Show A MISFIT every boy with knowledge of adventurous otherwise novels of action knows of alia phan todi ship tho of tho high seas but it has not been known that ships themselves haunted and that in tho service of tho coast thoro is a vessel now in that la by her own supposed to bo haunted yet the foot schooner of tho coast survey Is looked upon in tho s a very undesirable vessel to bo aboard of about her tharo 1 atmosphere of gloom that wardroom cannot dispel duty on board her lias been would bo a pestilence and have been told by officers who have cruised aboard her that anro not good for timid people to hear officers have hesitated about telling uncanny stories but they have become sufficiently to inako a billet to duty aboard the dagro unwelcome among the coast survey men jhc mohawk was launched anno 10 1876 at and eho was then thu largest sailing yacht afloat william T garner her young millionaire owner was very proud of hs now craft and all tho then leaders of new york society were invited to participate in tho good timo afloat with which her launch was celebrated commodore but 33 years old and his young wife en charmingly and he trim speedy mohawk was christened with unusually merry festivities soon after that she was capsized by a sudden squall off the landing at stapleton N and els people acro drowned like rats in her cabin castlo then tho mohawk was raised nt a cost of and purchased by the united states government for tho sen ice of the coast survey her ninno was changed to for jack tar is superstitious ious and with the old namo it would have been to ship a crow lieutenant king describes hl initial experience when he was assigned to duty on tho dagro in this way sho had her full complement of officers minus one when I 1 boarded her at newport to complete tho list cabin was occupied but tho port cabin by the companion way and to that I 1 was assigned wu bad a jolly wardroom mess that night and I 1 retired from it early as I 1 was tired by my journey to join tho vessel the others alio acro still at the regarded my retirement to tho port cabin in absolute silence having bade ino good their silence did not lead me to suspect anything though I 1 knew that abo dagro had been tho mohawk my cabin door biad the usual cabin lock of brass rand tho porthole por tholo was also securely fastened tharo haro been no one under the bed or beneath each waa a facing of solid oak paneling I 1 undressed lazily and left the light burning dimly in my bracket lamp I 1 tried conscientiously to go to sleep for I 1 dont know how long with my back turned to tho light the loiso ceased in the wardroom after a time and I 1 knew mhd others hail turned in but I 1 felt nervous and restless I 1 turned over and faced the light thoroughly wido awake and tharo in tho single chair sat an elderly man seemingly wrape in doca thought ho wag dressed in a blue and biad a long gray beard handa were clasped in hia lap und his eyes acro downcast his faco was not pale and ghastly as tho faces of ghosts arc ly supposed to be but ruddy and weather beaten 1 I regarded him in scared for I 1 dont know how long though it seemed an hour bo or it or whatever it wa disappeared during that time abd tbd fili ost and such I 1 now believe it to have been enado not a motion nor did it tay anything presently I 1 looked it was gone at breakfast the others watched me critically as I 1 took my beat I 1 had wt in tended to say anything about my experience for I 1 thought then 1 had seen edmo sort of hallucination and strongly suspected that I 1 was on insanity lieutenant irving asked mo afi had slept well you anything ho inquired I 1 then frankly admitted that 1 bad and my experience peri ence then I 1 learned eliat each one of tho boscn ot here biad tried the port cabin atone or another and each biad seen tho selfsame apparition it had acted in exactly tho way in each cac except in the caselt irving who shot at it with hia pistol when it immediately disappeared of the others had been led by their curiosity to inquire any one lost on tho mohawk resembled the figure and found that none of tho unfortunate ones at nil fitted tho description it had been dubbed by them the misfit ghost that ono experience was enough for me and after that I 1 by courtesy charod the cabin of another fellow lieutenant irving and others corroborate the story tit lieutenant king and as additional evidence that the dagro is haunted lieutenant irvina describes a new yeara avo experience of tho officers that Is to eay the least novel in the way of supernatural it waa nt mess the first toast and wives had been drunk as it always is by yankee sailors the world over on occasion of festivity every one was feeling happy or thackeray has it pleasant 1 when tho sliding doors the wardroom from the companion way closed slowly with a loud squeaking noise they had seldom been closed and it took tho antiro strength of a roan to start them from their rusty fastenings yet upon tills occasion they started easily and closed tightly while the of ficera jumped to thel feet in astonishment ish ment half a dozen men hauled them open in haste but not a soul was behind them or anywhere about it must be our old friend of the port cabin suggested one and in awo stricken tho health of tho mient ghost vaa drunk ibella delphia press |