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Show HOW SAILORS "LAY GHOSTS" Men of the Sea Give Shoct Shrift to Matter-of-Fact Spooks That Annoy Them. The first lieutenant hail just been relieved, writes "I. S. T." in the London Lon-don Mail, and was wending his way from the destroyer's bridge to his cabin. It was fairly calm, but very dark, and there was little to be seen but a line of waves on each side and the dim form of a second destroyer in station astern. Even for this "No. 1" had' no eyes, for he had had a weary middle watch and bed was his only interest. But he did notice a weird figure, apparently human, crawling about near the "bandstand" of the after gun. He went to investigate and found: the surgeon probationer, clad in a chamois leather overall suit, in which he had been sleeping on the wardroom ward-room couch below for every one-must one-must sleep more or less clad, ready to turn out at a moment's notice. He was feeling about in the dark, ap-, parently in search of something. "What on earth are you doing,. Doc?" he asked, and got the brief answer, an-swer, "Laying a ghost." The firstj lieutenant grunted . and disappeared ' below, leaving the doctor to insert a paper wedge between a loose rattling shell and the side of the. stand In,' which it was placed. A ghost, In naval language, is a noise which cannot be accounted for. -In a destroyer one becomes a con- noisseur in noises. , The steering gear clanks heavily at ' Intervals and the rhythmic beat of the j' engines is always there, changing only when the speed le altered. In heavy I weather the washing and beating of the water makes a hundred noises. But ghosts are extra noises and ' should be avoidable. Some misplaced or ill-fitting article or a loose screw may cause the noise, and with the ship's vibration it will knock or rattle -.-with a regular persistency that will drive the most placid mind nenrly to frenzy, .and sleep will rarely be the '. victim's portion until he has left his warm bunk and found the cause of the trouble and the ghost is laid. , |