Tom Fairfield at Sea; or, The Wreck of the Silver Star

by Norman Duncan

  CHAPTER XXV

  HOMEWARD BOUND--CONCLUSION

  For a moment Tom hardly knew what to think. He had heard the voice ofwhite persons, he had seen them when the natives fled at the shots, andyet he could not believe that at last he had found his parents.

  Yet there could be no doubt of it. As he stood there, amid the awednatives, and looked forward, he saw the beloved faces--faces he hadfeared he would never see again.

  "Father! Mother!" he cried, and then he ran forward.

  From the little knot of castaways two figures detached themselves--aman and a woman. Wonderingly they looked toward Tom. Then the man cried:

  "It's Tom! It's our son! Oh, how did he ever get here?"

  The woman answered:

  "It can't be possible! You're dreaming, Brokaw! Tom could never behere. Our minds must be wandering!"

  "And I say it's Tom!" declared the man. "Tom! Tom!" he called. "Is itreally you?"

  "It is, father! Oh, are you all right? Have the natives hurt you? I'vecome to rescue you!"

  "Thank the dear Lord!" ejaculated Mr. Fairfield. His wife said nothing.She was crying on his shoulder.

  A moment later Tom had sprung to their side and was wildly huggingthem, while the other white castaways, including several sailors,looked on wonderingly and sympathetically. Captain Mosher, with tearsof joy in his eyes, stood as a sort of guard, with drawn revolver, butthere was no need to use it, for the natives had nearly all vanished,save a small wondering ring of them that stood some distance off.

  "I rather guess, Tom, my boy," spoke the commander, "that our voyage isat an end."

  "It surely is!" cried Tom, as he introduced his parents. "I've foundthem at last!"

  "H'I always said them H'Americans was great for doin' things,"commented the mate, who had followed at a distance.

  "Father! Mother!" cried Tom. "Tell me all about it."

  "Oh, dear boy, you tell us!" half sobbed his mother. "However did youfind us?"

  And there, as night fell, on that half-savage island, in the midstof the hut-village of Walla, the head man, Tom told his story. Itsdetails are already familiar to our readers, so I need not go over it.

  "And you kept on after us, in spite of all," commented Mr. Fairfield,when Tom had finished telling of his days aboard the derelict, and inthe open boat, followed by the search in the steamer.

  "Of course I did!" exclaimed Tom. "I wanted to find you."

  "And you did, dear boy!" cried his mother. "You found us, and we haveyou again! Oh, I never thought to see you any more."

  "Tell me all about it," suggested Tom. And they did.

  With the foundering of the _Kangaroo_ all hands had taken the smallboats. There was much wind and they were separated. The one containingMr. and Mrs. Fairfield had drifted from the others, and had finallylanded at the island of Tahatoo. There the natives proved to be ratherunfriendly.

  True, they did not maltreat the castaways, but they stripped them ofeverything of value, confiscated their boat and stores and then, afraidof the possible vengeance of the whites who might start out to rescuethe shipwrecked ones, Walla and his men made the castaways captives.

  Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield, two men passengers, and a few sailors were inthe small boat that had landed at Tahatoo. Their clothes were takenfrom them, and they were given a few rags to wear. They were not illtreated, as native treatment goes, but they were held prisoners.

  This lasted for some time and numerous attempts to escape werefrustrated. The castaways gave way to despair. Then came the arrival ofTom's steamer. Walla at once feared vengeance, and endeavored to holdthe attention of Captain Mosher and the others until he could hide hiscaptives in the interior. But his plans miscarried.

  Mr. Fairfield, suspecting that something was up, had objected to beingtaken away with his wife. The commotion had attracted the attention ofTom and Captain Mosher, and the rest is known to the reader.

  "Oh, dad! It seems too good to be true!" cried Tom, when their storieshad been told. "But your troubles are over. You'll soon be back tocivilization. I've got a steamer waiting for you."

  "That's what!" exclaimed Captain Mosher. "And I don't believe anybodybut Tom Fairfield could have gone to sea and rescued you in the way hedid."

  "Oh, of course they could," declared Tom, blushing, for he dislikedpraise.

  "Oh, I'm sure they couldn't!" declared his mother, hugging him to her.

  "Well, I'd like a few minutes private conversation with that scoundrel,Walla," said Captain Mosher grimly. "Where is Walla?" he asked of oneof the head man's guards.

  "Walla him gone 'way," was the answer. "Him gone far 'way. Him say himgot very bad pain, no come back long time."

  "Pain!" cried the captain. "I'd give him a worse one, if I had thescoundrel!"

  A little later Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield, and all the castaways wereaboard the _Sea Queen_, where they were made comfortable, and givendecent clothes in exchange for the rags the natives had forced themto wear. Then, as the storm broke, Captain Mosher rode it out in thecoral-locked harbor.

  "And now for Melbourne, and then for home!" cried Tom, a few dayslater, when calm weather prevailed. "Oh, it will seem good to get backto the United States again."

  "But it's too bad so many were lost from the _Silver Star_," spoke Mr.Fairfield. "Tom, you proved yourself a man! Oh, what a time you musthave had!"

  "It wasn't so easy," confessed our hero, as he thought of the daysaboard the derelict and in the open boat.

  The voyage to Melbourne was uneventful, and to Tom's delight, when hereached there, he learned that little Jackie's father had reachedhome. He and a number of others had been picked up in one of thelifeboats, taken to a distant port, and had only just reached Australia.

  News was also had of the others of the ill-fated ship that had struckthe derelict. Nearly all of them, including the captain, were saved,but chief of all Tom rejoiced in that Jackie's father was safe.

  Little remains to tell. Shortly after their arrival in Australia withtheir son, Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield were entertained by Mr. Case, andJackie renewed his friendship with Tom, whom he thought the greatestyoung man in all the world.

  "He found my daddy," declared Jackie, and no one tried to make himbelieve otherwise.

  Then, having completed all his business plans, a re-arrangement ofwhich was made necessary because of the wreck, Mr. Fairfield, with hiswife and Tom, started for home.

  Their voyage to San Francisco was uneventful. They called at Honoluluon their way, and learned that Mr. Skeel had started in business, buthad failed, because of unfair dealings, and had disappeared.

  "Oh, Tom, I hope you never meet that man again!" said our hero'smother.

  "Well, I think Tom took pretty good care of himself," spoke Mr.Fairfield a bit proudly.

  But whether or not Tom met Professor Skeel again, and what were thenext adventures that befell our hero, may be learned by reading thenext volume of this series, to be entitled, "Tom Fairfield in Camp; Or,The Secret of the Old Mill."

  "Well, Tom, do you want to go back to Elmwood Hall?" asked Mr.Fairfield of his son a few weeks later, when they were once more backin their home at Briartown, having had a safe trip from San Francisco.

  "I guess I do, dad. Adventures at sea are all right in their way, butthey're too exciting for a steady diet. I think I can get back in timeto pass with the Freshman class."

  And Tom did, and a glorious time he had. For many a night there weresecret gatherings in the room of himself and Jack Fitch, while the ladslistened breathlessly to the tale of our hero's adventures.

  And now, for a time, we will take leave of Tom Fairfield, to meet himagain in new activities.

  THE END