Fearing another flight across the hold when the vessel again tacked, I lay almost at full length on the rough floor, my shoeless feet wedged firmly against a stout ringbolt in the fore side of the bulkhead.
The effects of the excitement of the last twelve hours, combined with the want of a good meal and the close, unwholesome atmosphere of the hold, caused me to feel greatly distressed, and at length I fell into a kind of stupor.
I had a rude awakening. A sniffing sensation round my fingers was followed by a sharp bite. With a shriek I withdrew my hand, and immediately a loathsome, active creature fled across my prostrate body. It was a rat, and a huge one, judging by its weight.
Regardless of my instructions, I sprang to my feet, leaped over the bulkhead, and crawled across the neatly stowed cargo, bumping my crown more than once against the low deck beams. I was on the point of hammering against the hatch, when the thought occurred to me that it was yet too early to announce my presence.
My new position was also more bearable, for the light that came through the ill-fitting hatch was sufficient for me to see within a yard of where I crouched.
Meanwhile, the brig had tacked several times, so that by now the manoeuvre did not cause me any misgivings; but what did trouble me was the appearance of a regular swarm of rodents--not of the brown variety such as one meets in the country, but long, skinny, black rats, ferocious and daring in the extreme.
I looked about for a weapon, for although I carried about me the knife I had had fashioned from the fatal dagger, it did not seem sufficiently handy to tackle these loathsome creatures. To my great joy I espied a stout crowbar, left, no doubt, by the men who had stowed the cargo. With this I killed several of the brutes, though not before I was bitten more than once, for as I struck one another would fly straight at my throat, and only by warding it off with my arm was I able to finish it off with the iron rod.
At length the rodents drew away and left me in comparative peace, although I could hear them scuffling and squealing as the disturbed bilge-water drove them from their accustomed haunts.
Compared with the rats, the cockroaches could be endured without much effort. These verminous creatures swarmed everywhere--on the deck beams, over the cargo, and even on my person--so that I could scarce change my posture without feeling and hearing the sickening crunch as they were crushed beneath my body.
All at once a violent commotion, accompanied by a medley of sounds, came from the fore part of the hold. The hempen cable was rushing through the hawse pipe.