time when he
was joined by Roger.

"There is something away there on the starboard bow which puzzles me,"
he said. "It looks like the body of a huge whale."

"It is either that or the hull of a dismasted vessel," observed Roger.
"I think it the latter. You should have reported it to the officer of
the watch. I will go and do so."

Dick Kemp had charge of the deck, for the lieutenants in those days,
unless they were tarpaulins or brought up in the service, did not
perform that duty. Kemp came forward with his spy-glass, and soon
pronounced the object seen to be--as Roger supposed--the hull of a
dismasted vessel He at once sent below to obtain permission from the
Captain to steer towards it.

"Though she looks in a fearfully battered condition, there may still be
people on board, and we must try to rescue them," he observed.

As the _Ruby_ drew nearer a man could be seen on the deck holding on to
a part of the shattered bulwarks and waving a flag.

"There is one man on board at all events," observed Kemp; "there may be
more. Willoughby, do you get a boat ready to lower, and I will let the
Captain know that it is time to heave-to."

Captain Benbow just then made his appearance, and at once issued the
order to bring the ship to the wind. The boat was quickly alongside the
stranger, a rope was thrown over the side by the man who had been seen
waving the flag, and Roger scrambled on board. He and two other men
were on foot, weak, and pale, and reduced almost to skeletons, while
more lay about the deck unable to raise themselves.

"We are dying of hunger and thirst," exclaimed the stranger, who
appeared to be an officer. "For two days not a particle of food have we
eaten, nor has a drop of water moistened our lips; for mercy's sake
bring us some at once."

"The quickest way would be to take you to our ship," said Roger, and he
ordered his men to come up to carry the sufferers into the boat. While
he was speaking, it struck him, in spite of his pale cadaverous
countenance and emaciated appearance, that the officer was his old
friend Stephen Battiscombe; yet he did not like to ask him, for, if
Stephen Battiscombe, he was a convict, and might desire to remain
unknown. He treated him therefore as a stranger when the _Ruby's_ men
came to assist the officer.

"No, no," he said, "take the remnant of my crew first, and then those
poor fellows who are passengers. I have endured hunger this far, and
can hold out