"No wild beast shall surprise me," he told himself, and kept his eyes on the jungle back of the house. His time for guard duty had almost come to an end when a noise down on the beach attracted his attention. By the faint light he made out a raft, which had just come in, bearing the figures of two sailors. "Stop!" he called out. "Do not come closer at your peril!" "Don't shoot!" called back one of the sailors. "Don't shoot! We mean no harm." Sam had backed up toward the house, and now he called to those within. He was soon joined by Captain Blossom, Dick, and several of the others. "Who is it?" asked the captain, as he came forth, pistol in hand. "Two of the sailors from the wreck, I think." "Don't shoot us, captain," called one of the men. "We are unarmed and want to talk with you." "They are Gibson and Marny," said Captain Blossom. "They were generally pretty good sort of fellows. I reckon we have nothing to fear from them." "Are you alone?" called out Dick. "Yes." "Then come up to the fire. But mind, no treachery." "We don't wonder at your being on guard," said the sailor named Gibson, a tall, thin Yankee. "The others treated you like so many dogs." "We have deserted Lesher," put in Marny. "We came over here on the raft to see if you wouldn't take us in." "Were you alone?" asked Captain Blossom. "No, we had Hackenhaven with us. But he fell overboard just after we left the wreck, and the sharks caught him," answered Gibson, with a bitter shake of his face. "What did Lesher say to your leaving?" asked Tom. "He didn't know it until after we were a hundred yards or more from the wreck. You see, he and the others were drinking in the cabin, so we got away without much trouble," answered Marny. "They might have shot at us, but it was too dark for them. We had a hard pull to get over here, and when poor Hackenhaven was gobbled up both of us felt bad, I can tell you." It was now seen that both sailors were almost exhausted, and Captain Blossom allowed them to rest, while Dick prepared a pot of coffee. While they were drinking, Gibson told them the particulars of how the mate had made himself leader of the sailors now left on the wreck. CHAPTER XXIX THE BURNING OF THE WRECK "When Lesher and Baxter got back to where they left us they were very bitter against you," began Gibson. "They told us that you had tried to make them work like niggers, fixing up this house. They said that they wanted to come right back and bring us here, but you wouldn't let them go until the house was finished." "Which is not true, as all of us here know," said Captain Blossom. "Lesher also said that you were angry at us for leaving the ship before the rest, and that you had said you would have us all tried for mutiny the first chance you got. Baxter said the same, and also told us that you were going to dump all the rum and other liquor into the ocean, so that the mate and none of the others could get a drop of it while they stayed on the islands."