Meanwhile Engineer Serko and Captain Spade do not lose sight of him
for a moment. They are evidently curious to see what he will do.

After walking towards the mainmast and assuring himself that the sails
are not set, he goes up to it and flinging his arms around it, tries
with all his might to shake it, as though seeking to pull it down.


Finding his efforts futile, he quits it and goes to the foremast,
where the same performance is gone through. He waxes more and more
excited. His vague utterances are followed by inarticulate cries.

Suddenly he rushes to the port stays and clings to them, and I
begin to fear that he will leap into the rigging and climb to the
cross-tree, where he might be precipitated into the sea by a lurch of
the ship.

On a sign from Captain Spade, some sailors run up and try to make him
relinquish his grasp of the stays, but are unable to do so. I know
that during his fits he is endowed with the strength of ten men, and
many a time I have been compelled to summon assistance in order to
overpower him.

Other members of the crew, however, come up, and the unhappy madman is
borne to the deck, where two big sailors hold him down, despite his
extraordinary strength.

The only thing to do is to convey him to his cabin, and let him
lie there till he gets over his fit. This is what will be done in
conformity with orders given by a new-comer whose voice seems familiar