n Jack had tumbled up from
below, and they were all grouped about the fo'c's'le, hiding behind the
galley like myself, and watching the weird scene going on aft, which,
but for the maniacal rage of the captain and his murderous fury, would
have been almost comical in its main incidents.

It was a regular steeplechase: the frenzied man hunted those he was
after in and out of the cabin, and up the poop ladder, and down the
companion stairs, in turn, to begin again anew the same strange game,
that was amusing enough save to those personally concerned!

One of the hands, though, had his wits at work besides watching what was
going on; and this was Tom Bullover, my friend the carpenter.

He recollected what the steward had said on a former occasion of the
captain having had a fit of the horrors from excessive drinking; and,
although it was too late now to take away the skipper's revolver before
he could effect any mischief with it, there was still time to prevent
his doing any further harm.

So, Tom, with a coil of rope over his arm, stealthily made his way aft,
and just as Captain Snaggs aimed at the prostrate body of the steward
the carpenter threw a running bowline he had made in the rope round the
captain's shoulders, jerking him backwards at the very moment he fired
the revolver. This caused the bullet to be diverted from its aim, for
it passed through the bulwarks, instead of perforating Morris Jones'
somewhat corpulent person.

The next instant, two or three more of the men going to Tom's
assistance, Captain Snaggs was dragged down on the deck, raging and
foaming at the mouth; when, binding him securely hand and foot, they
lifted him up and carried him into his cabin, where they strapped him
down in his cot, powerless to do any more injury to himself or anyone
else, until his delirium should be over.

As for the steward, he fainted dead away from fright; and it required a
good deal of shaking and rubbing on the part of Tom Bullover and Jan
Steenbock to bring him back to life again--the latter now coming out of
the cabin, holding a slip noose similar to that used by the carpenter in
snaring the skipper with, and evidently intended for the same purpose,
although a trifle too late to be of service then.

Captain Snaggs himself recovered his consciousness about noon the same
day, but did not have the slightest recollection of his mad orgy, the
only actual sufferers from which were Morris Jones, who really had been