter-deck, enjoying the cool night wind and thinking of what I should do when I commanded a ship of my own. Well, somehow, I doc't know why, I suddenly stopped opposite that tank with the body on it ; and in the cold, clear moonlight the outline of the face was plainly discernible, traced against the canvas, now wet and Bhrnnken with occasional sprays. , I was only a boy, you know, and of course I i was terribly frightened j but as I stood there I am positive I saw the body make a voluntary mption, which was not caused by the '

rolling of the ship. I do not know how long I stood there rooted to the spot, as it were, , by a perfect frenzy of horror, nor do I .know how I left it and reached the cabin ; but I have a distinct recollection that I heard a voice, smothered and indistinct but filled with intense agony, exclaim, ' My God ! my God t ' When I recovered my reasoning faculties I was lying in my bunk in the midship-house, with my head strapped in several places with sticking plaster, and the time was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The burial had been performed at noon, while I was lying insensible. € Not much of a ghost story,' you say. Well, perhaps not ; yet when I tell you that the body had turned over on its side and there were traces of blood where the mouth and nostrils pressed against the canvas, my ghost story may have some meaning to you. Did they ask how I got hurt and was found in the cabin 1 Certainly they did, and all laughed at me for my trouble when I told them all I remembered. Did I say all? Well, the captain didn't laugh, but he said if I repeated that silly sfcory he would masthead me every dog watch for the rest of the voyage. I knew the captain was a man of his we rd, and so I never repeated it on board the Dog Star. I left the ship when the voyage was over ; but I heard that Captain Boaster retired from sea shortly after. I learned some time afterwards that the passenger whose dead body frightened me so, was an uncle of his, and by a will made previous to leaving London he inherited the whole of the property of Lhe deceased gentleman. Good night, boys ; I'm off to bed." We didn't stop him, bu owed suit; and I dare say some of us tl • /it that Charlie had very nearly seen a g ust on board the Dog Star.