om the main-deck into the cuddy, which were
of course left wide open, as we were still in the tropics, the steward
Harry, a freckle-faced mulatto of the colour of pale ginger, bringing in
a tureen of soup from the cook's galley forward.

As he passed by close to where the cow was tethered, whether the smell
of the savoury compound aroused the animal's hunger, or because Harry,
coming too near, reminded her of the recent indignities to which she had
been subjected, the cow all at once made a plunge at him with her head.

Harry sheered off, spilling a portion of the soup; and he was so
frightened that he ran full speed with the remainder into the cabin.

He was not, however, quick enough for Mrs Brindle; for the sudden dive
she made, throwing her whole might on the halter, caused the rope to
snap like a piece of pack-thread. The next instant, the cow made a
plunge after the mulatto steward, giving him a lift by the stern-post as
he was entering the cuddy door which pitched him right on to the cabin
table, where he fell amidst all the plates and dishes. There was a
terrible smash, all the dinner things coming to grief, as well as the
soup tureen, which he still held in his hands, the boiling contents
passing over the second mate's head, and scalding his face, besides
making him in a pretty pickle.

"Oh Lord, oh Lord, I'm blinded!" screamed Davis, the thick pea-soup
having gone into his eyes; while the captain had scarcely time to use
his favourite ejaculation, "By Jingo!" before the cow, which had
followed up her successful attack on the steward by galloping after him
into the cabin, catching the arm-chair that Captain Miles was ensconced
in sideways, started the lashings that held it to the deck, hurling the
terrified occupant in a heap in the corner--the captain being utterly
ignorant of the cause of the whole catastrophe, for he was sitting with
his back to the door and so had not seen the steward's somersault nor
the approach of the animal like I did from the beginning of the affair.

As for me, being on the other side of the table, I escaped any harm,
although I immediately bolted into the steward's pantry near me, where,
shutting the half-door, I looked out from this coign of vantage
surveying the scene of havoc which the cabin presently presented, for
the cow tossed about everything she could reach bellowing like one of
the wild bulls of Bashan all the while.

The steward had fainted away, from fright I belie