"Well, there! Why didn't you ring the door-bell? I say, youngster, come forward and give us a grip of your hand. Halloo! you've got your brother with you!"
"Not my brother, but my cousin, Howard Lawrence."
The two boys shook hands with the three, and the grip that they received from the horny palms made them wince with pain.
"But where'd you come from? We don't see a couple of youngsters dressed up in your style promenading 'round in these parts every day. Where'd you come from?"
"The steamer on which we took passage the other day from Panama, was burned off the coast, and we got ashore on a raft."
"Be you the only ones?"
"No; there were quite a number that escaped."
"Where be they?"
"They were carried away by a vessel while we had wandered inland."
"And you two—halloo! here's your grandfather!"