They saw, as he came up, that he was pale and emaciated. He was panting heavily from his exertions. He wore a flannel shirt and canvas trousers. He looked like a common sailor from some ship, and not at all like a fisherman or farmer. The boys stared at him without saying one single word.
At length the man rose and looked at them with a searching and curious gaze.
“A couple o? youngsters,” said he at last, as though speaking to himself. “Queer, too—youngsters! Say, boys, is your ship near by?”
“Not very.”
“Where do you come from?”
“O, from over there,” said Arthur. “The fact is, we got ashore.”
“Got ashore!”
“Yes; and we’ve come here to look up some settlement.”
“Got ashore! settlement!” said the man.
“Yes,” said Arthur. “And we’d like to go, as soon as possible, to the nearest settlement. We want to engage a schooner to go back with us and get our friends.”