as the lads came up. News had been brought up by the steward that
the little girl had opened her eyes; while he was speaking, the
Malay conversed rapidly with the interpreter.

"What is he saying, Soh Hay?" the captain asked.

"He is asking why his daughter is not here, and if she is hurt, and
how she came to be saved," the man replied. "Me tell him she come
up to see him soon; the doctor say she no hurt."

Two minutes later the doctor reappeared, carrying the child in his
arms. She looked round fearlessly at the white faces until her eye
fell upon her father, when she slipped out of the doctor's arms
like an eel and ran to him. The grim features of the Malay lit up
with a pleasant smile as he held out his right hand to her. She was
a strange little figure, for the doctor had not waited to obtain
any suitable garments for her, but had wrapped her up in one of
the signal flags, which the child herself had wound round her waist
and over her shoulder like a native sarong.

"You tell him, Soh Hay, that he must not talk to her," the doctor
said. "If he keeps quiet, he will get well in short time: if he
talk, he ill many days; but I will let him say a few words to her
now."

The Malay's eyes passed over the group of officers and rested on
the two midshipmen, whose wet clothes showed that they were the
officers who had, as the interpreter had told him, dived in and
rescued the child. He said something to the interpreter.