sel's
deck.

For a short period during which you might have counted six, there was
nothing heard but the rustle of the men's movements and the _pad, pad,
pad_ of their bare feet upon the deck.

"Where's the--"

What the lieutenant would have said in continuation was not heard.
Surprised by the utter silence on board, he had shared with Fitz the
feeling that they must have boarded some derelict whose crew, perhaps in
great peril, had deserted their vessel and sought safety in the boats.

But the next moment there was a sudden rush that took every one by
surprise, for not a word was uttered by their assailants, the thud,
thud, thud of heavy blows, the breathing hard of men scuffling, followed
by splash after splash, and then one of the schooner's masts seemed to
give way and fall heavily upon Fitz Burnett's head, turning the
dimly-seen deck and the struggling men into something so black that he
saw no more.

CHAPTER THREE.

WAKING UP.

It is a curious sensation to be lying on your back you don't know where,
and you can't think of the reason why it should be so, but with your
head right off, completely detached from your body, and rolling round
and round like an exceedingly heavy big ball, that for some inexplicable
reason has been pitched into a vast mill on purpose to be ground, but,
probably from its thickness and hardness, does not submit to that
process, but is always going on and on between the upper stone and
nether stone, suffering horrible pain, but never turning into powder,
nor even into bits, but going grinding on always for a time that seems
as if it would never end unless the millstones should wear away.

That is what seemed to be the matter with Fitz Burnett, for how long he
could not tell. But a change came at last, with the gnawing, grinding
pain becoming dull. Later on it did not seem that his head was detached
from his body, and he had some undefined idea that his hands were where
he could move them, and at last, later on still, he found himself lying
in comparative calmness and in no pain, but in a state something between
sleeping and waking.

Then came a time when he began to think that it was very dark, that he
was very tired, and that he wanted to sleep, and so he slept. Then
again that it was very light, very warm, and that something seemed to be
the matter with his berth, for he was thinking more clearly now. He
knew he was lying on his back in his berth, and curiously enough he