Robert Michael Ballantyne

The Madman and the Pirate Robert Michael Ballantyne

The Madman, Antonio Zeppa, is abandoned on Ratinga, an island in the Pacific, where there later appears a miserable ex-pirate called Richard Rosco. The two start up a sort of love-hate relationship. The natives put Rosco on a fire to burn him at the stake, but he is rescued by Zeppa, who carries him up to his cave in the mountains, and tends to his injured feet. Eventually a vessel calls at the island, with Zeppa's son on board. From then on the story winds to an end, with everyone who belongs there safely back home in Britain.