for the big sail had caught the breeze and got way on her.  At the same time the other junk lay over to the same breeze and the two separated.  At first the one-eyed pirate jumped up with an oath and fired a pistol shot at the Englishman, but missed him.  Then he seemed to change his mind and shouted in bad English, with a diabolical laugh—­’Swim away; swim hard, p’raps you kitch ‘im up!’ Of course the two junks were soon out of sight o’ the poor swimmer—­and that was the end of him, for, of course, he must have been drowned.”

“But what of the poor little girl?” asked Nigel, whose feelings were easily touched by the sorrows of children, and who began to have a suspicion of what was coming.

“I’m just comin’ to that.  Well, the gun-boat that went to look for the pirates sighted one o’ the junks out in the Indian Ocean after a long search and captured her, but not a single one o’ the barque’s crew was to be found in her, and it was supposed they had been all murdered and thrown overboard wi’ shots tied to their feet to sink them.  Enough o’ the cargo o’ the British barque was found, however, to convict her, and on a more careful search bein’ made, the little girl was discovered, hid away in the hold.  Bein’ only about four year old, the poor little thing was too frightened to understand the questions put to her.  All she could say was that she wanted ‘to go to father,’ and that her name was Kathy, probably short for Kathleen, but she could not tell.”

“Then that is the girl who is now here?” exclaimed Nigel.

“The same, lad.  The gun-boat ran in here, like as we did, to have some slight repairs done, and Kathy was landed.  She seemed to take at once to motherly Mrs. Holbein, who offered to adopt her, and as the captain of the gun-boat had no more notion than the man-in-the-moon who the child belonged to, or what to do with her, he gladly handed her over, so here she has been livin’ ever since.  Of course attempts have been made to discover her friends, but without success, and now all hope has been given up.  The poor girl herself never speaks on the subject, but old Holbein and his wife tell me she is sure that Kathy has never forgotten her father.  It may be so; anyhow, she has forgotten his name—­if she ever knew it.”

Next day Nigel made no objections to being guided to the most picturesque spots among the coral isles by the interesting orphan girl.  If she had been older he might even have fallen in love with her, an event which would have necessitated an awkward modification of the ground-work of our tale.  As it was, he pitied the poor child sincerely, and not only—­recognising her genius—­asked her advice a good deal on the subject of art, but—­recognising also her extreme youth and ignorance—­volunteered a good deal of advice in exchange, quite in a paternal way!

CHAPTER IV.

NIGEL UNDERGOES SOME QUITE NEW AND INTERESTING EXPERIENCES.