On 16 July in the morning the mate told me that one of the crew was missing, a sailor called Petrofsky. He could not account for it. Petrofsky took a four-hour watch on the port side of the ship last night. Abramoff took the next watch, but Petrofsky did not go to his bunk. The men are more upset than ever. They all said they expected something like this. All they would tell us was that there was something aboard the ship. The mate is getting very impatient with them; he fears there will be trouble ahead.

On 17 July, yesterday, Olgaren, one of the men, came to my cabin. In an awestruck way he confided to me that he thought there was a strange man aboard the ship. He said that he had been sheltering from a rain-storm behind the deck-house. Then he saw a tall, thin man, who was not like any of the crew. This man came up from inside the ship, and went forward along the deck. Then he disappeared.

Olgaren followed cautiously, but when he got to the bows he found no one, and there was nowhere the man could have gone. Olgaren was very frightened, and I am afraid the panic may spread. Today I shall search the entire ship carefully from bows to stern.

Vocabulary:

Account for: Explain
Watch: Looking out for trouble
Port: Here, the left side of a ship
Bunk: A bed above another bed
Cabin: A person's room in a ship
Awestruck: Surprised and very impressed
Confide: To tell a secret
Shelter: To hide from bad weather
Cautiously: With great care
Bows: The very front of a ship
Panic: Sudden complete fear
Stern: The very back of a ship