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The Upper Berth.................................................................................................................................................1

F. Marion Crawford.................................................................................................................................1

SOMEBODY asked for the cigars. We had talked long, and the conversation as beginning to

languish; the tobacco smoke had got into the heavy curtains, he wine had got into those brains which were

liable to become heavy, and it was already perfectly evident that, unless somebody did something to rouse

our oppressed spirits, the meeting would soon come to its natural conclusion, and we, the guests, would

speedily go home to bed, and most certainly to sleep. No one had said anything very remarkable; it may be

that no one had anything very remarkable to say. Jones had given us every particular of his last hunting

adventure in Yorkshire. Mr. Tompkins, of Boston, had explained at elaborate length those working principles,

by the due and careful maintenance of which the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad not only extended

its territory, increased its departmental influence, and transported live stock without starving them to death

before the day of actual delivery, but, also, had for years succeeded in deceiving those passengers who

bought its tickets into the fallacious belief that the corporation aforesaid was really able to transport human

life without destroying it. Signor Tombola had endeavoured to persuade us, by arguments which we took no

trouble to oppose, that the unity of his country in no way resembled the average modern torpedo, carefully

planned, constructed with all the skill of the greatest European arsenals, but, when constructed, destined to be

directed by feeble hands into a region where it must undoubtedly explode, unseen, unfeared, and unheard,

It is unnecessary to go into further details. The conversation had assumed proportions which would have

bored Prometheus on his rock, which would have driven Tantalus to distraction, and which would have

impelled Ixion to seek relaxation in the simple but instructive dialogues of Herr Ollendorff, rather than

submit to the greater evil of listening to our talk. We had sat at table for hours; we were bored, we were tired,

Somebody called for cigars. We all instinctively looked towards the speaker. Brisbane was a man of

fiveandthirty years of age, and remarkable for those gifts which chiefly attract the attention of men. He

was a strong man. The external proportions of his figure presented nothing extraordinary to the common eye,

though his size was above the average. He was a little over six feet in height, and moderately broad in the

shoulder; he did not appear to be stout, but, on the other hand, he was certainly not thin; his small head was

supported by a strong and sinewy neck; his broad, muscular hands appeared to possess a peculiar skill in

breaking walnuts without the assistance of the ordinary cracker, and, seeing him in profile, one could not help

remarking the extraordinary breadth of his sleeves, and the unusual thickness of his chest. He was one of

those men who are commonly spoken of among men as deceptive; that is to say, that though he looked

exceedingly strong he was in reality very much stronger than he looked. Of his features I need say little. His

head was small, his hair is thin, his eyes are blue, his nose is large, he has a small moustache, and a square

jaw. Everybody knows Brisbane, and when he asked for a cigar everybody looked at him.

Everybody stopped talking. Brisbane's voice was not loud, but possessed a peculiar quality of penetrating

general conversation, and cutting it like a knife. Everybody listened. Brisbane, perceiving that he had

"It is very singular," he continued, "that thing about ghosts. People are always asking whether anybody has

"Bosh! What, you? You don't mean to say so, Brisbane? Well, for a man of his intelligence!"

A chorus of exclamations greeted Brisbane's remarkable statement. Everybody called for cigars, and Stubbs,

the butler, suddenly appeared from the depths of nowhere with a fresh bottle of dry champagne. The situation

I am an old sailor, said Brisbane, and as I have to cross the Atlantic pretty often, I have my favourites. Most

men have their favourites. I have seen a man wait in a Broadway bar for threequarters of an hour for a

particular car which he liked. I believe the barkeeper made at least onethird of his living by that man's

preference. I have a habit of waiting for certain ships when I am obliged to cross that duckpond. It may be a

prejudice, but I was never cheated out of a good passage but once in my life. I remember it very well; it was a

warm morning in June, and the Custom House officials, who were hanging about waiting for a steamer

already on her way up from the Quarantine, presented a peculiarly hazy and thoughtful appearance. I had not

much luggage I never have. I mingled with the crowd of passengers, porters, and officious individuals in

blue coats and brass buttons, who seemed to spring up like mushrooms from the deck of a moored steamer to

obtrude their unnecessary services upon the independent passenger. I have often noticed with a certain

interest the spontaneous evolution of these fellows. They are not there when you arrive; five minutes after the

pilot has called 'Go ahead!' they, or at least their blue coats and brass buttons, have disappeared from deck

and gangway as completely as though they had been consigned to that locker which tradition ascribes to

Davy Jones. But, at the moment of starting, they are there, clean shaved, blue coated, and ravenous for fees. I

hastened on board. The Kamtschatka was one of my favourite ships. I saw was, because she emphatically no

longer is. I cannot conceive of any inducement which could entice me to make another voyage in her. Yes, I

know what you are going to say. She is uncommonly clean in the run aft, she has enough bluffing off in the

bows to keep her dry, and the lower berths are most of them double. She has a lot of advantages, but I won't

cross in her again. Excuse the digression. I got on board. I hailed a steward, whose red nose and redder

"One hundred and five, lower berth," said I, in the businesslike tone peculiar to men who think no more of

The steward took my portmanteau, greatcoat, and rug. I shall never forget the expression on his face. Not that

he turned pale. It is maintained by the most eminent divines that even miracles cannot change the course of

nature. I have no hesitation in saying that he did not turn pale; but, from his expression, I judged that he was

either about to shed tears, to sneeze, or to drop my portmanteau. As the latter contained two bottles of

particularly fine old sherry presented to me for my voyage by my old friend Snigginson van Pickyns, I felt

I supposed my Hermes, as he led me to the lower regions, had had a little grog, but I said nothing, and

followed him. One hundred and five was on the port side, well aft. There was nothing remarkable about the

stateroom. The lower berth, like most of those upon the Kamtschatka, was double. There was plenty of

room; there was the usual washing apparatus, calculated to convey an idea of luxury to the mind of a North

American Indian; there were the usual inefficient racks of brown wood, in which it is more easy to hand a

largesized umbrella than the common toothbrush of commerce. Upon the uninviting mattresses were

carefully bolded together those blankets which a great modern humorist has aptly compared to cold

buckwheat cakes. The question of towels was left entirely to the imagination. The glass decanters were filled

with a transparent liquid faintly tinged with brown, but from which an odour less faint, but not more pleasing,

ascended to the nostrils, like a faroff seasick reminiscence of oily machinery. Sadcoloured curtains

halfclosed the upper berth. The hazy June daylight shed a faint illumination upon the desolate little scene.

The steward deposited my traps and looked at me, as though he wanted to get away probably in search of

more passengers and more fees. It is always a good plan to start in favour with those functionaries, and I

"I'll try and make yer comfortable all I can," he remarked, as he put the coins in his pocket. Nevertheless,

there was a doubtful intonation in his voice which surprised me. Possibly his scale of fees had gone up, and

he was not satisfied; but on the whole I was inclined to think that, as he himself would have expressed it, he

NOTHING especially worthy of mention occurred during that day. We left the pier punctually, and it was

very pleasant to be fairly under way, for the weather was warm and sultry, and the motion of the steamer

produced a refreshing breeze. Everybody knows what the first day at sea is like. People pace the decks and

stare at each other, and occasionally meet acquaintances whom they did not know to be on board. There is the

usual uncertainty as to whether the food will be good, bad, or indifferent, until the first two meals have put

the matter beyond a doubt; there is the usual uncertainty about the weather, until the ship is fairly off Fire

Island. The tables are crowded at first, and then suddenly thinned. Palefaced people spring from their seats

and precipitate themselves towards the door, and each old sailor breathes more freely as his seasick

neighbour rushes from his side, leaving him plenty of elbowroom and an unlimited command over the

One passage across the Atlantic is very much like another, and we who cross very often do not make the

voyage for the sake of novelty. Whales and icebergs are indeed always objects of interest, but, after all, one

whale is very much like another whale, and one rarely sees an iceberg at close quarters. To the majority of us

the most delightful moment of the day on board an ocean steamer is when we have taken our last turn on

deck, have smoked our last cigar, and having succeeded in tiring ourselves, feel at liberty to turn in with a

clear conscience. On that first night of the voyage I felt particularly lazy, and went to bed in one hundred and

five rather earlier than I usually do. As I turned in, I was amazed to see that I was to have a companion. A

portmanteau, very like my own, lay in the opposite corner, and in the upper berth had been deposited a

neatlyfolded rug, with a stick and umbrella. I had hoped to be alone, and I was disappointed; but I wondered

Before I had been long in bed he entered. He was, as far as I could see, a very tall man, very thin, very pale,

with sandy hair and whiskers and colourless grey eyes. He had about him, I thought, an air of rather dubious

fashion; the short of man you might see in Wall Street, without being able precisely to say what he was doing

there the sort of man who frequents the Café Anglais, who always seems to be alone and who drinks

champagne; you might meet him on a racecourse, but he would never appear to be doing anything there

either. A little overdressed a little odd. There are three or four of his kind on every ocean steamer. I

made up my mind that I did not care to make his acquaintance, and I went to sleep saying to myself that I

would study his habits in order to avoid him. If he rose early, I would rise late; if he went to bed late, I would

go to bed early. I did not care to know him. If you once know people of that kind they are always turning up.

Poor fellow! I need not have taken the trouble to come to so many decisions about him, for I never saw him

I was sleeping soundly when I was suddenly waked by a loud noise. To judge from the sound, my

roommate must have sprung with a single leap from the upper berth to the floor. I heard him fumbling with

the latch and bolt of the door, which opened almost immediately, and then I heard his footsteps as he ran at

full speed down the passage, leaving the door open behind him. The ship was rolling a little, and I expected to

hear him stumble or fall, but he ran as though he were running for his life. The door swung on its hinges with

the motion of the vessel, and the sound annoyed me. I got up and shut it, and groped my way back to my

berth in the darkness. I went to sleep again; but I have no idea how long I slept.

When I awoke it was still quite dark, but I felt a disagreeable sensation of cold, and it seemed to me that the

air was damp. You know the peculiar smell of a cabin which has been wet with seawater. I covered myself

up as well as I could and dozed off again, framing complaints to be made the next day, and selecting the most

powerful epithets in the language. I could hear my roommate turn over in the upper berth. He had probably

returned while I was asleep. Once I thought I heard him groan, and I argued that he was seasick. That is

particularly unpleasant when one is below. Nevertheless I dozed off and slept till early daylight.

The ship was rolling heavily, much more than on the previous evening, and the grey light which came in

through the porthole changed in tint with every movement according as the angle of the vessel's side turned

the glass seawards or skywards. It was very cold unaccountably so for the month of June. I turned my

head and looked at the porthole, and saw to my surprise that it was wide open and hooked back. I believe I

swore audibly. Then I got up and shut it. As I turned back I glanced at the upper berth. The curtains were

drawn close together; my companion had probably felt cold as well as I. It struck me that I had slept enough.

The stateroom was uncomfortable, though, strange to say, I could not smell the dampness which had

annoyed me in the night. My roommate was still asleep excellent opportunity for avoiding him, so I

dressed at once and went on deck. The day was warm and cloudy, with an oily smell on the water. It was

seven o'clock as I came out much later than I had imagined. I came across the doctor, who was taking his

first sniff of the morning air. He was a young man from the West of Ireland a tremendous fellow, with

black hair and blue eyes, already inclined to be stout; he had a happygolucky, healthy look about him

"Well," said he, eyeing me with an air of ready interest, "it's a fine morning and it's not a fine morning. I don't

"It was very cold last night, I thought," I remarked. "However, when I looked about, I found that the porthole

was wide open. I had not noticed it when I went to bed. And the stateroom was damp, too."

"Oh nothing," he answered; "only everybody has complained of that stateroom for the last three trips."

"I shall complain too," I said. "It has certainly not been properly aired. It is a shame!"

"I don't believe it can be helped," answered the doctor. "I believe there is something well, it is not my

"You need not be afraid of frightening me," I replied. "I can stand any amount of damp. If I should get a bad

"It is not so much the damp," he remarked. "However, I dare say you will get on very well. Have you a

"Yes; a deuce of a fellow, who bolts out in the middle of the night, and leaves the door open."

Again the doctor glanced curiously at me. Then he lit the cigar and looked grave.

"Yes. I was asleep, but I waked up, and heard him moving. Then I felt cold and went to sleep again. This

"Look here," said the doctor quietly, "I don't care much for this ship. I don't care a rap for her reputation. I tell

you what I will do. I have a goodsized place up here. I will share it with you, though I don't know you from

I was very much surprised at the proposition. I could not imagine why he should take such a sudden interest

"You are very good, doctor," I said. "But, really, I believe even now the cabin could be aired, or cleaned out,

"We are not superstitious in our profession, sir," replied the doctor, "but the sea makes people so. I don't want

to prejudice you, and I don't want to frighten you, but if you will take my advice you will move in here. I

would as soon see you overboard," he added earnestly, "as know that you or any other man was to sleep in

"Just because on the last three trips the people who have slept there actually have gone overboard," he

The intelligence was startling and exceedingly unpleasant, I confess. I looked hard at the doctor to see

whether he was making game of me, but he looked perfectly serious. I thanked him warmly for his offer, but

told him I intended to be the exception to the rule by which every one who slept in that particular stateroom

went overboard. He did not say much, but looked as grave as ever, and hinted that, before we got across, I

should probably reconsider his proposal. In the course of time we went to breakfast, at which only an

inconsiderable number of passengers assembled. I noticed that one or two of the officers who breakfasted

with us looked grave. After breakfast I went into my stateroom in order to get a book. The curtains of the

upper berth were still closely drawn. Not a word was to be heard. My roommate was probably still asleep.

As I came out I met the steward whose business it was to look after me. He whispered that the captain wanted

to see me, and then scuttled away down the passage as if very anxious to avoid any questions. I went toward

"Your roommate had disappeared," he said. "He is known to have turned in early last night. Did you notice

The question coming, as it did, in exact confirmation of the fears the doctor had expressed half an hour

"He is the fourth, then?" I exclaimed. In answer to another question from the captain, I explained, without

mentioning the doctor, that I had heard the story concerning one hundred and five. He seemed very much

annoyed at hearing that I knew of it. I told him what had occurred in the night.

"What you say," he replied, "coincides almost exactly with what was told me by the roommates of two of

the other three. They bolt out of bed and run down the passage. Two of them were seen to go overboard by

the watch; we stopped and lowered boats, but they were not found. Nobody, however, saw or heard the man

who was lost last night if he is really lost. The steward, who is a superstitious fellow, perhaps, and

expected something to go wrong, went to look for him, this morning, and found his berth empty, but his

clothes lying about, just as he had left them. The steward was the only man on board who knew him by sight,

and he has been searching everywhere for him. He has disappeared! Now, sir, I want to beg you not to

mention the circumstance to any of the passengers; I don't want the ship to get a bad name, and nothing hangs

about an oceangoer like stories of suicides. You shall have your choice of any one of the officers' cabins you

"Very," said I; "and I am much obliged to you. But since I am alone, and have the stateroom to myself, I

would rather not move. If the steward will take out that unfortunate man's things, I would as leave stay where

I am. I will not say anything about the matter, and I think I can promise you that I will not follow my

The captain tried to dissuade me from my intention, but I preferred having a stateroom alone to being the

chum of any officer on board. I do not know whether I aced foolishly, but if I had taken his advice I should

have had nothing more to tell. There would have remained the disagreeable coincidence of several suicides

occurring among men who had slept in the same cabin, but that would have been all.

That was not the end of the matter, however, by any means. I obstinately made up my mind that I would not

be disturbed by such tales, and I even went so far as to argue the question with the captain. There was

something wrong about the stateroom, I said. It was rather damp. The porthole had been left open last night.

My roommate might have been ill when he came on board, and he might have become delirious after he

went to bed. He might even now be hiding somewhere on board, and might be found later. The place ought to

be aired and the fastening on the port looked to. If the captain would give me leave, I would see that what I

"Of course you have a right to stay where you are if you please," he replied, rather petulantly; "but I wish you

I did not see it in the same light, and left the captain, after promising to be silent concerning the

disappearance of my companion. The latter had had no acquaintances on board, and was not missed in the

course of the day. Towards evening I met the doctor again, and he asked me whether I had changed my mind.

WE played whist in the evening, and I went to bed late. I will confess now that I felt a disagreeable sensation

when I entered my stateroom. I could not help thinking of the tall man I had seen on the previous night, who

was now dead, drowned, tossing about in the long swell, two or three hundred miles astern. His face rose very

distinctly before me as I undressed, and I even went so far as to draw back the curtains of the upper berth, as

though to persuade myself that he was actually gone. I also bolted the door of the stateroom. Suddenly I

became aware that the porthole was open, and fastened back. This was more than I could stand. I hastily

threw on my dressinggown and went in search of Robert, the steward of my passage. I was very angry, I

remember, and when I found him I dragged him roughly to the door of one hundred and five, and pushed him

"What the deuce do you mean, you scoundrel, by leaving that port open every night? Don't you know it is

against the regulations? Don't you know that if the ship heeled and the water began to come in, ten men could

not shut it? I will report you to the captain, you blackguard, for endangering the ship!"

I was exceedingly wroth. The man trembled and turned pale, and then began to shut the round glass plate

"If you please, sir," faltered Robert, "there's nobody on board as can keep this 'ere port shut at night. You can

try it yourself, sir. I ain't agoing to stop hany longer on board o' this vessel, sir; I ain't, indeed. But if I was

you, sir, I'd just clear out and go and sleep with the surgeon, or something, I would. Look 'ere, sir, is that

fastened what you may call securely, or not, sir? Try it, sir, see if it will move a hinch."

"Well, sir," continued Robert triumphantly, "I wager my reputation as a A1 steward that in 'arf an hour it will

be open again; fasteneed back, too, sir, that's the horful thing fastened back!"

"If I find it open in the night, Robert, I will give you a sovereign. It is not possible. You may go."

"Soverin' did you say, sir? Very good, sir. Thank ye, sir. Goodnight, sir. Pleasant reepose, sir, and all

Robert scuttled away, delighted at being released. Of course, I thought he was trying to account for his

negligence by a silly story, intended to frighten me, and I disbelieved him. The consequence was that he got

I went to bed, and five minutes after I had rolled myself up in my blankets the inexorable Robert extinguished

the light that burned steadily behind the groundglass pane near the door. I lay quite still in the dark trying to

go to sleep, but I soon found that impossible. It had been some satisfaction to be angry with the steward, and

the diversion had banished that unpleasant sensation I had at first experienced when I thought of the drowned

man who had been my chum; but I was no longer sleepy, and I lay awake for some time, occasionally

glancing at the porthole, which I could just see from where I lay, and which, in the darkness, looked like a

faintlyluminous soupplate suspended in blackness. I believe I must have lain there for an hour, and, as I

remember, I was just dozing into sleep when I was roused by a draught of cold air, and by distinctly feeling

the spray of the sea blown upon my face. I started to my feet, and not having allowed in the dark for the

motion of the ship, I was instantly thrown violently across the stateroom upon the couch which was placed

beneath the porthole. I recovered myself immediately, however, and climbed upon my knees. The porthole

Now these things are facts. I was wide awake when I got up, and I should certainly have been waked by the

fall had I still been dozing. Moreover, I bruised my elbows and knees badly, and the bruises were there on the

following morning to testify to the fact, if I myself had doubted it. The porthole was wide open and fastened

back a thing so unaccountable that I remember very well feeling astonishment rather that fear when I

discovered it. I at once closed the plate again, and screwed down the loop nut with all my strength. It was

very dark in the stateroom. I reflected that the port had certainly been opened within an hour after Robert

had at first shut it in my presence, and I determined to watch it, and see whether it would open again. Those

brass fittings are very heavy and by no means easy to move; I could not believe that the clamp had been

turned by the shaking of the screw. I stood peering out through the thick glass at the alternate white and grey

streaks of the sea that foamed beneath the ship's side. I must have remained there a quarter of an hour.

Suddenly, as I stood, I distinctly heard something moving behind me in one of the berths, and a moment

afterwards, just as I turned instinctively to look though I could, of course, see nothing in the darkness I

heard a very faint groan. I sprang across the stateroom, and tore the curtains of the upper berth aside,

thrusting in my hands to discover if there were any one there. There was some one.

I remember that the sensation as I put my hands forward was as though I were plunging them into the air of a

damp cellar, and from behind the curtains came a gust of wind that smelled horribly of stagnant seawater. I

laid hold of something that had the shape of a man's arm, but was smooth, and wet, and icy cold. But

suddenly, as I pulled, the creature sprang violently forward against me, a clammy oozy mass, as it seemed to

me, heavy and wet, yet endowed with a sort of supernatural strength. I reeled across the stateroom, and in an

instant the door opened and the thing rushed out. I had not had time to be frightened, and quickly recovering

myself, I sprang through the door and gave chase at the top of my speed, but I was too late. Ten yards before

me I could see I am sure I saw it a dark shadow moving in the dimly lighted passage, quickly as the

shadow of a fast horse thrown before a dogcart by the lamp on a dark night. But in a moment it had

disappeared, and I found myself holding on to the polished rail that ran along the bulkhead where the passage

turned towards the companion. My hair stood on end, and the cold perspiration rolled down my face. I am not

Still I doubted my senses, and pulled myself together. It was absurd, I thought. The Welsh rarebit I had

eaten had disagreed with me. I had been in a nightmare. I made my way back to my stateroom, and entered

it with an effort. The whole place smelled of stagnant seawater, as it had when I had waked on the previous

evening. It required my utmost strength to go in, and grope among my things for a box of wax lights. As I

lighted a railway reading lantern which I always carry in case I want to read after the lamps are out, I

perceived that the porthole was again open, and a sort of creeping horror began to take possession of me

which I never felt before, nor wish to feel again. But I got a light and proceeded to examine the upper berth,

But I was disappointed. The bed had been slept in, and the smell of the sea was strong; but the bedding was

as dry as a bone. I fancied that Robert had not had the courage to make the bed after the accident of the

previous night it had all been a hedeous dream. I drew the curtains back as far as I could and examined the

place very carefully. It was perfectly dry. But the porthole was open again. With a sort of dull bewilderment

of horror I closed it and screwed it down, and thrusting my heavy stick through the brass loop, wrenched it

with all my might, till the thick metal began to bend under the pressure. Then I hooked my reading lantern

into the red velvet at the head of the couch, and sat down to recover my senses if I could. I sat there all night,

unable to think of rest hardly able to think at all. But the porthole remained closed, and I did not believe it

The morning dawned at last, and I dressed myself slowly, thinking over all that had happened in the night. It

was a beautiful day and I went on deck, glad to get out into the early, pure sunshine, and to smell the breeze

from the blue water, so different from the noisome, stagnant odour of my stateroom. Instinctively I turned

aft, towards the surgeon's cabin. There he stood, with a pipe inhis mouth, taking his morning airing precisely

"Doctor, you were quite right," said I. "There is something wrong about that place."

"I thought you would change your mind," he answered, rather triumphantly. "You have had a bad night, eh?

I then tried to explain as clearly as possible precisely what had occurred, not omitting to state that I had been

scared as I had never been scared in my whole life before. I dwelt particularly on the phenomenon of the

porthole, which was a fact to which I could testify, even if the rest had been an illusion. I had closed it twice

in the night, and the second time I had actually bent the brass in wrenching it with my stick. I believe I

"You seem to think I am likely to doubt the story," said the doctor, smiling at my detailed account of the state

of the porthole. "I do not doubt in the least. I renew my invitation to you. Bring your traps here, and take half

"Come and take half of mine for one night," I said. "Help me to get at the bottom of this thing."

"Not I," said the doctor quickly. "It is my business to keep my wits aobut me not to go fiddling about with

"Do you really believe it is a ghost?" I enquired, rather contemptuously. But as I spoke I remembered very

well the horrible sensation of the supernatural which had got possession of me during the night. The doctor

"Have you any reasonable explanation of these things to offer?" he asked. "No; you have not. Well, you say

you will find an explanation. I say that you won't, sir, simply because there is not any."

"But, my dear sir," I retorted, "do you, a man of science, mean to tell me that such things cannot be

"I do," he answered stoutly. "And, if they could, I would not be concerned in the explanation."

I did not care to spend another night alone in the stateroom, and yet I was obstinately determined to get at

the root of the disturbances. I do not believe there are many men who would have slept there alone, after

passing two such nights. But I made up my mind to try it, if I could not get any one to share a watch with me.

The doctor was evidently not inclined for such an experiment. He said he was a surgeon, and that in case any

accident occurred on board he must be always in readiness. He could not afford to have his nerves unsettled.

Perhaps he was quite right, but I am inclined to think that his precaution was prompted by his inclination. On

enquiry, he informed me that there was no one on board who would be likely to join me in my investigations,

and after a little more conversation I left him. A little later I met the captain, and told him my story. I said

that, if no one would spend the night with me, I would ask leave to have the light burning all night, and

"Look here," said he, "I will tell you what I will do. I will share your watch myself, and we will see what

happens. It is my belief that we can find out between us. There may be some fellow skulking on board, who

steals a passage by frightening the passengers. It is just possible that there may be something queer in the

I suggested taking the ship's carpenter below and examining the place; but I was overjoyed at the captain's

offer to spend the night with me. He accordingly sent for the workman and ordered him to do anything I

required. We went below at once. I had all the bedding cleared out of the upper berth, and we examined the

place thoroughly to see if there was a board loose anywhere, or a panel which could be opened or pushed

aside. We tried the planks everywhere, tapped the flooring, unscrewed the fittings of the lower berth and took

it to pieces in short, there was not a square inch of the stateroom which was not searched and tested.

Everything was in perfect order, and we put everything back in its place. As we were finishing our work,

"You were right about the porthole, Robert," I said, and I gave him the promised sovereign. The carpenter did

his work silently and skilfully, following my directions. When he had done he spoke.

"I'm a plain man, sir," he said. "But it's my belief you had better just turn out your things, and let me run half

a dozen fourinch screws through the door of this cabin. There's no good never came o' this cabin yet, sir,

and that's all about it. There's been four lives lost out o' here to my own remembrance, and that is four trips.

"Better give it up, sir better give it up! It's a precious bad job," repeated the workman, putting his tools in

But my spirits had risen considerably at the prospect of having the captain's company, and I made up my

mind not to be prevented from going to the end of this strange business. I abstained from Welsh rarebits and

grog that evening, and did not even join in the customary game of whist. I wanted to be quite sure of my

nerves, and my vanity made me anxious to make a good figure in the captain's eyes.

THE captain was one of those splendidly tough and cheerful specimens of seafaring humanity whose

combined courage, hardihood, and calmness in difficulty leads them naturally into high posiitons of trust. He

was not the man to be led away by an idle tale, and the mere fact that he was willing to join me in the

investigation was proof that he thought there was something seriously wrong, which could not be accounted

for on ordinary theories, nor laughed down as a common superstition. To some extent, too, his reputation was

at stake, as well as the reputation of the ship. It is no light thing to lose passengers overboard, and he knew it.

About ten o'clock that evening, as I was smoking a last cigar, he came up to me, and drew me aside from the

"This is a serious matter, Mr. Brisbane," he said. "We must make up our minds either way to be

disappointed or to have a pretty rough time of it. You see I cannot afford to laugh at the affair, and I will ask

you to sign your name to a statement of whatever occurs. If nothing happens tonight we will try it again

So we went below, and entered the stateroom. As we went in I could see Robert the steward, who stood a

little further down the passage, watching us, with his usual grin, as though certain that something dreadful

"Supposing we put your portmanteau before the door," he suggested. "One of us can sit on it. Nothing can get

I found it as I had left it in the morning. Indeed, without using a lever, as I had done, no one could have

opened it. I drew back the curtains of the upper berth so that I could see well into it. By the captain's advice I

lighted my reading lantern, and placed it so that it shone upon the white sheets above. He insisted upon sitting

on the portmanteau, declaring that he wished to be able to swear that he had sat before the door.

Then he requested me to search the stateroom thoroughly, an operation very soon accomplished, as it

consisted merely in looking beneath the lower berth and under the couch below the porthole. The spaces were

"It is impossible for any human being to get in," I said, "or for any human being to open the port."

"Very good," said the captain calmly. "If we see anything now, it must be either imagination or something

"The first time it happened," said the captain, crossing his legs and leaning back against the door, "was in

March. The passenger who slept here, in the upper berth, turned out have been a lunatic at all events, he

was known to have been a little touched, and he had taken his passage without the knowledge of his friends.

He rushed out in the middle of the night, and threw himself overboard, before the officer who had the watch

could stop him. We stopped and lowered a boat; it was a quiet night, just before that heavy weather came on;

but we could not find him. Of course his suicide was afterwards accounted for on the ground of his insanity."

"Not often no," said the captain; "never before in my experience, though I have heard of it happening on

board of other ships. Well, as I was saying, that occurred in March. On the very next trip What are you

I believe I gave no answer. My eyes were riveted upon the porthole. It seemed to me that the brass loopnut

was beginning to turn very slowly upon the screw so slowly, however, that I was not sure it moved at all. I

watched it intently, fixing its position in my mind, and trying to ascertain whether it changed. Seeing where I

"It moves!" he exclaimed, in a tone of conviction. "No, it does not," he added, after a minute.

"If it were the jarring of the screw," said I, "it would have opened during the day; but I found it this evening

I rose and tried the nut. It was certainly loosened, for by an effort I could move it with my hands.

"The queer thing," said the captain, "is that the second man who was lost is supposed to have got through that

very port. We had a terrible time over it. It was in the middle of the night, and the weather was very heavy;

there was an alarm that one of the ports was open and the sea running in. I came below and found everything

flooded, the water pouring in every time she rolled, and the whole port swinging from the top bolts not the

porthole in the middle. Well, we managed to shut it, but the water did some damage. Ever since that the place

smells of seawater from time to time. We supposed the passenger had thrown himself out, though the Lord

only knows how he did it. The steward kept telling me that he cannot keep anything shut here. Upon my word

"Yes distinctly," I said, and I shuddered as that same odour of stagnant seawater grew stronger in the

cabin. "Now, to smell like this, the place must be damp," I continued, "and yet when I examined it with the

carpenter this morning everything was perfectly dry. It is most extraordinary hallo!"

My reading lantern, which had been placed in the upper berth, was suddenly extinguished. There was still a

good deal of light from the pane of ground glass near the door, behind which loomed the regulation lamp.

The ship rolled heavily, and the curtain of the upper berth swung far out into the stateroom and back again. I

rose quickly from my seat on the edge of the bed, and the captain at the same moment started to his feet with

a loud cry of surprise. I had turned with the intention of taking down the lantern to examine it, when I heard

his exclamation, and immediately afterwards his call for help. I sprang towards him. He was wrestling with

all his might with the brass loop of the port. It seemed to turn against his hands in spite of all his efforts. I

caught up my cane, a heavy oak stick I always used to carry, and thrust it through the ring and bore on it with

all my strength. But the strong wood snapped suddenly and I fell upon the couch. When I rose again the port

was wide open, and the captain was standing with his back against the door, pale to the lips.

"There is something in that berth!" he cried, in a strange voice, his eyes almost starting from his head. "Hold

But instead of taking his place, I sprang upon the lower bed, and seized something which lay in the upper

It was something ghostly, horrible beyond words, and it moved in my grip. It was like the body of a man long

drowned, and yet it moved, and had the strength of ten men living; but I gripped it with all my might the

slippery, oozy, horrible thing the dead white eyes seemed to stare at me out of the dusk; the putrid odour

of rank seawater was about it, and its shiny hair hung in foul wet curls over its dead face. I wrestled with the

dead thing; it thrust itself upon me and forced me back and nearly broke my arms; it wound its corpse's arms

about my neck, the living death, and overpowered me, so that I, at last, cried aloud and fell, and left my hold.

As I fell the thing sprang across me, and seemed to throw itself upon the captain. When I last saw him on his

feet his face was white and his lips set. It seemed to me that he struck a violent blow at the dead being, and

The thing paused an instant, seeming to hover over his prostrate body, and I could have screamed again for

very fright, but I had no voice left. The thing vanished sudddenly, and it seemed to my disturbed senses that it

made its exit through the open port, though how that was possible, considering the smallness of the aperture,

is more than any one can tell. I lay a long time on the floor, and the captain lay beside me. At last I partially

recovered my senses and moved, and instantly I knew that my arm was broken the small bone of my left

I got upon my feet somehow, and with my remaining hand I tried to raise the captain. He groaned and moved,

Well, do you want to hear any more? There is nothing more. That is the end of my story. The carpenter

carried out his scheme of running half a dozen fourinch screws through the door of one hundred and five;

and if ever you take a passage in the Kamtschatka, you may ask for a berth in that stateroom. You will be

I finished the trip in the surgeon's cabin. He doctored my broken arm, and advised me not to "fiddle about

with ghosts and things" any more. The captain was very silent, and never sailed again in that ship, though it is

still running. And I will not sail in her either. It was a very disagreeable experience, and I was very badly

frightened, which is a thing I do not like. That is all. That is how I saw a ghost if it was a ghost. It was