y the aid of its
light, the Crusoe men were enabled to take a good survey of their
prisoner. He was a sturdy, bare-footed boy, about Tom's age, and might
have been a second Xury, so self-possessed was he. He looked at his
captors, one after the other, as if taking their exact measure, and
finally said:

"Well, I swan! If I had known that you were boys like myself, I wouldn't
have been caught so easy. I'd like to know what you are doing down
here?"

"Fellers, his name is Jed," said Xury, by way of introduction. "I know,
'cause I saw him up to the house, an' I heard his dad call him Jed. He
looked at me an' the cap'n mighty sassy then, but now he'll find out how
it seems to be a prisoner."

"Is there any one with you?" asked Tom.

"No, I came alone," replied Jed.

"How did you find us?"

"I saw the light of that fire shining above the cliff".

Upon hearing this the governor glared so savagely at the mutineers, that
those worthies, fearing that he was about to abandon his pacific policy,
retreated a step or two and began to look around for something with
which to defend themselves. But the wound caused by the mutiny was
nearly healed, and Sam, after a moment's reflection, concluded that he
could not afford to reopen it, or to stir up any new quarrels. He
believed that he would soon have need of the services of all his men,
and it was necessary to keep on good terms with them.

"I have lived on this farm all my life," continued Jed, "but I never
knew before that there was a way to get down here."

"Well, there is," said Xury; "an' some day, when you are a free man, you
can go down by this path to the rocks below, an' find the best fishing
grounds in Newport harbor."

"Who's talkin' about fishin'?" interrupted the governor, whose brain was
busy with more important matters. "What do you reckon your ole man will
do with us if he ketches us?"

"_If!_" repeated Jed. "He is bound to ketch you. When I go home I shall
bring him right down here."

"But mebbe you won't go back to the house in a hurry," said Sam.

"Well, then, father will know that something has happened to me, and he
will begin searching the island. He'll find you, you may depend upon
that; and, when he gets hold of you, he'll put you where you won't rob
any more potato-patches. Where do you fellows belong, anyhow? What are
you staying here for, and what are you going to do with me?"

The governor made no reply to these questions, for something his