“To be sure they would,” cried Walter. “There’s Danforth Eaton helped clear Elm Island when Charlie Bell first came there; then there’s Peterson, and Enoch Hadlock,—what a ninny I was not to think of that before he went away!—there’s not one of them but knows more about his first coming there than I do.”
Leaving his dinner, Walter ran forward, and soon returned, saying that Eaton knew all about it.
When John Bell came on board the next morning, he seemed calm, collected, and much more hopeful. Sending for Eaton, the captain said to him, “Eaton, I want you to tell us all you know about Charles Bell’s coming to Elm Island, and about his parents, if you know or have heard anything about them, and I want you to begin at the bottom.”
“What I know, cap’n, isn’t hearsay, but I had it all from his own lips.”
“So much the better.”
“You see, cap’n, about that time there was some Tories come up from the provinces—”
“We know,” said the captain, interrupting him, “how he got to the island; but what we are most concerned to ascertain is, who his parents were, and how he came into the hands of those pirates (for they were no better) who brought him to Elm Island. Can you tell us anything about that?”
“Reckon I kin tell you all about it; but I must tell it in my own way. If you keep putting in and interrupting me, I shall get all mixed up.”
“Well, go on.”