n in his clothes and tried to get to sleep.

He dozed off at last, but woke up several times during the night with the
cold. The lamp burnt itself out, and in the dark he listened intently
for any sounds of life in the room above. Then he fell asleep again,
until at about half-past seven in the morning a loud crash overhead awoke
him with a start.

In a moment he was sitting up with every faculty on the alert. Footsteps
blundered about in the room above, and a large and rapidly widening patch
of damp showed on the ceiling. It was evident that the sleeper, in his
haste to quench an abnormal thirst, had broken the water jug.

Mr. Wilks, shivering with dread, sprang to his feet and stood irresolute.
Judging by the noise, the captain was evidently in a fine temper, and Mr.
Smith's remarks about insanity occurred to him with redoubled interest.
Then he heard a hoarse shout, the latch of the bedroom door clicked, and
the prisoner stumbled heavily downstairs and began to fumble at the
handle of the door at the bottom. Trembling with excitement Mr. Wilks
dashed forward and turned the key, and then retreating to the street door
prepared for instant flight.

He opened the door so suddenly that the man on the other side, with a
sudden cry, fell on all fours into the room, and raising his face stared
stupidly at the steward. Mr. Wilks's hands dropped to his sides and his
tongue refused its office, for in some strange fashion, quite in keeping
with the lawless proceedings of the previous night, Captain Nugent had
changed into a most excellent likeness of his own son.

[Illustration: "The man on the other side fell on all fours into the
room."]

CHAPTER XII

For some time Mr. Wilks stood gazing at this unexpected apparition and
trying to collect his scattered senses. Its face was pale and flabby,
while its glassy eyes, set in rims of red eyelids, were beginning to
express unmistakable signs of suspicion and wrath. The shock was so
sudden that the steward could not even think coherently. Was the captain
upstairs? And if so, what was his condition? Where was Nathan Smith?
And where was the five pounds?

A voice, a husky and discordant voice, broke in upon his meditations;
Jack Nugent was also curious.

"What does all this mean?" he demanded, angrily. "How did I get here?"

"You--you came downstairs," stammered Mr. Wilks, still racking his brains
in the vain effort to discover how matters stood.

Mr. Nuge