“We caught him!” cried Bunny. “My sister Sue and I—we caught the wild man!”
“And he isn’t wild any more!” added Sue.
“Shiver my marlinspike!” cried Will.
“Come here and we’ll tell you the story,” said Mr. Brown, with a laugh at the surprise of the sailors.
“But first we have something to tell you,” said Sam. “We looked about in the wooden house—that is, after I sneezed and scared this man away.”
“Oh, was it you who sneezed?” asked the former wild man.
“Yes,” said Sam. “But I didn’t mean to.”
“Anyhow, it turned out all right,” said Will. “But what Sam is trying to tell you is that we found the name Mary Bell on part of a lifeboat in the deckhouse. We remembered you folks said that was the name of the schooner your friend Philip Pott was wrecked on. The Mary Bell was wrecked here.”
“Of course she was!” cried the “wild man,” as Bunny and Sue still called him in their minds. “I was cast ashore on this island from the wreck of the Mary Bell. I was second mate aboard of her. And did I hear you mention the name Philip Pott? I thought I heard the children when I walked up to them speak of a Mr. Pott, but I couldn’t be sure of it.”
“Yes, we were talking about taking Mr. Pott some flowers and cocoanuts,” explained Bunny.