Three times in full view of the horrified
skipper he circled the deck at racing speed, and had just started on the
fourth when a heavy packing-case, which had been temporarily set on end
and abandoned by the men at his sudden appearance, fell over and caught
him by the tail. Sam rushed to the rescue.
"Stop!" yelled the skipper.
"Won't I put it up, sir?" inquired Sam.
"Do you see what's beneath it?" said the skipper, in a husky voice.
"Beneath it, sir?" said Sam, whose ideas were in a whirl.
"The cat, can't you see the cat?" said the skipper, whose eyes had been
riveted on the animal since its first appearance on deck.
Sam hesitated a moment, and then shook his head.
"The case has fallen on the cat," said the skipper. "I can see it
distinctly."
He might have said heard it, too, for Satan was making frenzied appeals
to his sympathetic friends for assistance.
"Let me put the case back, sir," said one of the men, "then p'raps the
vision 'll disappear."
"No, stop where you are," said the skipper. "I can stand it better by
daylight. It's the most wonderful and extraordinary thing I've ever
seen. Do you mean to say you can't see anything, Sam?"
"I can see a case, sir," said Sam, speaking slowly and carefully," with
a bit of rusty iron band sticking out from it.
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