with his head sunk
and no doubt his eyes closed, was suddenly struck on the side of the
face by something hairy, damp, and cold. He sprang into the air as
though he had been shot through the heart. O heavens! What was it? A
naked figure, shaggy as Peter Sarrano, wild with hair, furious with a
grin, terrible with the red gleams the starlight flung upon his little
eyes. The sailor shrieked like a midnight cat and fell in a heap down
upon the deck in a fit.

"The ship was in commotion in an instant. Such a yell as that was
worse than the smell of fire.

"'What's the matter?' bawled the mate from the break of the poop.

"A number of shadowy shapes swarmed up the forecastle ladder.
Meanwhile the watch below, aroused by the yell of the look-out man,
suspecting imminent deadly danger in the peculiar noise, were leaping
in twos and threes up through the forescuttle, growling and swearing
and grumbling, and asking of one another in those deep
hurricane-chested whispers which will make a stagnant midnight
atmosphere tingle, what the blooming blazes that noise was, and what
was up.

"'What's the matter?' roared the mate.

"'Here's Kennedy in a fit, sir,' sung out a voice.

"'Is that all?' said the mate, and he went forward to look at the man.

"'It's a fit certainly,' said he. 'Give him air, lads. Get a drink of
cold water into his mouth. It's epilepsy.'

"'Or weevils,' said a deep voice.

"The joker was not to be discerned; the mate therefore took no notice.
Some one brought a pannikin of cold water, and after a little the man
came to, by which time the watch below had returned to their hammocks,
and the forecastle was comparatively clear.

"When the mate was told the man had his senses and was sitting up, he
went forward again and questioned him. He was sitting on the foot of a
cathead, and was too weak to rise when the mate stood before him.

"'What is this you're rambling about?' said the officer. 'Aren't you
quite well yet?'

"'S' 'elp me then, it slapped me fair over the chops, like flicking
yer with the wet sleeve of a jacket. He rose four foot when I
swounded. He might ha' been more an' he might ha' been less. Darkness
put him out, only that I recollect,' said the man, turning up his pale
face to the stars, 'taking notice of a couple of eyes like red lights
floating in water and a grin of teeth wide as the keys of a pianey.'

"'He's mad,' thought the mate, who stepped nevertheless into the bows
and looked