"
"Impossible, Willis."
"I assure you it is the case though, impossible or not."
"Where is he then?" exclaimed both the young men, starting.
"That I know not; I have looked for him everywhere."
"What did he say to you?"
"At first he said, How d'ye do, Willis?"
"Naturally; and what then?"
"He asked me what I thought of the cloud that was gathering in the
south-west."
"Imagination, Willis."
"But look there, you can see a storm is gathering in that quarter."
"The nightmare, Willis. But what did you say to him?"
"I could not answer at the moment; my tongue clove to the roof of my
mouth, and I rose to take hold of his hand."
"Then he disappeared, did he not?"
"Yes, Master Jack."
"I thought so."
"But I heard the door of my cabin shut behind him, as distinctly as I
now hear the waves breaking on the sides of the corvette at this
moment."
"You ought to have run after him."
"I did so."
"Well, did you catch him?"
"No; I was stopped by the watch, for I had nothing on me but my shirt;
the officers stared, the sailors laughed, and the doctor felt my
pulse. But, for all that, I am satisfied there is a mystery
somewhere."
"But, Willis, the thing is altogether improbable."
"Well, look here; Captain Littlestone is either dead or alive, is he
not?"
"Yes," replied Jack, "there can be no medium between these
hypotheses.
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