emerging from the cottage, leading the child by the hand, and
followed by Carmen and Feliu. All who had been resting rose up
and looked at the child.

Standing in a lighted space, with one tiny hand enveloped by the
captain's great brown fist, she looked so lovely that a general
exclamation of surprise went up. Her bright hair, loose and
steeped in the sun-flame, illuminated her like a halo; and her
large dark eyes, gentle and melancholy as a deer's, watched the
strange faces before her with shy curiosity. She wore the same
dress in which Feliu had found her--a soft white fabric of
muslin, with trimmings of ribbon that had once been blue; and the
now discolored silken scarf, which had twice done her such brave
service, was thrown over her shoulders. Carmen had washed and
repaired the dress very creditably; but the tiny slim feet were
bare,--the brine-soaked shoes she wore that fearful night had
fallen into shreds at the first attempt to remove them.

--"Gentlemen, " said Captain Harris,--"we can find no clew to the
identity of this child. There is no mark upon her clothing; and
she wore nothing in the shape of jewelry--except this string of
coral beads. We are nearly all Americans here; and she does not
speak any English ... Does any one here know anything about her?"

Carmen felt a great sinking at her heart: was her new-found
darling to be taken so soon from her? But no answer came to the
captain's query. No one of the expedition had ever seen that
child before. The coral beads were passed from hand to hand; the
scarf was minutely scrutinized without avail. Somebody asked if
the child could not talk German or Italian.