During at least five minutes he remained like a statue gazing at the inanimate objects as if expecting they would give him some solution to what was a perplexing riddle, and then like a flash of light the truth came into his mind.
“What a fool I have been not to understand the whole thing before!” he exclaimed. “When I told what I had heard from the pantry, the mate went to the captain, and the two decided that it wouldn’t be safe to let me go among the men, for fear I might give away the secret. The idea of my bein’ sick was cooked up, I was kept in the state-room so none of the crew could see me, an’ landed on the first desolate island the brig came to. There’s no show of people livin’ here, for I’ve followed the water around, and nearly all the time could see half-way across, so that part of the business is settled. Now I’m to stay here till I die so’s I can’t tell about their wreckin’ the brig.”
There was only one thing that prevented Ned from giving way to the despair and grief which came into his heart with the knowledge of the cruel deed of which he was the victim, and that was the certainty the Evening Star would soon be scuttled.
“Perhaps I’m lucky in only bein’ set ashore here. They might have kept me on board till the last minute, an’ then left me to go down with the vessel.”
Boy though he was, Ned understood that it was in the highest degree necessary he should retain control of himself, and instead of indulging in useless grief, he set about making the best of what was a very bad plight without a single redeeming feature.
“There’s no use in goin’ hungry, an’ I may as well see what we’ve got here in the way of grub,” he said to himself as he unfastened the largest package.
A cry of anger and disappointment burst from his lips as the contents were disclosed to view.
The square of canvas contained nothing but oakum and bits of rope.
Feverishly he opened the others, only to find them filled with rubbish of all kinds.
The captain had doomed him to starvation, and the different bundles were prepared to deceive the crew, some of whom might have been suspicious had the poor boy been set ashore with nothing to eat.