It will be easier for the reader to imagine, than for me to describe, the look on the faces of Calypso and Charlie Webster when they saw me appear at almost the same spot where poor Tobias had just gone bubbling down. Words I had none, for I was at the end of my strength, and I broke down and sobbed like a child.
"Thank God you are safe—my treasure, my treasure!" was all I could say, after they had lifted me aboard, and I lay face down on the deck, at her feet. Swiftly she knelt by my side, and caressed my shoulder with her dear hand.
All of which—particularly my reference to "my treasure"—must have been much to the bewilderment of the good simple-hearted Charlie, towering, innocent-eyed, above us. I believe I stayed a little longer at her feet than I really had need to, for the comfort of her being so near and kind; but, presently, we were all aroused by a voice from the cliffs above. It was the "King," with his bodyguard, Erebus and the crew of the Flamingo—no Samson, alas! The sound of the firing had reached them in the woods, and they had come hurrying to discover its cause.
So we deferred asking our questions, and telling our several stories, till we were pulled ashore.
As Calypso was folded in her father's arms, he turned to me:
"Didn't I tell you that I knew my daughter?" he said.
"And I told you something too, O King," I replied—my eyes daring at last to rest on Calypso with the love and pride of my heart.
"And where on earth have you been, young man?" he asked, laughing. "Did Tobias kidnap you too?"
It was very hard, as you will have seen, to astonish the "King."