t to be called or
disturbed unless for something out of the common.

When, therefore, about three o'clock next morning, he was aroused from
sleep by a gentle tap at the outer door of his state-room, Captain
Blyth's first coherent thought was: "I wonder what is the matter now!"
It was nothing to do with the weather--unless the sky had assumed a
threatening aspect--for, by long force of habit, he had acquired the
power of detecting, even during his soundest sleep, any such important
change in the state of the elements as a material increase of wind or
sea, and, though the sleep from which he had been aroused was as sound
as it ever falls to the lot of a seaman to enjoy, he had been quite
conscious all the time that neither the sough of the wind in the rigging
nor the steady swinging motion of the ship had become intensified. It
was, therefore, in a somewhat peevish tone that he inquired:

"Well, what is the news?"

"Will you please step for'ard, sir, and see what ails Bob--young Mr
Manners, I mean, sir?" said a voice which the skipper recognised as
belonging to one of the seamen. "He's on the fo'c's'le-head, a cussing
and carrying on as if he was mad, sir; and two of the hands is holding
him down so's he sha'n't fling hisself overboard."

"Whew!" whistled poor Captain Blyth in dismay. "All right, my man; I'll
be out there in a brace of shakes! What can be the matter with the poor
lad?" he soliloquised, as he hastily drew on his most necessary
garments. "A fit, perhaps, brought on by over-anxiety. Well, I won't
disturb anybody until I see what it is; then, if necessary, I must rouse
out Dr Henderson."

And, as he came to this conclusion, the worthy man softly opened his
state-room door and stepped out on deck.

The night was dark, there being no moon, whilst the star-lit sky was
almost blotted out by the squadrons of fleecy cloud which swept with
stately motion athwart it. Yet there was light enough to reveal to the
skipper a dark blot on the forecastle, which he knew to be a cluster of
men; and toward these he hurriedly made his way. Before he could reach
them, however, two bare-footed men stepped softly out behind him from
the galley; and whilst one seized and pinioned his arms behind him, the
other flourished a large-headed, short-handled hammer over his head
whilst he whispered fiercely in the ear of the paralysed skipper:

"Give but a single outcry, and I'll spatter your brains about the deck."
Then he