AN IMAGINARY SHIPWRECK. 5

mate, which was afterwards repeated to Ben by that
officer much as follows :

“You see, lad, your father don’t take kindly to the
yarn that ’ere shell-back has been spinnin’; but at the
same time he ain’t willin’ to say it’s all wrong. When it
comes to shipwrecked crews sailormen have mighty soft
hearts, for there’s no tellin’ when they may be in the
same boat.”

“Ts anything to be done toward finding out the truth?”

«Bless your heart, lad, what could be done? The
captain don’t want to act suspicious - like, because there’s
no reason for sayin’ the story ain’t true. The mate’s
yarn would go down well enough if it wasn’t for what
the rest of the crowd tell. Every one of them makes it
out different, and all I’ve got to say is, they must bea
set of greenhorns that can’t stick to the same story.”

«Then you don’t believe what any of them tell?” Ben
asked.

“Not a blessed word. It’s just like this, lad, if their
craft had gone down, no matter how, it stands to reason
they ’d know the particulars, — an’ what would be the call
for there being any variation of the yarn?”

As a matter of course, that was a question Ben could
not answer. Very likely some of the crew had told the
truth, and he so expressed himself to the mate.

“There’s no use talking, boy, they’re all lying. My
idee of the thing is that they hadn’t got a yarn cooked
up when we hove in sight, an’ spent so much time chinnin’
‘bout what should be told that they were all at sea when