"I saw Mate Singleton walking on the forecastle-head. Every now and then he went to the rail. He seemed to be vomiting. It was too dark to see much. Then he went aft along the port side of the house, and came forward again on the starboard side. He went to where the axe was kept."
"Where was that?"
"Near the starboard corner of the forward house. All the Turner boats have an emergency box, with an axe and other tools, in easy reach. The officer on watch carried the key."
"Could you see what he was doing?"
"No; but he was fumbling at the box. I heard him."
"Where did he go after that?"
"He went aft."
"You could not see him?"
"I didn't look. I thought I saw something white moving below me, and I was watching it."
"This white thing—what did it look like?"
"Like a dog, I should say. It moved about, and then disappeared."
"How?"
"I don't understand."
"Over the rail?"
"Oh—no, sir. It faded away."
"Had you ever heard talk among the men of the Ella being a haunted ship?"
"Yes—but not until after I'd signed on her!"
"Was there some talk of this 'white thing'?"
"Yes."
"Before the murders?"
"No, sir; not till after. I guess I saw it first."
"What did the men say about it?"
"They thought it scared Mr. Schwartz overboard. The Ella's been unlucky as to crews. They call her a 'devil ship.'"
"Did you see Mr. Singleton on deck between two and three o'clock?"
"No, sir."
The cross-examination was very short:—
"What sort of night was it?"
"Very dark."
"Would the first mate, as officer on watch, be supposed to see that the emergency case you speak of was in order?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did the officer on watch remain on the forecastle-head?"
"Mr. Schwartz did not; Mr. Singleton did, mostly except when he went back to strike the bells."
"Could Mr. Singleton have been on deck without you seeing him?"
"Yes, if he did not move around or smoke. I could see his pipe lighted."
"Did you see his pipe that night?"
"No, sir."
"If you were sick, would you be likely to smoke?"
This question, I believe, was ruled out.
"In case the wheel of the vessel were lashed for a short time, what would happen?"
"Depends on the weather. She'd be likely to come to or fall off considerable."
"Would the lookout know it?"
"Yes, sir."
"How?"
"The sails would show it, sir."
That closed the proceedings for the day. The crowd seemed reluctant to disperse. Turner's lawyers were in troubled consultation with him. Singleton was markedly more cheerful, and I thought the prosecution looked perturbed and uneasy. I went back to jail that night, and dreamed of Elsa—not as I had seen her that day, bending forward, watching every point of the evidence, but as I had seen her so often on the yacht, facing into the salt breeze as if she loved it, her hands in the pockets of her short white jacket, her hair blowing back from her forehead in damp, close-curling rings.
CHAPTER XXI
"A BAD WOMAN"
Charlie Jones was called first, on the second day of the trial. He gave his place of birth as Pennsylvania, and his present shore address as a Sailors' Christian Home in New York. He offered, without solicitation, the information that he had been twenty-eight years in the Turner service, and could have been "up at the top," but preferred the forecastle, so that he could be an influence to the men.
His rolling gait, twinkling blue eyes, and huge mustache, as well as the plug of tobacco which he sliced with a huge knife, put the crowd in good humor, and relieved somewhat the somberness of the proceedings.
"Where were you between midnight and 4 A.M. on the morning of August 12?"
