have they _really_ done this?" cried Alice, in eager surprise.

"Indeed they have. I have just seen and had! a talk with some of their
chief men, and have promised to go over to their village to-morrow. I
came up here just to tell you this, and to say that your friend the
widow will take care of you while I am away."

"And shall we have no more wars,--no more of these terrible deeds of
blood?" inquired the child, while a shudder passed through her frame at
the recollection of what she had heard and seen during her short life on
that island.

"I trust not, my lamb. I believe that God has heard our prayers, and
that the Prince of peace will henceforth rule in this place. But I must
go and prepare for this work. Come, will you go with me?"

"Leave me here for a little, papa; I wish to think it over all alone."

Kissing her forehead, the missionary left her. When he was out of sight
the little girl sat down, and, nestling between two great roots of her
favorite tree, laid her head against the stem and shut her eyes.

But poor Alice was not left long to her solitary meditations. There was
a peculiarly attractive power about her which drew other creatures
around her, wherever she might chance to be.

The first individual who broke in upon her was that animated piece of
ragged door-mat, Toozle. This imbecile little dog was not possessed of
much delicacy of feeling. Having been absent on a private excursion of
his own into the mountain when the schooner arrived, he only became
aware of the return of his lost, loved, and deeply-regretted mistress,
when he came back from his trip. The first thing that told him of her
presence was his own nose, the black point of which protruded with
difficulty a quarter of an inch beyond the mass of matting which totally
extinguished his eyes, and, indeed, every other portion of his head.

Coming down the hill immediately behind Sandy Cove at a breakneck
scramble, Toozle happened to cross the path by which his mistress had
ascended to her tree. The instant he did so, he came to a halt so sudden
that one might have fancied he had been shot. In another moment he was
rushing up the hill in wild excitement, giving an occasional yelp of
mingled surprise and joy as he went along. The footsteps led him a
little beyond the tree, and then turned down towards it, so that he had
the benefit of the descent in making the final onset.

The moment he came in sight of Alice he began to bark and yelp in s