As he was speaking, one of the cabin doors on the port side opened, and a woman's soft voice said--
'Can I help in any way, Captain Herrendeen? Solepa tells me that you have picked up a boat with some shipwrecked men. I was fast asleep. Shall I dress and come out?'
The captain got up out of his seat and went to the door.
'Don't you worry, Mrs. Casalle; the men are all right. Good night.'
With eyes gleaming with excitement, Tom sprang to the captain's side just as the door was shut.
'Casalle, Mrs. Casalle! Did you say Casalle, sir,' he said, 'of the Bandolier?'
'Yes, Casalle, that is the lady's name. She and her servant are my passengers. Her husband's ship was the Bandolier, and ran on to Middleton Reef, and nearly all hands were lost----'
'No, they were not!' Tom shouted. 'Captain Casalle and a lot of his men and his little girl came to Port Kooringa in a boat. I saw them; I saw them, captain, I tell you! They came to our house. They----'
Herrendeen raised his hand tremblingly. 'Steady, my boy, steady, for God's sake! She's a poor little weak sort of thing, and this news might kill her right out. Are you certain?'
'I am certain, captain,' replied Tom, with an irrepressible sob of joy; 'I am certain--Captain Casalle! the Bandolier! and all the rest of it! There can be no mistake. He told Foster and I that his wife was drowned with the second mate, two men, and a Samoan girl.'