With that, he took to crying and sobbing like mad; and it was only then we realised the fact that the skipper was suffering from another of his fits of delirium, though it was a far worse one than any we had seen him labouring under during the voyage.
Tom Bullover and Sam had the greatest difficulty in unclenching his hands from Hiram’s neck and then restraining him from doing further violence, our unfortunate shipmate being quite black in the face and speechless for some minutes after our releasing him.
As for Captain Snaggs, he afterwards went on like a raging madman; and it was as much as Tom and Sam could do, with my help, to tie his hands and legs so as to keep him quiet, for he struggled furiously all the while with the strength of ten men!
In the middle of this, we heard a strange rumbling noise under our feet, the ground beginning to oscillate violently, as if we were on board ship in a heavy sea; while, at the same time, a lot of earth and pieces of rock were thrown down on us from the heights above the little plateau where the cave was situated. The air, also, grew thick and heavy and dark, similarly to what is generally noticed when a severe thunderstorm is impending.
“Oh, Tom!” I cried in alarm, “what has happened?”
“It’s an earthquake, I think,” he replied, looking frightened too. “We’d better get under shelter as quickly as we can, for these stones are tumbling down too plentifully for pleasure!”
“Where can we go?” said I—“the ship’s too far off. Oh dear, something has just hit me on the head, and it hurts!”
“Come in here to the cave; we’ll be safe inside, if the bottom can stand all this shaking. At all events, it’ll be better than being out in the open, to stand the chance of having one’s head smashed by a boulder from aloft!”
So saying, Tom disappeared within the mouth of the cavern, dragging after him the prostrate form of the skipper, who appeared to have fallen asleep, overcome by the violent paroxysms of his fit, for he was snoring stertorously.
Sam and I quickly followed Tom, and the rear was brought up by Hiram—now pretty well recovered from the mauling he had received at the hands of our unconscious skipper, the shock of the earthquake having roused up our shipmate effectually, while the continual dropping of the falling earth and stones, which now began to rain down like hail, hastened his retreat.