"
"Then all I can say is this, that as sure as I am a living sinner, I
have seen him if he is alive, and, if he is dead, I have seen his
ghost."
"You believe in visitations from the other world then, Willis?"
"I cannot discredit the evidences of my own senses, can I?"
"No, certainly not."
"Besides, this brings to my recollection a similar circumstance that
happened to an old comrade of mine. Sam Walker is as fine a fellow as
ever lived, he sailed with me on board the _Norfolk_, and I know him
to be incapable of telling a falsehood. Though his name is Sam
Walker, we used to call him 'Hot Codlins.'"
"Why, Willis?"
"Because he had an old woman with a child tatooed on his arm, instead
of an anchor, as is usual in the navy."
"A portrait of _Notre Dame de Bon Lecours_, I shouldn't wonder," said
Jack; "but what had that to do with hot codlins: a codlin is a fish,
is it not?"
"I will explain that another time," said Willis, the shadow of a smile
passing over his pale features. "The short and the long of the story
is, that Sam once saw a ghost."
"Well, tell us all about it, Willis."
"But I am afraid you will not believe the story if I do."
"On the contrary, I promise to believe it in advance."
"Very well, Master Jack. Did you ever see a windmill?"
"No, but I know what sort of things they are from description.
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