All at once, while he was still gazing at the column of smoke shoreward, Harry became aware of a figure coming out of the woods toward the beach. He shouted with all his might, and the man who had appeared from the undergrowth waved a reply.
Then his voice came over the water.
“What’s up?”
The tone somehow was strangely familiar to Harry, and, for that matter, when he had first seen the figure of the newcomer it had struck him with an odd sense of familiarity. Suddenly he realized why this was.
“Ben Stubbs!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Ahoy, mate!” came back after a pause; “who are you?”
“By the great horn spoon! What the dickens are you doing out there?”
Cupping his hands to make his voice carry the better, Harry hailed back once more.
“I drifted here on this hulk. Can you take me off?”