An hour later, as the captain had predicted, the _Good and Sure_ came to
off Abel Zachariah's fishing place, and almost before the anchor chains
had ceased rattling Skipper Ed and Abel pulled alongside in a boat and
were expressing their relief upon the safe return of the two lads, whose
sudden and unexplained disappearance had puzzled them and caused them a
deal of worry.
"I finds th' young scallawags driftin' around th' sea, and bearin' no
course whatever," explained Captain Higgles, "an' I picks un up as
salvage. But I don't want un. My eyes! I don't want un. I don't want any
such two scallawags as they about the _Good an' Sure_. They'd be causin'
me no end o' trouble, and you can have un free o' charge if you'll but
take a look at a sick lad I has below, sir, an' tell us what t' do for
un. 'Tis Hen. Blink's lad, sir. He has a wonderful rash all over he--my
eyes, 'tis a wonderful rash, and it makes th' lad sick."
Skipper Ed followed the captain to the cluttered little cabin, and Abel
and Jimmy and Bobby, curious to see the wonderful rash, also followed.
The lad, a boy of ten years or thereabouts, was stretched upon a bunk,
and he was indeed afflicted with a wonderful rash. The moment Skipper Ed
set eyes upon him his face assumed a very grave expression. He asked
several questions, which the child's mother answered, and then he asked
the boy:
"How you feeling, little lad?"
"Terrible sick," answered the boy, "but I'd be fine if I could go above
deck, sir.
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