A portion of Jack's time was passed with the surgeon, between whom a great intimacy had sprung up.

Time did not, therefore, hang heavily on the hands of the young men; for even during the night their thoughts were busy forming projects, or in embroidering the canvas of the future with those fairy designs which youth alone can create.
One morning Willis arrived on deck, pale, and with an air of fatigue and lassitude altogether unusual.

He gazed anxiously into every nook and cranny of the ship.
"Whatever is the matter, Willis ?" inquired Jack.

"Have you seen the Flying Dutchman ?" "No, Master Jack," said he in a forlorn tone; "but I have either seen the captain or his ghost." "What! the captain of the _Hoboken_ ?" "No; the captain of the _Nelson_." "In a dream ?" "No, my eyes were as wide open as they are now; he looked into my cabin, and spoke to me." "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.