"What's the trouble in there?" shouted one of the bridge watch, poking his head in at the window. He had heard some sort of disturbance in the pilot-house, he thought, but the wind being so strong he was unable to decide what the disturbance was about.
There was no answer to his question.
"I say——" he shouted; then something happened to him.
A huge paw was stretched out through the forward pilot-house window. It came down on the head of the watch with a whack, laying him flat on the deck.
The second watch ran to where his companion had fallen.
"Here, here, what's the mat——"
The watch did not finish the sentence. A cuff on the ear, and a mighty cuff at that, sent him clear to the end of the bridge, and had the weather cloths not been in place he would undoubtedly have been knocked through between the rails and into the sea.
Both men set up a wild yell of fear.
"It's some kind of animal!" shouted Bob. "Send for the captain. I'm going back to the wheel."