For there was a whispered conference
over the scuttle.
Directly a shadow glided across the forecastle and noiselessly
approached the unsuspecting Bob. It was one of the watch with the end
of a rope leading out of sight up the scuttle. Pausing an instant,
the sailor pressed softly the chest of his victim, sounding his
slumbers; and then hitching the cord to his ankle, returned to the
deck.
Hardly was his back turned, when a long limb was thrust from a hammock
opposite, and Doctor Long Ghost, leaping forth warily, whipped the
rope from Bob's ankle, and fastened it like lightning to a great
lumbering chest, the property of the man. who had just disappeared.
Scarcely was the thing done, when lo! with a thundering bound, the
clumsy box was torn from its fastenings, and banging from side to
side, flew toward the scuttle. Here it jammed; and thinking that Bob,
who was as strong as a windlass, was grappling a beam and trying to
cut the line, the jokers on deck strained away furiously. On a
sudden, the chest went aloft, and striking against the mast, flew
open, raining down on the heads of a party the merciless shower of
things too numerous to mention.
Of course the uproar roused all hands, and when we hurried on deck,
there was the owner of the box, looking aghast at its scattered
contents, and with one wandering hand taking the altitude of a bump
on his head.
