"I want a true answer, boy!"

"I have told you the truth."

"You know as well as I what brought Robert Menden to this island and this locality."

"Well?"

"I want to know just where he went yesterday afternoon."

"I don't know. I wasn't with him, and I haven't seen him since yesterday morning."

"He didn't return to your camp?"

"I can't say that either. I left my friends, wandered off, and got lost in these woods, and I've been here all night, although not in this swamp."

"Humph!" Farvel mused for a moment and sat down on a fallen tree. "Can you tell me how Menden got to Porto Rico?"

"Aren't you going to help me out?"