“God!” I heard the Skipper gasp, and he fumbled in his side pocket.

I saw the two figures which had dropped on to the t’gallant, run swiftly along the yard—­one to the starboard and the other to the port yard-arms.

On the other side of the mast, the Second Mate’s pistol cracked out twice, sharply.  Then, from over my head the Skipper fired twice, and then again; but with what effect, I could not tell.  Abruptly, as he fired his last shot, I was aware of an indistinct Something, gliding down the starboard royal backstay.  It was descending full upon Plummer, who, all unconscious of the thing, was staring towards the t’gallant yard.

“Look out above you, Plummer!” I almost shrieked.

“What? where?” he called, and grabbed at the stay, and waved his flare, excitedly.

Down on the upper topsail yard, Quoin’s and Jaskett’s voices rose simultaneously, and in the identical instant, their flares went out.  Then Plummer shouted, and his light went utterly.  There were left only the two lanterns, and the blue-light held by the Skipper, and that, a few seconds afterwards, finished and died out.

The Skipper and the Second Mate were shouting to the men upon the yard, and I heard them answer, in shaky voices.  Out on the crosstrees, I could see, by the light from my lantern, that Plummer was holding in a dazed fashion to the backstay.

“Are you all right, Plummer?” I called.

“Yes,” he said, after a little pause; and then he swore.

“Come in off that yard, you men!” the Skipper was singing out.  “Come in! come in!”

Down on deck, I heard someone calling; but could not distinguish the words.  Above me, pistol in hand, the Skipper was glancing about, uneasily.

“Hold up that light, Jessop,” he said.  “I can’t see!”

Below us, the men got off the yard, into the rigging.

“Down on deck with you!” ordered the Old Man.

“As smartly as you can!”

“Come in off there, Plummer!” sung out the Second Mate.  “Get down with the others!”

“Down with you, Jessop!” said the Skipper, speaking rapidly.  “Down with you!”

I got over the crosstrees, and he followed.  On the other side, the Second Mate was level with us.  He had passed his lantern to Plummer, and I caught the glint of his revolver in his right hand.  In this fashion, we reached the top.  The man who had been stationed there with the blue-lights, had gone.  Afterwards, I found that he went down on deck as soon as they were finished.  There was no sign of the man with the flare on the starboard craneline.  He also, I learnt later, had slid down one of the backstays on to the deck, only a very short while before we reached the top.  He swore that a great black shadow of a man had come suddenly upon him from aloft.  When I heard that, I remembered the thing I had seen descending upon Plummer.  Yet the man who had gone out upon the port craneline—­the one who had bungled with the lighting of his flare—­was still where we had left him; though his light was burning now but dimly.