At first, this sailor who came to stay at the Admiral Benbow might pass for just another sea dog whose had one trip too many 'round the old Bermuda Triangle. But time would tell just how unusual this visitor was.

Months passed, and the captain paid me every month as promised. He stayed on at the inn as the bright summer changed to a blistering winter. But while the seasons changed, his habits never did. Every day, as rhythmically as the sun and the tide, he went out to the cliff with a brass spyglass to watch for ships. In the evenings he would sit in the dining room drinking rum and telling all sorts of "fish stories," as my mother called them- tales at once wonderful and terrible, full of pirates and hanging and buried treasures vast enough to fill a room from floor to ceiling. Many of them included deadly pirates, cursed gold, ghosts, and monsters of the sea. My mother worried that he would drive off the other customers with these tales, and some guests certainly did tend to leave when he got too rowdy and made everyone join him in various ship songs, chiefly the one about the fifteen men. But at the same time, a number of guests were drawn to his wild tales, and many people came night after night to hear them. I think it must have been the business from these customers that lessened Mother's persistence in getting payment, since the gold pieces had run out long ago.

As for myself, while I wasn't unhappy about the extra business, I can't say I liked his stories as much. At first I enjoyed listening to them while I cleaned tables. But when I tried to sleep on those nights, I had nightmares like I'd never imagined a dog could have. I dreamed of massive squids and serpents and monsters that looked like lobsters, but were so big they could crush an entire ship in a single claw. I dreamed about storms with waves as high as mountains, and ghosts seeking vengeance on those who had killed them. But my worst nightmares were about the one thing even the captain, or Billy Bones as I had come to know him, feared – the seafaring dog with one leg.

I remember one particular dream about him. In it, I opened the door to throw out a bucket of water I had used to scrub the floor. As I did, I heard a great booming sound coming from the bridge. I looked and saw a sight that made every hair on my body stand up and salute. Leaping toward me was a giant beast like a werewolf, dressed in ragged sailor's clothes. It was twenty feet tall and had claws as long as its fingers, with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth each as big as my arm. It was dressed like a sailor, and it had one massive leg beneath the middle of its body, which it used to travel in massive leaps and bounds. It was coming toward me with fire in its eyes. My immediate reaction was to try to get inside, but the door had shut behind me and wouldn't open. I tried to run down the street, but the sailor kept getting closer, closer, its claws stretching out toward me. I have thanked God a hundred times over that I woke at that moment, or I might not have woken at all.

One day, a guest of ours took sick and my mother called for Doctor Boris Livesey, an old Russian goose with a firm demeanor which he attributed to years of tough work. Doctor Livesey came late one afternoon to see his patient, and stayed afterwards to eat dinner at the inn. With him were two young polar bears, Muk and Luk, whom he referred to as his interns. I think this was more a term of affection than an actual description, since the two bears didn't seem to have enough intelligence between them for an apprentice chimney sweep.

After his dinner, he told Mother that the guest would need his meals brought up to him for a week or so. He was just in the middle of saying what certain foods the patient should not be given until he was well when, from across the room, old Billy piped up his tireless song:

"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest-

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the Devil had done fer the rest-

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

The doctor's face flashed with annoyance, but he ignored the dog and went on talking. "He should get plenty of fresh fruit," he advised, "especially apples. He-"

The captain slapped the table. "Silence between the decks!" he roared. "Silence, now, or I'll have yer head!"

Doc turned on him with an irate expression and snapped, "If you keep drinking rum, the vorld vill soon be short a scoundrel!"

"Swing yeh for a brainless lout," retorted the captain.

"Now see here!" Muk burst out. "You oughtn't talk that way about…"

Billy pulled a sailor's knife from his belt. "I'll pin ye to the wall if ye don't close yer yap!" he yelled.

Muk immediately tried to hide behind Doctor Boris. Since he was roughly three times the bird's size, it didn't help much.

Boris' face quivered a little, and his voice dropped a notch. "There is a sick man upstairs who needs peace and qviet." Eyeing the knife he added, "Especially peace. Now put that knife avay, or I vill see to it that you hang."

Bones paused. He muttered something about doctors and reclined grumbling into his seat.

"Now listen, and listen vell," continued Doc, bolder now that the knife had been lowered. "I'll be in and out of here for a few days, and I'll be keeping an eye on you. Any complaints about you and I promise, on my honor, the judge shall hear of it."

The captain was silent for the rest of the evening and, to my surprise, the remainder of the week.

Then, on a cold morning in mid-January, another sailor came into the inn. No missing leg, but he did have two fingers gone from his left hand. He was skinny and nasty-looking, with mangy black fur that looked as if it hadn't seen a bath in the last ten years at least. He demanded at once to see "my old shipmate, Bill." The captain was out looking at ships, so the sailor made me wait with him until the captain returned. "Good ol' Billy Bones!" he greeted in a loud, bold voice as the captain finally came in.

Billy's face turned ashen gray, and his features seemed to wither as if he had aged a century in a matter of seconds. He resembled one of the ghosts in his stories, and from the way he stared at the other sailor you would have thought he was staring at one of the same. "Black Dog!" he gasped.

Who is this guy? And what does he want with the Captain? Well, I'm afraid the only way to find out is to keep reading.