"There is a white man here."
"Where?" asked John in astonishment.
"In the hut, and he is paralyzed and cannot speak."
John did not wait for more, and as he went the head man followed him in. Then they told him the story, and John stood there and gazed at the man. To the boys who were by John's side he remarked: "I do not know him. I do not think I ever saw him before. How long has he been in this condition?" The old man responded: "Ever since we picked him up on the shore, about tuta romama ago."
"And how long ago was that?"
George informed him that Calmo received the information that it was over two years prior to that time, and as John received this information he passed his hand over his head, and, turning to Harry, said: "We shall, probably, get at the bottom of another mystery."
"What is it? Why do you think so?" asked George in astonishment.
"Not now; not now!" answered John, wishing to defer discussion until they were out of the stricken man's hearing.
The latter, however, did not in the least appreciate who were before him. He was not at all perturbed by his visitors, nor when John quietly passed his hand along the poor man's arm and body to satisfy himself of the extent of the paralytic stroke.