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.

The arrangements made on the following day turned out to be quite in