Where?
he knows not.
Soon he hears the rattling of the rope-ladder which serves as a stairway to those above who would communicate with his prison.

They come, on the part of the captain, to seek him.
He finds the latter seated on the deck, surrounded by his principal men.
'Young man,' said Stradling, 'I have been obliged to be severe for the sake of an example; but you have been sufficiently punished by the time you have passed below there,'-- and he pointed to the ship's hold.
'Now, your wish shall be granted.

You shall be allowed to land.' And the rare smile which sometimes hovered on his lips, stole over his rigid face.
'So much the better,' replied Selkirk, laconically.
The boat was let down; he entered it, and ten minutes afterwards disembarked on a green shore, where the waves, as they broke upon it, seemed to murmur softly in his ear the word, _liberty_! The boat immediately rejoined the ship, which set sail, coasted along Chili and Patagonia, and re-entered the Northern Sea by the Straits of Magellan..