"What brought you here, my son?" asked the captain, on recovering
speech.

"My legs, father."

"Don't be insolent, boy."

"It's not insolence, father. It's only poetical licence, meant to assure
you that I did not come by 'bus or rail though you did by steamer! But
let me introduce you to my friend, Mr.----"

He stopped short on looking round, for Van der Kemp was not there.

"He goed away wheneber he saw de peepil comin' up de hill," said Moses,
who had watched the meeting of father and son with huge delight. "But
you kin interdooce _me_ instead," he added, with a crater-like smile.

"True, true," exclaimed Nigel, laughing. "This is Moses, father, my
host's servant, and my very good friend, and a remarkably free-and-easy
friend, as you see. He will guide us back to the cave, since Van der
Kemp seems to have left us."

"Who's Van der Kemp?" asked the captain.

"The hermit of Rakata, father--that's his name. His father was a
Dutchman and his mother an English or Irish woman--I forget which. He's
a splendid fellow; quite different from what one would expect; no more
like a hermit than a hermit-crab, except that he lives in a cave under
the Peak of Rakata, at the other end of the island. But you must come
with us and pay him a visit. He will be delighted to see you."