“Hullo, boys,” said he, “been busy?”

“How are ye, sir?” replied Handy Solomon.  “Good Lord, mates, look at that!”

Our eyes followed the direction of his forefinger.  Against the dark blue of the evening sky to northward glowed a faint phosphorescence, arch-shaped, from which shot, with pulsating regularity, long shafts of light.  They beat almost to the zenith, and back again, a half dozen times, then the whole illumination disappeared with the suddenness of gas turned out.

“Now I wonder what that might be!” marvelled Thrackles.

“Northern lights,” hazarded Pulz.  “I’ve seen them almost like that in the Behring Seas.”

“Northern lights your eye!” sneered Handy Solomon.  “You may have seen them in the Behring Seas, but never this far south, and in August, and you can, kiss the Book on that.”

“What do you think, sir?” Thrackles inquired of the assistant.

“Devil’s fire,” replied Percy Darrow briefly.  “The island’s a little queer.  I’ve noticed it before.”

“Debbil fire,” repeated the Nigger.

Darrow turned directly to him.

“Yes, devil’s fire; and devils, too, for all I know; and certainly vampires.  Did you ever hear of vampires, Doctor?”

“No,” growled the Nigger.

“Well, they are women, wonderful, beautiful women.  A man on a long voyage would just smack his lips to see them.  They have shiny grey eyes, and lips red as raspberries.  When you meet them they will talk with you and go home with you.  And then when you’re asleep they tear a little hole in your neck with their sharp claws, and they suck the blood with their red lips.  When they aren’t women, they take the shape of big bats like birds.”  He turned to me with so beautifully casual an air that I wanted to clap him on the back with the joy of it.

“By the way, Eagen, have you noticed those big bats the last few evenings, over by the cliff? I can’t make out in the dusk whether they are vampires or just plain bats.”  He directed his remarks again to the Nigger.  “Next time you see any of those big bats, Doctor, just you notice close.  If they have just plain, black eyes, they’re all right; but if they have grey eyes, with red rims around ’em, they’re vampires.  I wish you’d let me know, if you do find out.  It’s interesting.”

“Don’ get me near no bats,” growled the Nigger.

“Where’s Selover?” inquired Darrow.

“He stays aboard,” I hastened to say.  “Wants to keep an eye on the ship.”

“That’s laudable.  What have you been doing?”

“We’ve been cleaning ship.  Just finished yesterday evening.”

“What next?”

“We were thinking of wrecking the Golden Horn.”

“Quite right.  Well, if you want any help with your engines or anything of the sort, call on me.”

He arose and began to light his lantern.  “I hope as how you’re getting on well there above, sir?” ventured Handy Solomon insinuatingly.