Then, as I stood
there, irresolute and funky, I got the thought that someone was acting
the goat; though for what reason or purpose, I never stopped to
consider. I was glad of any suggestion that my common sense assured me
was not impossible; and, for the moment, I felt quite relieved. That
side to the question had not presented itself to me before. I began to
pluck up courage. I accused myself of getting fanciful; otherwise I
should have tumbled to it earlier. And then, funnily enough, in spite of
all my reasoning, I was still afraid of going aft to discover who that
was, standing on the lee side of the maindeck. Yet I felt that if I
shirked it, I was only fit to be dumped overboard; and so I went, though
not with any great speed, as you can imagine.
I had gone half the distance, and still the figure remained there,
motionless and silent--the moonlight and the shadows playing over it
with each roll of the ship. I think I tried to be surprised. If it were
one of the fellows playing the fool, he must have heard me coming, and
why didn't he scoot while he had the chance? And where could he have
hidden himself, before? All these things, I asked myself, in a rush,
with a queer mixture of doubt and belief; and, you know, in the
meantime, I was drawing nearer.
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