“Ah!” said O’Rook, with a look of sympathy, as he touched the region of his heart with his left thumb, “p’r’aps it was somethin’ o’ this sort, eh? I’ve bin through that myself in the ould country, where as purty a—well, well, it’s all over now, but I’ve a fellow-feelin’ for—”
“No,” interrupted Mr Luke, with a sigh, “it wasn’t a disappointment, it was—oh! what a splendid view!”
They had reached the top of the ridge at the moment, and the view of the verdant islet that burst upon them might well have called forth admiration from men of coarser mould than they.
O’Rook forgot for a few minutes the subject of his curiosity, and compared the prospect to some of the beautiful scenery of Ireland, though there was no resemblance whatever between the two. He soon returned, however, to the previous subject of conversation, but Mr Luke had ceased to be communicative.
“What is that lying on the beach there?” he said, pointing in the direction referred to.
“It’s more than I can tell,” answered O’Rook; “looks like a boat, don’t it?”
“Very,” said Mr Luke, “and there is something lying beside it like a man. Come, let’s go see.”
The two explorers went rapidly down the gentle slope that led to the beach, and soon found that the object in question was indeed a boat, old, rotten, and blistered with the sun. Beside it lay the skeleton of a man, with a few rags of the garments that had once formed its clothing still clinging to it here and there. It was a pitiful sight. Evidently the unfortunate man had been cast away in an open boat, and had been thrown on that beach when too much exhausted to make a last struggle for life, for there was no sign of his having wandered from the boat or cut down bushes, or attempted to make a fire. His strength had apparently enabled him to get out of the boat, that was all, and there he had lain down to die.
For some time the two wanderers stood contemplating the sight in silence, and when at length they spoke it was in low, sad tones.
“Poor, poor fellow,” said Mr Luke, “he must have been shipwrecked, like ourselves, and cast adrift in the boat. But I wonder that he is alone; one would expect that some of his comrades must have got into the boat along with him.”