f the waiters, who declared he had pulled this patient
from the doctor's mate, whom he had gotten down, and almost strangled.
To this the man answered, that the witness was a creature of Morgan's,
and suborned to give his testimony against him by the malice of the
mate, whom the defendant had affronted, by discovering to the people on
board, that Mr. Morgan's wife kept a gin-shop in Ragfair. This anecdote
produced a laugh at the expense of the Welshman, who, shaking his head
with some emotion, said, "Ay, ay, 'tis no matter. Cot knows, it is
an arrant falsehood." Captain Oakum, without any farther hesitation,
ordered the fellow to be unfettered; at the same time, threatening to
make Morgan exchange situations with him for his spite; but the Briton
no sooner heard the decision in favour of the madman, than he got up to
the mizen-shrouds, crying to Thompson and me to get out of his reach,
for we should see him play the devil with a vengeance. We did not think
fit to disregard his caution, and accordingly got up on the poop, whence
we beheld the maniac (as soon as he was released) fly at the captain
like a fury, crying, "I'll let you know, you scoundrel, that I am
commander of this vessel," and pummel him without mercy. The surgeon,
who went to the assistance of his patron, shared the same fate; and
it was with the utmost difficulty that he was mastered at last, after
having done great execution among those who opposed him.

CHAPTER XXVIII

The Captain enraged, threatens to put the Madman to death with his own
hand--is diverted from that resolution by the arguments and persuasion
of the first Lieutenant and Surgeon--we set sail for St. Helen's, join
the fleet under the command of Sir C-- O--gle, and proceed for the West
Indies--are overtaken by a terrible tempest--my friend Jack Rattlin
has his leg broke by a fall from the mainyard--the behaviour of Mr.
Mackshane--Jack opposes the amputation of his limb, in which he is
seconded by Morgan and me, we undertake the cure and perform it
successfully

The captain was carried into his cabin, so enraged with the treatment he
had received, that he ordered the fellow to be brought before him, that
he might have the pleasure of pistoling him with his own hand; and would
certainly have satisfied his revenge in this manner, had not the
first lieutenant remonstrated against it, by observing that, in all
appearances, the fellow was not mad, but desperate; that he had been
hired