two or three which had not been kept in repair, and were deserted, and
of course they were said to be haunted, and we were told of their
ghosts, and why they walked, and when. From some of the local
superstitions Kate and I have vainly endeavored ever since to shake
ourselves free. There was a most heathenish fear of doing certain things
on Friday, and there were countless signs in which we still have
confidence. When the moon is very bright and other people grow
sentimental, we only remember that it is a fine night to catch hake.




_The Captains_


I should consider my account of Deephaven society incomplete if I did
not tell you something of the ancient mariners, who may be found every
pleasant morning sunning themselves like turtles on one of the wharves.
Sometimes there was a considerable group of them, but the less constant
members of the club were older than the rest, and the epidemics of
rheumatism in town were sadly frequent. We found that it was etiquette
to call them each captain, but I think some of the Deephaven men took
the title by brevet upon arriving at a proper age.

They sat close together because so many of them were deaf, and when we
were lucky enough to overhear the conversation, it seemed to concern
their adventures at sea, or the freight carried out by the Sea Duck, the
Ocean Rover, or some other Deephaven ship,--the particulars of the
voyage and its disasters and successes being as familiar as the
wanderings of the children of Israel to an old parson. There were