"'Yes, David! I have hardly spoken to him myself: I have been so troubled about you. But here he is once more, safe and sound, thank God!'"
"Fanny started back, looked for a moment with wild, wide open eyes at the bearded figure which approached her, and put out her hand with an uncertain motion as if to keep him off. Then sight and sense failed her. The next she knew she was lying on the settee, and a kind motherly voice said:"
"'She is coming to herself. Why, Fanny! Look up, dear.'"
"She opened her eyes, and there was good Mrs. Morrell bending over her, and David kneeling by her side. Mrs. Morrell, thinking that Fanny might very likely be ill, had borrowed the minister's cutter, and she and Mrs. Lee had driven up in the wake of the road-breakers."
"That evening Thanksgiving day was kept in earnest, if rather late, at Bolt's Hill. Some one had ridden off at once to the White Tavern to relieve the anxiety of Mrs. Bolt; and by sunset the whole family were assembled in the red house, together with the minister's family and the doctor's, Mr. and Mrs. Morrell, and Eunice Gibson, who had come up, bringing with them a great supply of cakes, pies, biscuits, and all sorts of good things. Fanny, looking pale and feeble with the excitement and fatigue she had gone through, was bolstered up in one corner of the sofa; while between her and his mother sat David, holding a hand of each and relating his adventures."
"He had indeed gone down with the unlucky ship, but had risen again and obtained possession of a part of the wreck. On this, he had floated for a week, until, when almost starved, he had been taken up by a canoe full of savages. Knowing how many of the islanders in the Pacific are cannibals, David expected nothing but that he should be killed and eaten, or at least reduced to the condition of a slave. What, then, was his surprise and delight to find himself among Christian men, some of whom could even speak a few words of English. They had been converted by some of the missionaries which the Christianized islanders are constantly sending out at the risk of their lives to preach the glad tidings of the Gospel among the heathen."
"With these good-natured people David lived five years in great comfort and consideration, his chief trouble being home-sickness. He had the satisfaction of teaching the islanders many useful arts, and of giving them instruction in the truths of the Gospel. At the end of that time, an English ship touched at the island for water, and in her David obtained a passage to Liverpool, from which place he had no difficulty in working his way home."
"'And now you are home, I hope you will stay,' said Mr. Morrell. 'I should think you had had enough of the sea.'"
"'I don't say anything about that,' said David. 'Salt water comes pretty natural to us Bolts. I believe, if father would confess it, he would like to find himself on blue water once more.'"
"'I won't deny but I do have a hankering after it now and then,' said Captain Bolt, laughing; 'but I am pretty well contented to sit in the chimney-corner to-night.'"