Grinson glanced at the Dutchman's trousers, then at Meek.
'Yes, but what good?' the man went on. 'De niggers capture me. Widout you, my friend--Ach! Dey make me climb down; at de height of de moon'--(he shuddered). 'Yes, I know dem, widout you I am killed and eat. I dank you.'
'Well, it was uncommonly lucky we happened to be hereabouts,' said Trentham. 'We were in a ticklish situation ourselves.'
'Wrecked?'
The moonlight glinted on a pair of very keen eyes.
'No, we were sunk by a German raider. The boat we got away in, four of us, only escaped a shell by a hair's breadth. Did you sight the ruffians?'
'No. My schooner was wrecked up de coast. You escaped a shell! Wonderful! And you go, where?'
'We don't know. We only got ashore yesterday, and couldn't find a way up the cliffs till we discovered this crack.'
'I help you. Yes, it is a pleasure to do something for dem what save me. Dis coast, I know it a little. I was here before, since ten years, when I come wid expedition for search of--of copper. You listen to me; I show you. You go to Friedrich Wilhelmshafen; it is de German port----'
'Axing your pardon, mister,' Grinson interposed, 'you been a long voyage, surely. There ain't no German ports in New Guinea nowadays, and I lay that port have got a new name that don't break your jaw to say.'