Frothing at the mouth, Raxtell struggled desperately at first to free himself and then to bite Oscar as might a wolf.
But the young commander of the new Holland was fighting for life, and held him as in a vise of steel.
"Let me go!" roared the madman. "Let me go, or I will eat you up alive!"
"Be calm, lieutenant," gasped Oscar. "Be calm. You are not well. Be calm."
"What's the row here?" came from the doorway, and Walton, the ammunition man, came in.
"Quick, he is mad," answered Oscar. "Help me."
"Mad! By Jove, captain, is it possible?"
Walton hurled himself into the contest without hesitation, and between the pair they speedily made Raxtell a close prisoner, binding him hands and feet, and fitting his face with a leather mask, that he might not bite himself or others.
It afterwards came out that the lieutenant was of a nervous disposition, and that homesickness had preyed upon his mind until his reason forsook him.
Nothing could be done at present but keep him on board, and realizing that the poor fellow was not accountable for what he had tried to do, Captain Oscar treated him with every consideration.