“Solitary or not, it’s all the same to us. It shows us that we have come near to human beings again.” A straight course towards the place where the smoke arose would have drawn them into rough water; so they hugged the shore, and followed its curve, in order to avoid the danger. For a time the smoke was concealed from view; but at length, as they went on, it came into sight again, and appeared twice as near as when they had first seen it. Here they saw a beach, which ran away for a long distance; and they noticed now that the smoke itself seemed to rise from a point on the beach about a mile away. “That’s queer,” said Tom. “The smoke can’t be from a house at all.” “No, some one has been making a fire on the beach. But it’s all the same. It shows that people are living hereabouts, and that’s all we want.” “Well, we’ll soon know.” “Tom!” “What?” “I should laugh if this place were to turn out to be Gaspé, after all.” “O, there’s no doubt about the place. It must be Newfoundland.” “Hallo!” This exclamation came from Arthur. He said no more, but pointed in silence, while Tom looked eagerly in that direction. On the beach, about a quarter of a mile away, they saw a moving figure. It was a man. He was running along with irregular steps, waving his arms in the air in a wild way, and evidently trying to attract their attention. They at once headed the boat in nearer to the shore, so as to meet him as soon as possible. As they neared the shore the man neared them. The beach was smooth, and his staggering, irregular steps could not have been caused by the rough ground, while his wild gesticulations seemed unaccountable. “He must be drunk,” said Tom. Arthur said nothing. The boat grounded, and the next moment the man reached the spot. No sooner had he come up to them than he fell on his knees, and, grasping the bows of the boat, bowed his head, and sobbed convulsively. They saw, as he came up, that he was pale and emaciated. He was panting heavily from his exertions. He wore a flannel shirt and canvas trousers. He looked like a common sailor from some ship, and not at all like a fisherman or farmer. The boys stared at him without saying one single word. At length the man rose and looked at them with a searching and curious gaze. “A couple o? youngsters,” said he at last, as though speaking to himself. “Queer, too--youngsters! Say, boys, is your ship near by?” “Not very.” “Where do you come from?” “O, from over there,” said Arthur. “The fact is, we got ashore.” “Got ashore!” “Yes; and we’ve come here to look up some settlement.” “Got ashore! settlement!” said the man. “Yes,” said Arthur. “And we’d like to go, as soon as possible, to the nearest settlement. We want to engage a schooner to go back with us and get our friends.”