Benny was in a state of mind bordering on despair when the crew postponed any decided action on the letter from this uncle of whom he had never heard before. For the moment it seemed as if almost any decision would have been better than the suspense.
It appeared as if his comrades avoided even so much as looking toward him, and this gave him a sense of loneliness such as had come into his heart when he found himself amid strangers, the only survivor of the Amazonia.
As a matter of fact there was not a member of the crew but that would have enjoyed taking the lad in his arms and declaring that he should never leave the station, no matter how many uncles might send for him; but every man understood the question was too important to be decided hastily, and also that it would be cruel, perhaps, to speak such words as might influence the boy.
Benny waited a moment or more, hoping Sam Hardy might give him some consolation; but as the surfman remained silent with averted face, the sore-hearted lad, gathering Fluff in his arms, went out upon the wind-swept rocks to struggle as best he might with the great grief which had so suddenly come upon him.
Seating himself within view of the reef upon which the Amazonia had gone to pieces, and covering Fluff with his coat as best he might, the lad gave himself up to reflection—not as to what was best for him to do regarding the matter of going to his uncle; but concerning the cruel tricks which fortune seemed to be playing him.
“I know neither mother nor Mrs. Clark would want us to go off to that old man who never cared for us a cent’s worth till he saw the news of the shipwreck in the papers, and it’s horrible for him to interfere just when we’d got into such a nice place!”
The dog licked his master’s face, and interpreting this as meaning Fluff fully agreed with him, Benny continued mournfully:
“We won’t go, Fluffy, and that’s all there is to it. If the crew say we can’t stay here because that man claims the right to order us ’round, we’ll run off somewhere by our own two selves, an’ see if it won’t be possible to make another home. But we’ll never find such a pleasant place as this, no matter how much good luck we have! It seemed as if the men liked us, an’ after there’d been time to grow, we’d come out as regular surfmen.”
The dog whined because he was cold, but Benny fully believed it to be in reply.
“Of course you’re sorry, Fluff! Anybody’d be; an’ what is to become of us? You’ve got a collar and a medal, and there’s my two suits of clothes; but we’ll need some place to sleep in the very first night of leaving here, and where’ll we find it? The money the passengers gave us is in the bank, and I suppose Andrew Foster will think it belongs to him, so we can’t count on that.”