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." "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." "There are none in Scotland," continued Willis; "at least I never saw one there." "How do they manage to grind their corn then?
There should be oats in the land o' cakes, at all events," said Jack, with a smile.
"Well, in countries that have plenty of water, they can dispense with mills on land.