The
cutter had some little headway, and this of course brought Sadler astern
on the other quarter, and then there was a wild rush to get back into the
boat, for fear the old fellow was doubling on them to make a grab.
"The commodore, hearing the row and fearing disaster, ordered another boat
to the rescue, but ere it reached the spot, Buck had, in some manner,
quieted his men, who, seeing the ghost still standing bolt upright in the
water and dancing away as if nothing had happened to scare _him_, manned
their oars again and pulled cautiously toward him; while he, with that
changeable moonlight grin on his face, was bobbing up and down to the
boat's crew, as if Buck were the commodore himself coming to pay him a
visit.
"'Stand by, there in the bow, to hook on to him,' sang out Buck.
"'Ay, ay, sir! I'll fix him;' and with that, and a heavy expletive in
regard to the old fellow's eyes, the bow oarsman slammed his boarding-pike
right into the ghost, just abaft his left leg, and as the sharp steel
touched the body, a whizzing sound, like the escape of steam, was heard,
and without a word old Sadler vanished from sight for ever."
"But, captain, tell us what really brought the old gentleman back," said
one of the auditors.
"Well, just think of that tight white hammock, the light weight of the
shot, and the very hot weather--think, too, how easily a fishing-cork is
balanced in the water by a very small sinker, and lastly how confined air
will buoy up anything--and you have the whole secret of his coming back.
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