“Are you Jack Nelson?” cried Cousin Jasper.
“Yes, that’s my name. A friend and I were wrecked on this island, but I can’t find him and—-”
“But he’s found you!” cried Mr. Dent. “Oh, Jack! I’ve found you! I’ve found you! I’ve come back to get you! Now you’ll be all right!”
Into the cave rushed Cousin Jasper, followed by the others. Mr. Bobbsey and Captain Crane had pocket electric flashlights, and by these they could see some one lying on a pile of moss in one corner of the cavern.
It was a boy, and one look at him showed that he was ill. His face was flushed, as if from fever, and a piece of sail-cloth was tied around one leg. Near him, on the ground where he was lying, were some oranges, and a few pieces of very dry crackers, called “pilot biscuits” by the sailors.
“Oh, Jack, what has happened to you? Are you hurt, and have you been in this cave all the while?” asked Mr. Dent.
“No, not all the while, though I’ve been in here now for nearly a week, I guess, ever since I hurt my leg. I can crawl about a little but I can’t climb up and down the hill, so I got in here to stay out of the storms, and I thought no one would ever come to me.”
“You poor boy!” softly said Mrs. Bobbsey. “Don’t talk any more now. Wait until you feel better and then you can tell us all about it. Poor boy!”
“Are you hungry?” asked Freddie; for that, to him, seemed about the worst thing that could happen.
“No, not so very,” answered Jack. “When I found I couldn’t get around any more, or not so well, on my sore leg, I crawled to the trees and got some oranges. I had a box of the biscuit and some other things that washed ashore from the wreck after you went away,” he said to Cousin Jasper.