Part 15 (2/2)
”There is Uncle Randolph out on the porch to greet us!”
”And there is Aunt Martha!” added Sam. ”I do believe they look happy, don't you, Tom?”
”They certainly don't look sad,” was the noncommittal answer; and then the carriage swept up to the horse-block and the three boys alighted.
”All of you, eh?” were Randolph Rover's first words. ”Well, perhaps it is just as well so.”
”We simply couldn't stay behind, uncle,” said Sam. ”And we are dying to know what it all means.”
”But you must have supper first,” put in Aunt Martha, as she gave one and another a motherly kiss. ”I know riding on the cars usually makes Tom tremendously hungry.”
”Well eat after we have had the news,” said Tom. ”We're dying to know all, as Sam says.”
”The news is rather perplexing, to tell the truth,” said Randolph Rover, as he led the way into the library of the s.p.a.cious home.
”I hardly know what to make of it.”
”Who brought it?” questioned d.i.c.k.
”It came by mail--a bulky letter all the way from Cape Town, Africa.”
”From father?”
”No, from a Captain Townsend, who, it seems, commands the clipper s.h.i.+p Rosabel. He sent me one letter inclosing another. The first letter is from himself.”
”And is the second letter from father?” burst out Tom.
”Yes, my boy.”
”Oh, let us see it!” came in a shout from all three of the Rover boys.
”You had better read the captain's communication first,” answered Randolph Rover. ”Then you will be more apt to understand the other. Or shall I read it for the benefit of all?”
”Yes, yes, you read it, Uncle Randolph,” was the answer.
”The letter is dated at Cape Town, and was written a little over a month ago. It is addressed to 'Randolph Rover, or to Richard, Thomas, or Samuel Rover, New York City,' and is further marked 'Highly Important-Do Not Lose or Destroy.'”
”And what is in it?” asked the impatient Tom. ”Do hurry and tell us, Uncle Randolph.”
And then his uncle read as follows:
”TO THE ROVER FAMILY, New York:
”I am a stranger to you, but I deem it my duty to write to you on account of something which occurred on the 12th day of April last, while my clipper s.h.i.+p Rosabel, bound from Boston, U. S. A., to Cape Town, Africa, was sailing along the coast of Congo but a few miles due west from the mouth of the Congo River.
”Our s.h.i.+p had been sent in by a heavy gale but the wind had gone down, and we were doing more drifting than sailing to the southward when the lookout espied a man on a small raft which was drifting toward us.
<script>