The Ghost Ship Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

days. He’s a lot safer helping me run the Black Dog Inn than piloting the Sea Dog .”
    Benny finished drying his hair with his towel, and put on his sailor cap. “We have a dog Watch, but he had to stay home. He’s not a sea dog, though—he’s a plain old house dog. But before we came to live with Grandfather, he was a watchdog in our boxcar in the woods. We fixed up the boxcar all by ourselves after our parents died. We lived there until Grandfather found us.”
    Mrs. Pease helped Benny straighten out his cap so it looked like a real sailor’s hat. “Well, you’ll have to meet Blackie, our watchdog. You can’t run an inn called the Black Dog and not have a black dog, right?”
    “Right!” the children agreed.
    The Aldens changed into dry clothes in the tiny boat-sized bathroom just off their room. It felt good to put on dry shirts and pants.
    Mr. Pease knocked on the door of the Crow’s Nest. “I’m needing a first mate and some cabin boys and girls,” he announced. “Even green hands will do!”
    Benny raised both hands. “What about these? They’re not green, but they’re clean.”
    Mr. Pease laughed. “So they are. ‘Green hands’ are what we sailors like to call newcomers.”
    The Aldens lined up to hear what Mr. Pease wanted them to do.
    “Now,” Mr. Pease began, “I just heard on the radio that the worst of the gale is going to hit in a few hours. They’ll be needing me down at the docks to secure the boats. If you mates can help my wife pull in all the shutters and deliver emergency supplies to the guests, that would make everything shipshape.”
    “Let’s get started,” Henry said.
    Mr. Pease showed the children how to pull in the shutters. The Aldens went around to all the windows and did the same. Henry was about to pull down the last latch when Benny said, “Hey, look out that way!” He pointed toward the ocean. “There are lights flashing over there.”
    The other children raced to the window and looked out. Sure enough, they could see wavy fingers of light shining on and off in the distance.
    “What are those lights, Mr. Pease?” Henry asked. “A lighthouse? It couldn’t be a fire since it’s raining so hard.”
    Mr. Pease seemed to know right away what the boys were talking about. “Well, it might be lightning. But some folks around here believe those are the lights from a ghost ship, the Flying Cloud. Sank in 1869, less than a mile from here, out by Howling Cliffs. Yessir, that’s what folks believe.”
    For once Benny Alden didn’t have anything to say. His mouth formed a little circle of surprise, but no words came out.
    Violet couldn’t take her eyes off the swirling lights. “A gh—ghost ship?” she said in a small voice.

    “Now, now, it’s probably just lightning,” Mr. Pease told Violet when he saw how scared she looked. “The only time we see the lights is when there’s a big storm like this. Probably just our mixed-up weather. Who knows?”
    Violet clicked down the shutter latch. She didn’t want to see those strange lights anymore. The room was dim now.
    “Your grandfather told me you children always have flashlights handy,” Mr. Pease said. “Well, bring ’em along. Never know when the power might go out in a gale like this.”
    Benny liked this thought almost as much as the idea of a ghost ship. He found his nice yellow flashlight and stuck it in his pocket.
    There were twelve guest rooms in the Black Dog Inn, so the Aldens were very busy for the next few hours. They delivered emergency flashlights and bottled water to every room and helped Grandfather build a roaring fire in the sitting room downstairs.
    Soon the storm was howling against the building.
    “It’s nice to be inside on a day like this,” Mr. Alden said. He looked around the cozy sitting room. The Black Dog Inn was snug as could be.
    Also snug as could be was Blackie, the Peases’ black Labrador. He thumped his tail a few times when the Aldens patted him. Then he went right