He and the rest of the Asiatics accept their
presence as a matter of course; but the crew, with the exception of
Andy Fay and Mulligan Jacobs, is very superstitious about the new-
comers, and will have nothing to do with them.
"No good will come of them, sir," Tom Spink, at the wheel, told us,
shaking his head forebodingly.
Margaret's mittened hand rested on my arm as we balanced to the easy
roll of the ship. We had paused from our promenade, which we now
take each day, religiously, as a constitutional, between eleven and
twelve.
"Why, what is the matter with them?" she queried, nudging me privily
in warning of what was coming.
"Because they ain't men, Miss, as we can rightly call men. They
ain't regular men."
"It was a bit irregular, their manner of coming on board," she
gurgled.
"That's just it, Miss," Tom Spink exclaimed, brightening perceptibly
at the hint of understanding. "Where'd they come from? They won't
tell. Of course they won't tell. They ain't men. They're spirits--
ghosts of sailors that drowned as long ago as when that cask went
adrift from a sinkin' ship, an' that's years an' years, Miss, as
anybody can see, lookin' at the size of the barnacles on it.
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