More likely, he thought, they would be lying in wait for him with a gun. What he hoped was that some American, familiar with the island and friendly with the natives, had strayed into the thicket.
Jack whistled in reply and then stepped back out of sight. He had an idea that he wanted to see the other fellow first.
Before long a voice came out of the thicket, a voice which might have come from a tenement on Thompkins Square, in the city of New York.
"Vot iss?" were the words Jack heard.
"Show yourself!" commanded Jack.
"Py schimminy," came the answer, "you gif me in the pack one, two, dree pain. What?"
"You're Dutch!" said Jack.
"Chermany!" corrected the other. "Come a liddle oudt."
Jack stepped out of the shelter and soon saw a boy of about seventeen do likewise. The boy was short, round, fat, muscular, and big and red of face. He was dressed in a checkered suit of ready-mades which did not fit him, and his blond head was covered with a cap such as German comedians use on the stage.
"Hello, Dutch!" Jack called out.