“I am not apt to be curious, but I wish, before you leave me, to ask you a few questions. Sit down, if you please.”
Robert seated himself. He felt that the hermit had a right to ask some questions of one whom he had saved.
“How came you so far out at sea on a frail raft? If you had been shipwrecked, that would explain it, but as you have not been to sea, I cannot understand it.”
“I found myself on Egg Island, without any means of getting off. So I made a raft from the timbers of the wreck and launched it. I thought it would last long enough for me to reach land.”
“It was a hazardous enterprise. But how came you on the island? Surely you did not swim there?”
“No, sir. My uncle carried me there in his boat. He refused to take me off unless I would give up some money which I wanted to spend for my aunt.”
“Was the money yours?”
“Yes, sir. It was given me by a gentleman living at the hotel.”
“Your uncle—John Trafton—is not a temperate man?”
“No, sir. He spends all the money he earns on drink, and my aunt and I have to live as we can.”