"You think, then, that he is in bad shape?"
"I hardly know what to think. We will take him below and do all we can for him."
It was no easy matter to transfer Pop to one of the lower staterooms, but once placed on a soft berth the Rovers did all they could for him.
"It is like a romance," said Sam, while Randolph Rover was administering some medicine to the unconscious man. "How thin he looks."
"He's been suffering from starvation," put in Dick. "I suppose he gave that yell we heard with his last breath."
All of the party watched over the colored man with tender care, and feeling that he could be in no better hands the captain left him entirely in his friends' charge. "When he comes to his senses you can let me know," he said.
Dick was watching by Pop's side, and Tom was at the foot of the berth, when the colored man opened his eyes. As they rested on first one Rover and then the other he stared in utter astonishment.
"My gracious sakes alive!" he gasped. "Am I dreamin', or am I back to Putnam Hall again?"
"Neither, Aleck," replied Dick. "You are safe on board an ocean steamer."
"An' yo'—whar yo' dun come from?"