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  fastened on the poor frenzied intellect and he sprang for the rail.

"Ach, no!" muttered Leyden in my ear, and at the same instant leaped like a cat; one of his powerful, nervous hands closed on the man's naked shoulder and the next moment the poor wretch was on his back, pawing the air, groping at his livid face, while his screams smote back the crowd of the curious.

"Quick, Doctor!" said Leyden, and the words wedged in his throat as the pungent fumes gripped his trachea. He tried again to speak, but by that time I had seized Rosenthal's bottle of Rhine wine from the table and had begun to pour it over the man's face. Of course, there are better things than Rhine wine with which to neutralize stronger ammonia, but that was the nearest at hand and haste was requisite.

Presently the ship's doctor arrived with dilute acetic acid; by that time Leyden and I were both nearly asphyxiated and the man [ 273 ]