letter. You may
depend upon it that if a man ain't true to himself he's not likely to be
true to any one else. But it's likely that we may be here for a couple
of days, so I release _you_ from duty that you may make the most o' your
time and enjoy yourself. By the way, it will save you wastin' time if
you ask that little girl, Kathy Holbein, to show you the best places to
sketch, for she's a born genius with her pencil and brush."

"No, thank you, father," returned Nigel. "I want no little girl to
bother me while I'm sketching--even though she be a born genius--for I
think I possess genius enough my self to select the best points for
sketching, and to get along fairly well without help. At least I'll try
what I can do."

"Please yourself, lad. Nevertheless, I think you wouldn't find poor
Kathy a bother; she's too modest for that--moreover, she could manage a
boat and pull a good oar when I was here last, and no doubt she has
improved since."

"Nevertheless, I'd rather be alone," persisted Nigel. "But why do you
call her _poor_ Kathy? She seems to be quite as strong and as jolly as
the rest of her brothers and sisters."

"Ah, poor thing, these are not her brothers and sisters," returned the
captain in a gentler tone.

"Kathy is only an adopted child, and an orphan. Her name, Kathleen, is
not a Dutch one. She came to these islands in a somewhat curious way.
Sit down here and I'll tell 'ee the little I know about her."

Father and son sat down on a mass of coral rock that had been washed up
on the beach during some heavy gale, and for a few minutes gazed in
silence on the beautiful lagoon, in which not only the islets, but the
brilliant moon and even the starry hosts were mirrored faithfully.

"About thirteen years ago," said the captain, "two pirate junks in the
Sunda Straits attacked a British barque, and, after a fight, captured
her. Some o' the crew were killed in action, some were taken on board
the junks to be held to ransom I s'pose, and some, jumping into the sea
to escape if possible by swimming, were probably drowned, for they were
a considerable distance from land. It was one o' these fellows, however,
who took to the water that managed to land on the Java shore, more dead
than alive. He gave information about the affair, and was the cause of a
gun-boat, that was in these waters at the time, bein' sent off in chase
o' the pirate junks.

"This man who swam ashore was a Lascar. He said that the chief o' t