Always--they were so made--they sprang to meet the blow and to encounter the creature who delivered the blow.

With a silence that was invested with the seriousness of death, they were wont to attack and to continue to attack.
And so Michael.

As the Captain retreated kicking, he attacked, leaping and slashing.

What saved Captain Duncan was a sailor with a deck mop on the end of a stick.

Intervening, he managed to thrust it into Michael's mouth and shove him away.