sewn together, made him a covering for his body unlike any we had seen
adopted by savage tribes. His attitude, moreover, as he stood upon the
beach, shading his eyes and gazing intently at us as we rowed towards
the shore, suggested the European rather than, the savage, and upon
coming close up to him we knew him to be some castaway marooned upon
the island. He appeared to have lost the power of speech, although he
made guttural sounds when he saw us, and, what was more remarkable, he
seemed to recognize us.

It then came to me in a flash that this solitary man was none other
than Van Luck, whom we had last seen drifting away from the "Endraght"
upon his lonely voyage after the mutiny, and, in pity at the sight of
his forlorn condition, I held out my hand to him in reconciliation. So
great, however, was his hatred of me, which he had probably nursed,
that, instead of taking my hand, he rushed upon me and tried to
strangle me, in which he might have succeeded had not others of our
party come to my assistance. He seemed demented, and he had acquired
such strength during his exile that it was as much as four men could do
to hold him down. But, notwithstanding his unprovoked attack upon me, I
felt I could not abandon him again to his solitude. I therefore ordered
him to be taken on board our vessel, where Hartog would be the judge of
his ultimate fate.

Hartog's surprise at seeing his old officer in such a deplorable
condition was equal to my own, but the terrible change which years of
solitude had wrought in Van Luck appealed to the humane side of the
captain's nature so forcibly that he determined to give the castaway a
chance of redemption.

After some days, during which Van Luck was cared for, he began to