"
"Charlie" is the name of a boy who recently visited the island, but who
hitherto had not been known by George.
"Well, what this letter talk about?" A very long pause ensued during
which George appeared to be putting his imaginative powers to frightful
over-exertion. His forehead wrinkled, his lips twitched, his head moved
this way and that, once or twice a gleam of inspiration passed over his
face, and then the expression of the deep and puzzled thinker came on
again. Finally he said--"Y-e-e-s. Me tell 'em, sometimes me see Toby."
Toby is the tallest of the survivors of Dunk Island, another
acquaintance of George's, who refers to him as a hard case, for it is
said Toby's affections are very fitful and uncertain.
"Then that letter tell 'em something more?" The strenuous pause, the
desperate plunge into thought again, and George continued--"This for
Johnny Tritton, before alonga Cooktown; now walk about somewhere down
here. Might be catch 'em alonga mainland!"
This message-stick was freshly made, and its meaning, had it possessed
any, might have been repeated pat. But it was evident that the boy was
putting a devastating strain upon an unexuberant and tardy wit when he
endeavoured to ascribe to it a literary rendering.
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