“Captain Carson!� exclaimed Raynor. The other started back at the sound of his name. He stared as if he had beheld an apparition from the grave.
“Great heavens! it’s young Raynor!� he gasped out.
“Yes, Raynor, whom you left to die on the wreck of the Polly Ann,� said the boy sternly.
“An’ here’s anudder of yer chickens come home ter roost,� exclaimed Noddy Nipper, stepping up, “you’re a nice one, you are. You look as if you’d bin havin’ a pretty tough time, an’ you deserve it, too.
“Where are the rest of your crew? In other boats?� asked Raynor.
“Gone, all gone,â€� moaned Carson weakly. “Lost in a storm which overwhelmed us. There were ten men in this boat, but they all died or went mad but myself and these two. We were just about giving up when we saw the light of this fire and made for it. It’s—it’s like a judgment upon me.â€�
He sank down on the bench and covered his face with his hands.
“Have you anything that would bring a dead man to life like a bite of biscuit or sup of water at all, at all?� asked O’Brien.
“We are almost dead,� said Tewson huskily.
The boys, scoundrel though they knew Carson to be, could not but furnish him with food and drink. The man’s physique was so superb that, despite his sufferings in the boat, after his refreshment he was able to sit up, and talk of his adventures. O’Brien and Tewson, however, sank into a deep sleep of exhaustion.