What appeared so strange to me evidently strikes Thomas Roch as being
strange, too. He cannot explain what I found inexplicable, and, as I
did, he walks aft to see if there is a screw.
On the flanks of the _Ebba_ a shoal of porpoises are sporting.
Swift as is the schooner's course they easily pass her, leaping and
gambolling in their native element with surprising grace and agility.
Thomas Roch pays no attention to them, but leans over the stern.
Engineer Serko and Captain Spade, fearful lest he should fall
overboard, hurry to him and drag him gently, but firmly, away.
I observe from long experience that Roch is a prey to violent
excitement. He turns about and gesticulates, uttering incoherent
phrases the while.
It is plain to me that another fit is coming on, similar to the one he
had in the pavilion of Healthful House on the night we were abducted.
He will have to be seized and carried down to his cabin, and I shall
perhaps be summoned to attend to him.
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.
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