"How thin you are!" said Sam. And then he added tenderly: "But we'll take good care of you, now we have found you."
"And Randolph!" murmured Anderson Rover, as the brother came up. "Oh, thank God! Thank God, for this!" and the tears began to flow down his cheeks. "How long I have waited! Many a time I thought to give up in despair!"
"We came as soon as we got that message you sent," answered Dick.
"But that was long after you had sent it."
"And is the sailor, Converse, safe?"
"No; the sailor is dead."
"Too bad—he was the one friend I had here."
"And King Susko has kept you a prisoner all this while?" asked
Randolph Rover.
"Yes; and he has treated me shamefully in the bargain. He imagined I knew all of the secrets of this mountain, of a gold mine of great riches, and he would not let me go; but, instead, tried to wring the supposed secret from me by torture."
"We will settle accounts with him some day," muttered Dick. "It's a pity Tom didn't kill him."
The native women and children were looking in at the doorway curiously, not knowing what to say or do. Turning swiftly, Dick caught one by the arm.