thirty yards further, I made out to be the gurgling of running
water; and at the same moment I made the discovery that my throat
was parched and my palms tingling with heat. I hurried on,
promising myself a cool draught, when all at once, above the soft
dashing and gurgling of the water, I caught yet another sound--a
low, warbling note, or succession of notes, which might have been
emitted by a bird. But it startled me nevertheless--bird-like
warbling sounds had come to mean so much to me--and pausing, I
listened intently. It was not repeated, and finally, treading
with the utmost caution so as not to alarm the mysterious
vocalist, I crept on until, coming to a greenheart with a
quantity of feathery foliage of a shrub growing about its roots,
I saw that just beyond the tree the ground was more open still,
letting in the sunlight from above, and that the channel of the
stream I sought was in this open space, about twenty yards from
me, although the water was still hidden from sight. Something
else was there, which I did see; instantly my cautious advance
was arrested. I stood gazing with concentrated vision, scarcely
daring to breathe lest I should scare it away.

It was a human being--a girl form, reclining on the moss among
the ferns and herbage, near the roots of a small tree. One arm
was doubled behind her neck for her head to rest upon, while the
other arm was held extended before her, the hand raised towards a
small brown bird perched on a pendulous twig just beyond its
reach. She appeared to be playing with the bird, possibly
amusing herself by trying to entice it on to her hand; and the
hand appeared to tempt it greatly, for it persistently hopped up
and down, turning rapidly about this way and that, flirting its
wings and tail, and always appearing just on the point of