Page:Dave Porter on Cave Island.djvu/220

204 saw that they were in tatters, and that they looked hungry and careworn.

"Hello, yourself!" answered one of the tars, stepping towards the boys. "Who are you?"

"Passengers from the Golden Eagle," answered Dave.

"Oh, some more of that crowd, eh?" cried the tar.

"Then you've seen the others,—the captain and a young fellow like ourselves?" queried Roger.

"Yes, they were here only a short while ago."

"They said they'd be back, and take us aboard an' git us something to eat," put in a second of the sailors.

"An' we need that grub putty bad, we do," added a third.

"Ain't had no decent meal since we got wrecked," came from the fourth. "A few fish an' birds, an' that's all."

"You are from the Emma Brower?" questioned Dave, eagerly.

"You've struck it, messmate. She went down in the storm an' we come putty nigh goin' down with her."

"Well, you shall have all you want to eat in a little while. Tell me where the others of our crowd went."

"They went after the two chaps as ran away."