"Barlow was at the bottom of it," said the old sailor, angrily. "But you will see him again, don't worry about that. I don't want you to go home until you get your father."
"It is useless to think about that," said Bob, despairingly. "My father I shall never see again, so I must make the best of a bad bargain. I wish I knew what the Malays are going to do with those three prisoners. Can't we take the law on them when we get to Singapore?"
"You ain't reached Singapore yet by a mile or two," replied Ben, with a laugh, "and when we get there you'll find that the law ain't for such fellows as we are. In the first place, how are you going to prove the Malays?"
Bob stared hard at Ben, then rested his elbows on his knees and looked down at the bottom of the boat and said nothing.
"The Malays all look alike, and if you were to see one or two hundred of them brought in, how are you going to pick out the ones that did the mischief? And you would be shut up in jail for a witness. I tell you that the best thing you can do would be to hold your jaw and say nothing."
The three castaways kept their eyes fastened upon the vessel as long as she was in sight, hoping to gain some clue to the fate that was in store for the captain and his mates, but for the next half an hour the Malays remained standing on the quarter-deck as if engaged in consultation, and finally the increasing darkness shut her out from view, and they were alone on the deep.
CHAPTER XIX.
A FAMILIAR FACE.
How Bob managed to survive during that dreadful night he scarcely knew. He ever afterward thought of it as a dream, for his mind was in such confusion that he could not realize what was going on around him. Ben and the doctor managed the boat, while Bob lay stretched under the thwarts in a half-sensible condition, from which he never aroused himself until the sun arose and a joyous exclamation from the old sailor infused new life into him.
"Land, ho!" shouted Ben, seizing Bob by the leg and jerking him about. "I would about as soon see that as I would to find myself back aboard an English trader. Wouldn't you, my hearty? Here's land in plain sight. Get up and take a peep at it. Now we will live a Robinson Crusoe life, won't we?"
Land was indeed in plain sight, as old Ben had declared, and Bob finally mustered up energy enough to straighten up and look about him. He relieved Ben at the oar, and the latter busied himself in overhauling the provisions to see what they had to eat; for he wisely concluded that a little something on Bob's empty stomach would go far to refresh him. He first decided to pass the jug of water (for Bob acted as though he was very thirsty), for Ben had been careful of his provisions, not knowing how soon they would strike a place from which they could get more. He was not certain that they could get any on the island toward which they were being driven with all the speed that Bob and the doctor could put into their oars, but he concluded to risk it.