"Yes—a hull box."
"An the sail for shelter?"
"Yes."
"Wal; it's queer. He can't hev got down by the State o' Maine; for, ef he'd got thar, he'd hev sent word home before this."
"Course he would."
Old Bennie thought over this for a long time again, and the boys watched him closely, as though some result of vital importance hung upon his final decision.
"Wal," said Bennie at last, "s'posin that he's alive,—an it's very likely,—thar's ony two ways to account for his onnat'ral silence. Them air these:—
"Fust, he may hev got picked up by a timber ship, outward bound to the old country. In that case he may be carried the hull way acrost. I've knowed one or two sech cases, an hev heerd of severial more.
"Second. He may hev drifted onto a oninhabited island."
"An oninhabited island?" repeated Captain Corbet.