, farther out, an ugly mud flat began to be
revealed by the retreating water. Some distance ahead, a ridge of
tumbled rocks ran from the sea-wall down into the water, and, as he drew
nearer, he saw that on one of the rocks a girl was sitting.

He glanced at her as he passed, and would have liked to glance again,
for he had never met more arresting eyes, but he was going on with face
rigidly to the front, when her voice startled him.

"_Pardon, monsieur_," she said. It was a contralto voice, of a quality
that made his pulses leap.

He stopped short and turned toward her, incredulous that it could be he
to whom she had spoken. But there was no one else in sight; and then he
saw that her hands were gripped tightly in her lap and that her lips
were quivering.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, and took a step toward her. "Is there
anything I can do?"

"Oh!" she cried, her face lighting, and a wave of colour sweeping into
her cheeks. "Then you are an American!"

"Yes; thank God!"

"So say I!" she echoed. "For myself, I mean. I also am an American. We
will speak English, then."

"I should much prefer it," he smiled. "My French is wholly academic--and
covered with moss, at that. It doesn't even enable me to get my eggs
turned!"

She looked at him, the colour deepening in her cheeks. Dan, looking
back, decided that he had never seen such eyes; he could scarcely
believe that she was an American. She did not look in the least like
one. But she was speaking rapidly.

"I am in trouble," she said, "as the result of my own carelessness. I
was crossing these rocks, without watching sufficiently where I was
going, and my foot slipped. See," and she swept aside her skirts. "I
cannot get it out."

Dan was on his knees in an instant.

"Is it hurt?" he asked.

"I think not; or at most only a little strained. But it is wedged
between these big rocks, and I cannot move it."

Dan touched the foot, and found that it was, indeed, wedged fast. Then
he examined the rocks, and finally, bending above the smaller one,
placed his arms firmly about it, braced his feet and lifted. It would
have been worth while to have seen the play of his back and shoulder
muscles as the strain tightened, but it was over in a moment. For the
rock rose slowly, slowly, and the foot was free. He let the rock drop
softly back, stood up and brushed the sand from his sleeves. The girl
bent and rubbed her ankle.

"Is it all right?" he asked.

"I think so