How Bob managed to survive during that dreadful night he scarcely knew. He ever afterward thought of it as a dream, for his mind was in such confusion that he could not realize what was going on around him. Ben and the doctor managed the boat, while Bob lay stretched under the thwarts in a half-sensible condition, from which he never aroused himself until the sun arose and a joyous exclamation from the old sailor infused new life into him.

"Land, ho!" shouted Ben, seizing Bob by the leg and jerking him about. "I would about as soon see that as I would to find myself back aboard an English trader. Wouldn't you, my hearty? Here's land in plain sight. Get up and take a peep at it. Now we will live a Robinson Crusoe life, won't we?"

Land was indeed in plain sight, as old Ben had declared, and Bob finally mustered up energy enough to straighten up and look about him. He relieved Ben at the oar, and the latter busied himself in overhauling the provisions to see what they had to eat; for he wisely concluded that a little something on Bob's empty stomach would go far to refresh him. He first decided to pass the jug of water (for Bob acted as though he was very thirsty), for Ben had been careful of his provisions, not knowing how soon they would strike a place from which they could get more. He was not certain that they could get any on the island toward which they were being driven with all the speed that Bob and the doctor could put into their oars, but he concluded to risk it.

"There, Bob," said he, uncorking the jug and passing it forward, "you have something to drink our health in. May your shadow never grow less."

Bob took the jug, and as he raised it to his lips he quickly put it down again and slowly got upon his feet. He could distinctly make out the spars of a vessel that was lying in the bay toward which their boat was heading.

"Now, then, what do you see over there?" inquired Ben.

"I see a ship of some kind," said Bob, in a trembling voice.

"So you do," exclaimed Ben, after running his eye along the shore. "And she isn't a trader, either. She's one of our own vessels."

"An American?" shouted Bob. "Look again, and don't deceive me."

"She's an American, as sure as you live!" said the old sailor, after he had taken as good a view of the ship as he could get on account of the surrounding trees. "You never saw a clumsy-looking trader with such spars and such rigging as she has. Bob, give me a place at the oar, and you sit in the stern and steer as straight for her as you can go. By George! We're in luck."

Bob made the change, and for the next two hours forgot how hungry and thirsty he was. By the end of this time the vessel was within hailing distance. She was anchored in a little cove that set into the island, and her boats were drawn up in line on the beach, where most of her crew were assembled, apparently engaged in trading with the natives.

"She is an American, I declare!" said Bob, hardly able to contain himself. "Hail her, Ben, and find out."

"Who are you and where did you come from?" asked the captain of the ship, who appeared at the side in answer to Ben's hail.

The old sailor did the talking, trying to make his long story as short as possible, and while he was speaking Bob made a thorough examination of the vessel. There was something about her that looked familiar; and after he run his eyes over her from truck to water-line, he told himself that if he had not seen that ship in the harbor of Clifton more than once, he had seen one there that looked exactly like her. Old Ben himself certainly discovered something about her to attract his attention, for he suddenly began to stammer and hesitate, and it was only by a great effort of will that he was able to go on with his story. He did not look at the man to whom he was talking, but kept his eyes fastened upon the after-part of the vessel. Bob looked in the same direction, and saw that a bull's-eye, which probably opened into one of the cabin state-rooms, was unclosed, and that a face was pressed close to it—a pale, handsome face, with thick gray whiskers and moustache, and a pair of large black eyes which seemed to be looking straight through him. If it was the same face he had probably known in the days gone by, how changed it was! He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the face had disappeared.

"Ben!" he cried, in great excitement.

"Avast, there!" replied the old sailor. "The cap'n's going to speak."

"I've got all the crew I want," said the captain, "but if you have a mind to come aboard and behave yourselves you can work your passage to Singapore."

"We'll do our duty the best we know how, sir," said Ben.

"All right, come aboard, then; but bear in mind that I am a sailor all over and a hard man to suit."

"Ben," repeated our hero, as the boat was pulled under the fore-chains, "Ben, I saw—"

"Avast, there, will you! What's the good of so much chin-music?" exclaimed the sailor.

"But can't I speak?" demanded Bob, greatly surprised and excited. "Ben, I tell you, I saw—"

"You saw nothing. Belay your jaw."

"But I tell you, I saw my father looking out of that bull's-eye," insisted Bob.

"Your father?" exclaimed the doctor, opening his eyes in amazement.

"Yes, sir, my father. And, Ben, he was crazy. I never saw him look so at me in his life."

"He saw his grandmother," interrupted Ben. "The boy is crazy himself, and that is what's the matter with him. His father has been under hatches for five years and better. Get aboard, doctor. Now," he added, turning almost fiercely upon Bob, "not another word out of you about what you saw if you want to keep on the right side of me. Mind that. Up you go."

Bob made the best of his way to the deck and looked about him. Then he was certain he knew the ship. She was the Boston, and she had once belonged to his father. More than that, his father was aboard of her at that very moment, for he had seen him with his own eyes.

"Well, boy, what are you staring at?" demanded the captain. "Did you never see a ship before? Turn to at once, for we don't allow idlers here. Doctor, go into the galley and lend a hand there. What's your name, you graybeard?"

"Smith, sir," replied Ben.

"Well, Smith, you will find work enough with this chaffing-gear to keep you busy the rest of the day. And you, boy—"

"On deck, there!" shouted a voice from aloft.

"Fore-top," replied the captain.

"Can I have a marline-spike and about five minutes' help?" asked the voice.

"Jump up there, boy," said the captain, turning to Bob.

Our hero, having heard the request, knew just what to do. He caught up a marline-spike and ran aloft with it, and met with another surprise so great that he came very near letting go his hold and going back to the deck in a much greater hurry than he went up. The sailor who was at work was an old companion and friend. He it was who had built his first model yacht and taught him to sail it on the bay, and many an hour had he passed in old Ben's cabin telling him stories of the sea. He had heard Bob promise his father that under no circumstances would he ever make a first voyage as a sailor. He had been employed by some of the country houses to do various kinds of work, but one night he disappeared, and was never heard of afterward. The most of the people believed that he had grown tired of work ashore and had gone off to sea.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Bob, hardly able to believe his eyes.

"Not a word out of you," said the sailor, glancing below to make sure that the captain was not watching. "I was glad to see you at first, but now I am sorry, for you came very near letting the cat out of the bag when you first came alongside."

"Why, Sweet, how came you here?" said Bob, lowering his tone. "Did you get tired of the shore?"

"Tired? No; I was shanghaied and sent to sea against my will, and I know who was at the bottom of it."

"But when I came alongside I saw my father," said Bob, earnestly.

"And Ben saw him, too, didn't he? But he was too smart to make a fuss about it."

"Make a fuss? I tell you, I will raise a fuss here—"

"Avast, there! You won't raise no fuss until Ben and I say the word. If you do, you will spoil everything."

"I don't see that you need to fix anything," said Bob, forgetting in his excitement that there were men below him. "My father was kidnapped and taken aboard this vessel—"

"And Ben wouldn't let you say anything about him? That shows that his head is level. He was afraid you would say something before the captain. Here, hold fast to the end of the rope, for you must do something while you are up here or you'll be ordered down again," said the sailor, speaking hurriedly, as if he wished to say as much as possible in the shortest space of time. "We've got things all fixed, and you mustn't go to spoiling them for us. The cargo will be aboard at sundown, and we sail at the turn of the tide; but when we do sail your father will be in command."

"Then he is aboard, isn't he?" exclaimed Bob, almost overcome by excitement and delight. "I was sure of it."

"Of course he's here, but we foremast hands ain't supposed to know it. And we didn't find it out until we reached Cape Town, and then we found it out by accident. He's got five good friends—seven, now that you and Ben have come—"

"Eight," interrupted Bob, "counting in the darky that came with us. He will do anything for Ben."

"That will be enough," said the sailor. "We're going to shake out the sails when the last boat goes off this afternoon, and as soon as that is done we'll be ready to begin operations."

"But, Sweet, you have not yet told me how my father came here and what the captain is going to do with him," said Bob.

"I can't tell you what he means to do with him. Mebbe he intends to leave him to starve on some desert island, and mebbe he's going to watch his chance to knock him overboard. But he has waited too long to carry out his plans, whatever they are. He won't allow him on deck, for he says he's crazy."

"That's just what I was afraid of," said Bob, in a despairing tone.

"Avast, there!" said the sailor.

"I tell you, I never saw him look at me with such eyes before," insisted Bob.

"I reckon you would look at a man with crazy eyes too if you were in his place. As to how he came here, that's your uncle's doings. He wanted your father's money, and not having the courage to put him out of the way himself, he hired the captain and his first mate to do the work for him. But mind you, they didn't steal him out of his house at dead of night, as they do with every man that is shanghaied."

"How did they work it, then?"

"They found him in a small boat, ten miles out at sea, and took him aboard. He was luny then; at least, the captain said so. He said he was Cap'n Nellis, that he used to own this vessel, and wanted to get up and command her, and so the cap'n shut him up. That's the whole story in a few words, and I couldn't make it any plainer if I should take an hour."

"Then it seems that Barlow did not have a hand in kidnapping him? The captain found him at sea in a storm and took him aboard, and he wanted to command the vessel."

"Yes, sir. That's just the way the thing stands."

"Then Barlow is innocent, and that's what he meant when he said that he had some things in his head that he wouldn't tell to anybody. And in order that you may know how things worked at home, I will tell you that they are going just as my uncle hoped they would. He's got my father's property and has literally turned me away from home. He says my father willed it to him. But who are these friends you spoke of, and how are you going to manage to have them left on board the ship this afternoon?"

"Well, it took some thinking, that's a fact," replied the sailor, who did not much like the idea of Bob believing that his father was crazy. "First, there's the second mate, you know. He's a friend, and he'll be left in charge this afternoon. The only way I could manage to stay aboard was to sprain my wrist so that I couldn't pull an oar, and I had to be put on light duty. All gammon, you know, but I didn't know what else to do. Then there's our doctor. Of course he'll be aboard, for he will be getting supper. The others are Bret and Jackson. As they belong to the long-boat's crew, it was a safe thing to bet that they would be ashore when we wanted them aboard, so what did they do this morning but get up a sham fight and draw knives on each other. Of course they are in double-irons in the forecastle, and they'll stay there till we want them."

"Fore-top there!" shouted the captain. "It does not take two of you to splice a rope, does it? Lay down, boy."

"Aye, aye, sir!" replied the sailor, as Bob prepared to descend to the deck. "Keep your eyes open, but say nothing to nobody. Things are all fixed, and you will see your father this afternoon. But I say, Bob," added Sweet, hastily, "it would be better for you to let go all holds and fall down to the deck head first than to go into the presence of the cap'n with that face you have got on now. If he finds out who you are, or you give him any reason to suspect you, he'll knock our plans higher'n the moon."

Bob's exultation and impatience were so great that he could scarcely contain himself—exultation to know that he was within speaking distance of his father, from whom he had been separated for almost nine dreary months; to know that he must not see him until others gave him permission to do so, and impatience to have the time wear away so that he could throw himself into that father's arms. You can imagine how you would have felt under the same circumstances. Bob believed that his father was crazy; and if that was the case, all their arrangements for rescuing him were "knocked higher'n the moon." He was obliged to keep his feelings under restraint and be constantly on his guard, lest his thoughts should find expression in his face and be seen by some one who would not know how to interpret them.

The afternoon moved along on leaden wings. That nothing had yet happened to endanger the success of the plans that had been formed for the release of Captain Nellis was evident from the encouraging glances which Sweet and old Ben bestowed upon our hero every time they met him. It was plain, too, that somebody had found opportunity to tell the second mate who Bob was, for once, when nobody was looking, the officer slipped something into the boy's hand, and told him in a whisper to hold himself in readiness to use it. It looked like a broken key, and Bob, not knowing what it was or what he was expected to do with it, showed it to Ben and asked instructions.

"It's the key to the irons on those fellows in the forecastle," whispered the sailor. "Keep your eye on the mate, and he will tell you when to use it."

"But Ben, I am sure that my father is—"

"Belay your jaw, will you? I have a good notion to knock you overboard! When the old man comes on deck you will find him able to take command. Now, don't say anything more about his being crazy."

Three o'clock came at last, and the order was given to shake out the sails. It was accomplished in very much less time than usual, and then the boats all put off for their last trip to the beach, the captain and the first mate going with them, and leaving no one but the mutineers aboard. The second mate stood leaning over the rail watching the boats, and when they touched the beach he made a sign to Bob, who darted into the forecastle.

"Halloo, here!" exclaimed one of the sailors, as Bob made an effort to unlock his irons. "Where did you come from? I never have seen you before."

"Nor have I seen you," replied Bob. "But as you are a friend of Captain Nellis', go on deck. The second mate is waiting for you."

Being freed from their irons the sailors hurried on deck, and Bob kept close at their heels. The second mate and Ben were not there, but they heard an axe used in the cabin. The next moment Captain Nellis rushed upon deck. One look at his face was enough. He was as crazy a man as Bob ever saw.