On seeing only a child, however, the hesitation faded out of his eyes, and he advanced towards me.

As he approached, I could see that he was shivering with cold and hunger.
"Boy," he said, in an eager and expectant voice, "what are you doing out on the beach so early ?" "Oh, sir!" I answered, "there was such a dreadful storm last night, and we--that is, mother and I--heard a cry, we thought; and oh! I have seen--" "What have you seen ?"--and he caught me by the arm with a nervous grip.
"Only a cap, sir," I said, shrinking--"only a cap; but I climbed up on Dead Man's Rock just now--the rock at the end of the beach--and I saw a cap lying there, and it seemed--" "Come along and show it to me!" and he began to run over the sands towards the rock, dragging me helpless after him.
Suddenly he stopped.
"You saw nothing else ?" he asked, facing round and looking into my eyes.
"No, sir." "Nor anybody ?" "Nobody, sir." "You are sure you saw nobody but me?
You didn't happen to see a tall man with black hair, and rings in his ears ?" "Oh, no, sir." "You'll swear you saw no such man?
Swear it now; say, 'So help me, God, I haven't seen anybody on the beach but you.'" I swore it.
"Say, 'Strike me blind if I have!'" I repeated the words after him, and, with a hurried look around, he set off running again towards the rock.

I had much ado to keep from tumbling, and even from crying aloud with pain, so tight was his grip.

Fast as we went, the man's teeth chattered and his limbs shook; his wet clothes flapped and fluttered in the cold morning breeze; his face was drawn and pinched with exhaustion, but he never slackened his pace until we reached Dead Man's Rock.

Here he stopped and looked around again.
"Is there any place to hide in hereabouts ?" he suddenly asked.
The oddness of the question took me aback: and, indeed, the whole conduct of the man was so strange that I was heartily frightened, and longed greatly to run away.