12 P.M.
I sometimes think I am the only really sane man aboard the vessel -- except perhaps the second engineer , who is a kind of ruminant , and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools . The ice is still opening rapidly , and there is every probability of our being able to make a start to-morrow morning . They will think I am inventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have befallen me . 12 P.M. -- I have been a good deal startled , though I feel steadier now , thanks to a stiff glass of brandy . I am hardly myself yet , however , as this handwriting will testify . The fact is , that I have gone through a very strange experience , and am beginning to doubt whether I was justified in branding every one on board as madmen because they professed to have seen things which did not seem reasonable to my understanding . Pshaw !