The frigate came slowly on with the lead going and look-outs at frigate, although she might not carry more than six or eight guns. At length she got within about a mile of the island, when the screw was stopped and a boat lowered. There was only one landing-place on the lee side, close below the hill on which the flag-staff had been erected.
Tom, securing four handkerchiefs to the end of a spar, hastened down to it to guide the boat in. On she came, pulled by six strong arms, a lieutenant and midshipman in the stern sheets. Tom, Desmond, and Billy stood ready to receive the strangers. The boat was quickly run up on the beach, when the officers stepped on shore.
The lieutenant, observing the three midshipmen’s tattered uniforms, advanced towards them, and inquired as he shook hands, “Has an American man-of-war been cast away here?”
“No, sir; but an American whaler was wrecked here a few weeks ago.”
“Then who are you, and how came you here?” asked the lieutenant.
Tom in a few words narrated their adventures, and then asked, “And what is your ship, sir?”
“The Bellona, Captain Murray—”
“What! Captain Alick Murray?” exclaimed Tom. “I served with him. He is my brother Jack’s greatest friend.”
“Are you Captain Rogers’s brother? That is extraordinary,” exclaimed the lieutenant, “for he is a passenger with us, going out to command the Empress in the China seas.”
“My brother Jack on board! That is good news.”