He tried to move without making a sound. He raised his face and saw Captain Grindle looking down. The captain’s eyes were great balls of terror. He tried to speak, but could not. He backed away from the rail as Hal rose before him. The fog-blinded captain could see very little and could not believe what he saw. This thing, plastered with red from head to foot, looked more like a demon than a man. It reminded Grindle of the Gent. But it could not be. The Gent was drowned and a funeral service had been said over him. This vision, appearing and disappearing through the fog, must be his ghost. It had come back to take revenge. The captain suddenly regretted that he had ever insulted the Gent or threatened him with a flogging. Hal stood up on the gunwale. His burning eyes looking out from the mask of blood terrified the captain. Grindle backed away, muttering: ‘No, no!’ And again: ‘No, no! Don’t.’ The other men were now climbing to the deck to see the fun. Hal spread his arms as if he were about to take off from his perch on the gunwale and fly at his enemy.
