Capt. Zane's Ghost.

_A thrilling adventure on Lake Huron._ Capt. Smithers of the bark Windward, relates the following curious adventure which he had on Lake Huron. "We were," he says, "in the Lake Superior orde trade, running out of Cleveland, and on the return trip we generally managed to pick up a light freight of machinery and general cargo. At the time of which I speak I had command of a schooner called the Black Eagle. "Well, one night late in the summer, the tug had scarcely let go of us at the foot of Lake Huron, when it came on to blow great guns. We got the schooner snug and ship-shape for bad weather and let her slip, having the wind from the southeast. This gave us our course up the lake, but within an hour we had everything double-reefed and two men at the wheel. The sea began to get up in a terrible way, and as I stood on the quarter, and looked back at the waves following us with racegorse speed, it seemed as if every one must break over us. It was near midnight, and we we were abreast of Lexington or a little above when I suddenly heard a hail from off our starboard bow. Mind you, the whole crew were on deck at this time, and the schooner was climbing up on hill and hill and sliding down another in a way to make you think her bottom had been greased for the occasion. I had two men on the lookout forward, but they had reported nothing. "'Schooner ahoy!' came from the water. "I ran forward to the starboard shrouds of the foremast, and peered into the storm and darkness, but could see nothing. "'Schooner ahoy!' came the hail again. 'Stand by to take my line!' "Next instant the end of a heaving line flew over my shoulder, and as I pulled in on it, assisted by one of the lookouts, a skiff drew alongside and a man climbed upon the rail. I was that weak in the knees I could hardly stand up. A man coming aboard of us in such a cockle shell in such a sea as that was truly remarkable, and you must add to this the fact that he sat there on the schooner's rail as cool as ice and bawled out to me: "'Hope I haven't put you to any trouble, Capt. Smithers!' "'Who are you, and' where do you come from?' I shouted in his ear. "I'm Capt. Zane of the brig Petrel. Don;t know your old friends, eh?' "That made me jump, and such of the crew as had crowded around us gave him sea room pretty quick. Capt. Zane left Buffalo in the Petrel five years before that, and his craft had gone down in a blow with all hands. I had known him well, and in truth this chap on the rail, now that I came to look closer, was as near like him as a twin brother, except that his hair had grown whiter. "'You--you can;t be Capt. Zane,' I shouted. "'Oh, I can't, eh?' he replied, and tapered off with a laugh which set my blood to tingling. 'Pretty fairish blow, Capt. Smithers. Maybe you have some good whiskey in the cabin?' "Like one walking in a dream, I went to the cabin and secured a flask of whiskey and returned with it. "'Ah, that's more like it,' he chuckled, as he reached out for the flask. 'Here's to a speedy voyage both ways.' "He put the flask to his lips, and as I'm a living man, he didn;t let go until he had drained the last drop. The crew had all crowded off to be out of his way, and though I wanted to follow them, my pride held me back. As he handed the flask back, I said to him: "'I thought the Petrel went down years ago? "'Y-e-s!' he chuckled, "'And Capt. Zane went with her?' "'Oh! he did? Ha! ha! ha! Say Smithers, you'd better keep her head up a point more, for the wind's drawing more to the east!' "He reached out his hand as if to lay it on my shoulder, and I started back. At that instant there came a flash of lightning so bright that I could have told the color of a man's hair 200 feet away--a report as if a dozen cannon had been fired at once--and I felt myself struck down. When I came to, the cook was fussing over me, and the rest of the crew were sitting about in a dazed way or had crept down into the fo'castle. Morning was just breaking, and, though the wind had gone down some, there was a heavy sea running and the schooner was head to it, wheel lashed, and drifting with dry decks. It was a long time before I could comprehend what had happened or get at the facts. It seemed that the cap on the mainmast had been struck by lightning. While little injury had been done, the shock had knocked everybody except the cook senseless. Some of the men recovered after a quarter of an hour, and some remained as if dead for nearly two hours. I was one of the last ones up. "Now, as to what happened after I went down I give you the word of the cook, who was a respectable colored-man and not given to lying. Capt. Zane jumped down off the rail, let go throat and peak halyards all around, and while he went aloft to stow fore and main topsails the schooner steered herself. When he came down he took the wheel, held the craft up until the jib was full, and then brought her about with her nose to the wind without shipping a pail of water. Then he pulled and trimmed, hauled the mainsail up a bit to counterbalance, and when the wheel had been lashed amidships the Black Eagle bowed and nodded and drove off before the gale in ship-shape fashion. When I got my bearings Port Austin light was less than five miles away, and the wind had gone down so that we had little trouble to bring the schooner back on her course. As soon as we reached Houghton every blessed man of the crew, mate and cook included, gave me the slip. Money couldn;t have hired one of them to make another voyage in the Black Eagle while I was in command, believing as they did, that my old friend was likely to come aboard again any time.