“I’m going that way, and I’ll stop and put you off,” answered Captain Buchanan dryly. “What of the rest of you?”
“Any place suits me, where we can get a ship,” spoke Abe, and Joe nodded in agreement.
“What about you, Tom Fairfield?”
“Well, I’d like to go to Sydney, if it’s possible. If not, I can go to Honolulu, and take a ship there to continue the search for my father and mother.”
“Your father and mother!” exclaimed the captain. “Are they lost, too?” for our hero had not told of his reasons for being aboard the Silver Star.
“They were wrecked on the Kangaroo, or so I believe,” replied Tom, and he showed the newspaper clippings that had been the means of starting him on such a long and adventurous quest.
“The Kangaroo!” exclaimed the mate. “That’s the vessel we heard——”
“Yes, yes!” assented the captain eagerly.
“Oh, have you heard any news of her?” asked Tom eagerly. “Were any of her passengers saved? Tell me!”
“It’s almost providential!” exclaimed Captain Buchanan, “but a few days ago we did speak a vessel that had some news of the missing ship—the one your parents sailed on. It seems that she picked up a boat load of sailors some distance out to sea. They were from the Kangaroo. That was some time ago, you understand, for we have been from port some time, held back by contrary winds. But this ship, the Belgrade she was, had some of the rescued sailors.”