"
"Well, lad, your story sounds truthful, and will, of course, be
inquired into when we get to England. As to this man, he is of course
a prisoner."
"I hope not, sir," Ralph pleaded. "He has not been taken with arms in
his hands, and is, in fact, a castaway mariner."
The captain's face relaxed into a smile. "I see you are a sort of sea
lawyer. Well, we shall see about it. What is there in these
storehouses?"
"A quantity of things, sir. They took away a great many with them, but
there must be ten times as much left. I heard them say they had the
cargoes of more than twenty ships here."
"That is satisfactory at any rate," the captain said. "Mr. Wylde, will
you just take a look round these storehouses and see what there is
worth taking away. You had better take my boat's crew as well as your
own to help you to turn things over. Are you quite sure, lad, that
there is no one beside yourselves on the island?"
"I can't say that, sir. The orders were for all hands to embark last
night, and so far as I know none of them were left behind except
Jacques Clery. We have been here for two days now and have seen no
one, so I do not think any one else can have been left."
"How did you get on on board the brig?" the captain asked. "I suppose
you cannot speak French?"
"I couldn't speak any French when I first was got on board, sir, but I
picked up a great deal on the voyage out.
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