Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/56

42 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. made angry, no doubt he might become a most formidable foe, so that it was no wonder that Negoro did not feel altogether gratîfied at his réception. But Dingo, though unsociable, was not savage. Old Tom said that, on board the " Waldeck," he had noticed that the animal seemed to hâve a particular dislike to negroes ; not that he actually attempted to do them any harm, only he uniformly avoided them, giving an impression that he must hâve been systematically ill-treated by the natives of that part of Africa in which he had been found. During the ten days that had elapsed since the collision, Dingo had kept resolutely aloof from Tom and his companions ; they could not tell what he had been feeding on ; they only knew that, like themselves, he hâd suffered an excru- ciating thirst. Such had been the expérience of the survivors of the " Waldeck." Their situation had been most critical. Even if they survived the pangs of want of food, the slightest gale or the most inconsiderable swell might at any moment hâve sunk the water-logged ship, and had it not been that calms and contrary winds had contributed to the opportune arrivai of the " Pilgrim," an inévitable fate was before them ; their corpses must lie at the bottom of the sea, Captain HuU's act of humanity, however, would not be complète unless he succeeded in restoring the shipwrecked men to their homes. This he promised to do. After com- pleting the unlading at Valparaiso, the "Pilgrim" would make direct for California, where, as Mrs. Weldon assured them, they would be most hospitably received by her hus- band, and provided with the necessary means for return- ing to Pennsylvania, The five men, who, as the conséquence of the shipwreck, had lost ail the savings of their last three years of toil, were profoundly grateful to their kind-hearted benefactors ; nor, poor negroes as they were, did they utterly resign the hope that at some future time they might hâve it in their power to repay the debt which they owed their deliverers.