CHAPTER 11
Peter
Back at the cave, Mike was saying, “You can have another turn, Ben. I’m coming down.”
But of course Benny did not answer. He was not there.
“Goodness!” cried Jessie. “Where is Benny?”
They began to call, “Benny! Benny!” They all listened.
“I hear a funny noise over that way,” said Violet, pointing. “It sounds like Benny! He is in trouble!”
The children crashed through the bushes and over rocks. They were calling “Benny!” all the time. And suddenly right before their eyes they saw a strange sight. Benny and a stranger were sitting on the edge of a deep hole.
“Oh, Benny, are you hurt?” cried Jessie.
“Not at all,” said Benny. “This is Peter! I fell into his trap and he pulled me out.”
Henry came and sat down by the boys. He said to Peter, “Have you been all alone on this island?”
“Yes,” said Peter. “I’ve been alone for about three weeks.”
“Three weeks!” cried Henry. “How do you know?”
“I cut some marks in a tree. Mr. Anderson was with me at first. He cut the marks for six months. So after he went, I cut them myself. One every day.”
“Who was Mr. Anderson?” asked Jessie.
“He was a sailor,” said the boy. “Our ship hit a reef and went down. I was in a lifeboat with Mr. Anderson and we came to this island. We were together for six months, and Mr. Anderson went swimming and I never saw him again.”
“So you have been here almost seven months,” said Jessie.
“That’s right,” said Peter.
“How in the world do you get along alone?” asked Jessie.
“Oh, I get along fine,” said Peter. “I do just what Mr. Anderson did.”
“Tell me something, Peter,” said Mike. “How did you happen to make your bed in the cave?”
“I thought it would be fun,” said Peter. “Once I read about some children who were all alone. Then it rained so hard, I had to get somewhere out of the rain. Those rocks make a fine roof. I used to sit and watch the rain before you came to the island.”
Henry whispered to Benny. “Don’t tell him about us now. Later you can.”
Mike looked at Peter and said, “Did you take our crackers that day?”
Peter looked upset. “I am sorry about that,” he said. “I have been here so long, and everything was free. I could take anything I wanted. Bananas, fish, coconuts, oysters, crabs and sugar cane. When I saw the crackers I took those, too.”
“It’s all right,” said Mike. “Nobody thinks I took them now.”
Henry said, “Peter, why didn’t you call out to us before? Were you afraid of us?”
“Yes, I was,” said Peter. “Mr. Anderson said I must keep very still if I saw anyone on this island. I mustn’t let anyone know I was here.”
“I suppose he meant dangerous men like cannibals,” said Henry. “But there aren’t any more cannibals around here.”
“I didn’t know,” said Peter. “You might be dangerous! I have watched you for a long time, and now I know you are all right.”
“A good thing we found you!” said Henry.
“We know you can take care of yourself,” said Jessie. “But you can live with us and have some of our food. And we are going away soon. Don’t you want to go along?”
“Yes, I do,” said Peter. “I miss my father and mother. I used to live near Boston.”
“We’ll take you to Boston,” said Benny. “Just as soon as our ship comes. And we’ll find your mother and father for you.”
“Here, old fellow!” said Henry. “Don’t promise! We’ll try. And if anyone can find your parents, Grandfather can.”
Mike said, “Look how brown you are, Peter.”
“Oh, I’m just sunburned. I have been living in the sun for so long.”
“Come on, Peter,” said Henry. “We’ll take you to see Lars and my grandfather.”
Peter did not ask who they were, because he knew very well. He said, “I watched you the day you came to the island. My, I was scared when I saw the ship! I watched you when you found the turtle shell. I heard every word you said. I watched you find my boat, and I was afraid you would take my boat away.”
“Yes, we heard you whine and moan,” said Benny. “I thought someone was in trouble and it was you.”
The family began to walk back to the houses. Jessie said, “Didn’t you almost forget how to talk, Peter?”
“Oh, I always talked to myself,” said Peter. “I talked all day, until you came. And then I had my bird to talk to.”
“What can he say?” asked Mike.
“She,” said Peter. “Old Myna is a girl. She says ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good night’ and ‘Hello, Peter,’ and ‘Thank you’ and ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Look out, it’s hot!’”
“I can see she is quite a talker,” said Henry. “She must be a lot of company for you.”
“Yes, I love old Myna. That’s her name, because Mr. Anderson said it was a myna bird.”
“Isn’t it better to have people for company, Peter?” asked Violet.
“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “That is why I came to help Benny out of my trap. I thought the time had come. And you were all alone without the others.”
“It’s wonderful,” said Jessie. “Won’t Grandfather and Lars be surprised!”
But just then Lars was going very fast and very quietly back to the house. When the children came home, Lars was sitting there on the top of the hut still fixing the roof.
“Lars!” shouted Benny. “See what we found! Our Mystery!”
Lars looked up and saw Peter. “Oh, a boy!” Lars said. “Where did you find him? Mr. Alden! Come and see this boy!”
Mr. Alden came to the door and looked out.
“It’s Peter, Grandfather!” said Henry. “He has lived here for six months!”
Mr. Alden tried to wake up. He thought he was dreaming. He said, “Six months! How could he?”
“He lived just the way we do,” said Benny. “Only he never had any crackers or milk or meat.”
Lars said, “Now, Peter, come and sit down and tell us about this. Did you come in that lifeboat that is all filled with sand?”
“Yes, sir,” said Peter. “Mr. Anderson and I came in it six months ago.”
Lars and Mr. Alden looked at each other.
Then Mr. Alden came and sat down too. He said, “Peter, I’d like to know more about the shipwreck. I suppose it was a shipwreck. Can you bear to tell me?”
“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “I’d like to. Maybe it won’t seem so bad if I tell somebody. There was a terrible storm in the middle of the night. We were all seasick. Then the ship hit a reef and began to go down. The sailors got three lifeboats over the side. I was in one with my mother and father and Mr. Anderson. Then some others got in and the boat tipped over. Everybody went into the water. I couldn’t see a thing.”
“Do you think your parents were saved?” asked Mr. Alden gently.
“I don’t know,” said Peter. “Maybe. But it was very dark, you know. I was going down. Suddenly I felt Mr. Anderson lifting me into a boat again. When I woke up, I was here. We never saw any other boat after that.”
“Your parents think you were lost, then,” said Grandfather.
“Yes, I’m sure they do, if they were saved.”
Lars said, “Some people got picked up, because the paper said they were taken to San Francisco.”
“Is that so?” said Peter. He looked at Lars quickly. “Maybe my father and mother were saved. But they would never know about me. Mr. Anderson and I never saw any ship.”
“The wreck must have been quite far away,” said Grandfather.
“Yes, it was, because Mr. Anderson told me he rowed a whole day and a night. I didn’t think anyone would ever come. I wish you would cut my hair!”
“Henry can cut hair very well,” said Mike.
Violet took her scissors out of her workbag and gave them to Henry.
Henry began to cut. He said, “You’d better save this long hair, Peter. Someday you’ll like to see it.” Then he cut Peter’s hair like Mike’s.
“You look fine now,” said Henry.
“You did well to live alone, Peter,” said Lars. “I think you are very brave.”
“I had to be,” said Peter. “I’m sorry about my clothes. Don’t they look terrible?”
Everyone had noticed what Peter was wearing. He looked very strange. He was wearing lots of big leaves that were tied with brown strings. And many more brown strings hung down.
“I got some strings off coconuts,” said Peter, “and I tied leaves together. One time I lost a button when I washed my clothes. Then they just wore out.”
Mike got up. He ran down to the box. He came back at once and held out his hand to Peter.
Peter took one look. Then he cried, “My button! I lost it in a pool right down there!” He pointed. “I never could find it.”
“You couldn’t find it, because our fish ate it,” said Mike. “Then we ate the fish.”
“May I have my button?” asked Peter. “I’d love to keep it.”
Grandfather got up. “Yes, Peter, keep it,” he said. “Henry, go and fix up some of your clothes for Peter. He will feel better, if he looks better.”
The two boys went into the house at once. Soon they came back. Peter looked like a different boy.
Henry said to Lars, “When do you think the Sea Star will come back?”
“Well, well!” said Lars. “This is the first time anyone has said one word about the Sea Star! She may come any time now.”
Jessie said, “You see we didn’t want to leave Blue Bay. And now we do. We want to find Peter’s father and mother.”
“I’ve almost forgotten what they look like,” said Peter. “But I will know them!”
Grandfather said quietly, “What is your last name, Peter? Peter what?”
“Horn,” said Peter.
“Horn!” shouted Mike and Benny at once.
“Our teacher!” said Benny. “That was our teacher’s name, too. I knew it made me think of cows.”
“Cows?” asked Jessie. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, cows have horns,” said Benny.
“Oh, dear!” laughed Jessie. “You are the funniest boy!”
“Peter Horn,” said Mr. Alden slowly. He was thinking.
“My father’s name is Peter Horn, too,” said Peter.
“That will help, my boy,” said Mr. Alden. “We’ll try to find them. But you understand they may not be alive, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “I was just thinking what would I do, if we went home, and we didn’t find them.”
“Don’t worry about that, Peter,” said Henry. “You can live with us and be part of our family.”
Peter could not believe his eyes when everyone smiled and nodded—even Mr. Alden himself. |