“It’s land!” exclaimed Bob.  “I’ve struck land!  It must be one of those islands the captain told about and that is the sandy beach my feet arc touching.”

He swam on a little further, and again let down his feet.  To his delight he could stand upright, the water coming to his chest.  Then, as it grew lighter, he could make out a low, sandy shore lying stretched out before him.

“Land!  Land!” exclaimed the boy.  “I’m on land!  But where are the others?”

CHAPTER XIX

FINDING MR. TARBILL

Bob hurried forward as fast as he could through the water, no longer swimming, but wading.  Soon he reached the beach and saw, beyond it, that the land was covered with green grass, while trees, which he easily recognized as the kind found in warm countries, grew to a great height.

“I’m on a tropical island,” thought the castaway.  “Just like Robinson Crusoe, only I haven’t any of the things he had and the wreck of the Eagle isn’t near enough for me to get anything from the ship.  Still I ought to be thankful I’m not drowned or eaten by a shark.”

Bob was tired after his long swim and stretched out under the trees on the grass to rest.  It was already beginning to get much warmer, though the sun was only just peeping up, seemingly from beneath the ocean.

“Wonder if I’m going to find anything to eat here,” the boy thought.  “Doesn’t look as if any one lived here.  I’ll have to take a look around.  It’s going to be very lonesome here.  I wonder if any ships ever pass this place?”

There were so many questions that needed answering he did not know where to stop asking them of himself.  But he decided the first and best thing to do would be to get off his wet clothes.  Not that he was afraid of taking cold, but he knew he would be more comfortable in dry garments.

So, taking everything out of his pockets, which was no small operation by the way, as Bob was a typical boy, he stripped himself of his heavier garments and hung them on tree limbs to dry.

“Now if I could find something to eat I’d be right in it—­at least for a while,” thought the castaway as he walked around on the warm grass.  “And I need a drink, for I swallowed a lot of salt water and I’m as dry as a powder horn.”  He looked out on the ocean, but not a trace of a boat was visible.

Bob walked some distance from where he had landed, keeping a sharp lookout for a spring of water.  Ail the while he was getting more and more thirsty, and he began to think he would have to dig a little well near shore with clam shells, as he had read of shipwrecked sailors doing.  But, fortunately, he was not forced to this.  As he penetrated a little way into the wood, he heard the gurgle of water.

“That sounds good,” he remarked.

Stepping cautiously, because of his bare feet, he went on a little farther and presently saw a small waterfall, caused by a stream tumbling over a little ledge of rocks and splashing into a pool below.