CHAPTER XXIV
THE SHIP COMES BACK
The stranger spoke so kindly to them and seemed so sad and forlorn, that the hearts of Bunny and his sister Sue went out to the poor man.
And you can well imagine how surprised Mr. and Mrs. Brown were when, as they sat under the cocoanut trees talking about when the Beacon would come back, they saw their children coming down a little hill hand in hand with the strange wild man.
“Look!” cried Mrs. Brown.
Mr. Brown rubbed his eyes as though he could not believe what he saw. Then he cried:
“My gracious, it’s the wild man!”
Bunny and Sue walked nearer, still hand in hand with the long-haired and matted-bearded man, and when they were close enough to be heard Sue called out:
“We caught the wild man!”
And Bunny added:
“But he isn’t going to be wild any more and he wants to come on our ship when it comes back!”
Before Mr. or Mrs. Brown could say anything the man hurried toward them and exclaimed:
“It’s just as the children say! They have caught me, but I was willing to be caught. And I guess I have been a bit wild, living here all alone on this island. I’ve been sick—that made me out of my head, I reckon—and I did all sorts of queer things. That’s why I ran away when I first saw you people. I hope I didn’t scare you.”
“We didn’t know what to think. I’m very sorry,” said Mrs. Brown.
“I’m tame now,” and the man smiled at the children. “But tell me,” he went on, “is it true that you are off a ship and that the vessel is coming back for you?”
“We hope so,” said Mrs. Brown.
“Oh, yes, the Beacon will surely come back,” said Mr. Brown. “She went away because of some accident, I’m sure. She may be back this very day.”
“Do you think they will take me off?” asked the man.
“Of course, if you want to leave the island,” said Mr. Brown.
“I certainly do want to leave the island!” cried the man. “I have been here nearly a year, and I am sick and tired of the place—living all alone. That’s what made me wild, I think—no other soul on this island but me. I was shipwrecked and cast up here. I used to live in that hut,” and he pointed to the grass-and-palm-leaf shelter where the Browns had slept.
“I lived there a week,” said the man, “and then another, storm, coming after the one that wrecked my ship, tossed up on shore the deckhouse and some other things. So I took up my home in the wooden cabin.”
“It’s a nice little house,” remarked Bunny. “I like it.”
“Could we play there a little while?” Sue asked.
“As much as you like,” said the wild man who was now tame. “But were you shipwrecked?” he asked Mr. Brown.
“Oh, no,” answered the children’s father, and then he told how the Beacon had run on a sand-bar and how the boatload had come to the island and how the ship, for some strange reason, had steamed away, leaving them there.
Mr. Brown was just going to ask the stranger his name and the name of his shipwrecked vessel when over the hill Sam and Will came running. They had not caught the wild man, but they were eager to tell Mr. Brown about discovering the name Mary Bell in the wrecked deckhouse.
When the two sailors saw the “wild man” peacefully talking to their friends, Sam and Will could hardly believe their eyesight. They came to a sudden stop, their mouths open.
“Look! Look!” murmured Will. “There’s the wild man!”
“We caught him!” cried Bunny. “My sister Sue and I—we caught the wild man!”
“And he isn’t wild any more!” added Sue.
“Shiver my marlinspike!” cried Will.
“Come here and we’ll tell you the story,” said Mr. Brown, with a laugh at the surprise of the sailors.
“But first we have something to tell you,” said Sam. “We looked about in the wooden house—that is, after I sneezed and scared this man away.”
“Oh, was it you who sneezed?” asked the former wild man.
“Yes,” said Sam. “But I didn’t mean to.”
“Anyhow, it turned out all right,” said Will. “But what Sam is trying to tell you is that we found the name Mary Bell on part of a lifeboat in the deckhouse. We remembered you folks said that was the name of the schooner your friend Philip Pott was wrecked on. The Mary Bell was wrecked here.”
“Of course she was!” cried the “wild man,” as Bunny and Sue still called him in their minds. “I was cast ashore on this island from the wreck of the Mary Bell. I was second mate aboard of her. And did I hear you mention the name Philip Pott? I thought I heard the children when I walked up to them speak of a Mr. Pott, but I couldn’t be sure of it.”
“Yes, we were talking about taking Mr. Pott some flowers and cocoanuts,” explained Bunny.
“He fell off his horse and he’s in the hospital,” said Sue. “And he wants to find his son Harry and the treasure.”
“Why, I’m his son Harry!” cried the wild man. “That’s my name! I’m Harry Pott and my father is Philip Pott! I wonder if it can be the same one?”
“It must be,” said Mr. Brown. “There could hardly be two men of the same name wrecked from the Mary Bell. I remember hearing the Mr. Pott who was hurt near our house say that the name of his schooner was Mary Bell.”
“That’s the one!” cried the former wild man. “Oh, at last I have trace of my father! I feared he was drowned with the rest of the crew when the Mary Bell was wrecked. Oh, tell me more about my father! I am happier than in many a long day!”
Then Mr. and Mrs. Brown, by turns, with Bunny and Sue putting in words now and then, told the story.
“There’s no doubt of it,” said Harry Pott when the story was finished. “The man who was thrown off his horse when your children were playing store is my father. I hope he wasn’t badly hurt!”
“I think he will get well,” said Mr. Brown. “And he surely will when he hears that you are alive. It will be good news to him.”
“And he wants the treasure, too,” said Bunny Brown. “Don’t forget about the treasure!”
“Treasure?” repeated Harry Pott. “I don’t know anything about any treasure. Father must be mistaken about that. But, no matter, we shall be happy when we meet again. Only when do you think the Beacon will come back to take us off?”
Before any one could answer Will Gand leaped to his feet and pointed across the water.
“There she comes now!” he cried. “Hurray! The ship is coming back for us!”