t, as soon as the cloth was drawn this extraordinary man
opened the piano and, sitting down to it, played piece after piece, sang
several songs, and finally invited me to sing, the result being that, on
the whole, the evening passed with far less constraint than I had
anticipated.

The next morning, while Tourville was engaged in taking his sights for
the longitude and working them out, he suddenly complained of feeling
ill, sent for Leroy, gave him certain instructions, and then took to his
bed. By noon it became evident that he was in for a smart attack of
malarial fever, to which it appeared he was very subject; and when I
turned in that night the mate volunteered the information that he feared
the skipper was going to be very ill.

Tourville's condition on the following morning amply justified Leroy's
foreboding; he grew steadily worse, became delirious, and at length grew
so violent that about mid-day the mate considered it necessary to remain
with him constantly, lest in his madness he should rise from his bed and
fling himself through the stern windows into the sea. One result of
this was that I offered to take Leroy's watch, from eight o'clock to
midnight, an offer which was gratefully accepted; but as we were running
down before a fair wind there was nothing for me to do beyond
maintaining a good look-out, and I thus found it unnecessary to give the
crew any orders or to interfere with them in any way. For the next
three days Tourville's condition was such that the constant presence of
some one in his cabin, night and day, to watch over him and guard
against the possibility of his doing himself an injury, became an
absolute necessity, and Leroy, the chief mate, and Thoreau, the
boatswain, shared this duty between them. I volunteered to assume
nursing duty in the place of Leroy, but my offer was declined, the chief
mate rather drily remarking that the presence of an Englishman by the
captain's bedside was scarcely likely to accelerate the patient's
recovery, while some of his ravings were of such a character that it was
better for all concerned that I should not hear them. But, he added, if
I would be complaisant enough to keep his watch for him, he would esteem
it a very great favour. Of course I could do no less than accede to
this suggestion with a good grace.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

H.B.M.S. GADFLY.

I had been on duty as Leroy's deputy for two whole days when it fell to
my turn to keep the midd