and quite absorbed in it, as, indeed, was Dick. A physician would have
shuddered, but, perhaps fortunately enough, there was no physician on
the island. Only Nature, and she put everything to rights in her own
time and way.

When Dick had sat marvelling long enough, he set to and lit the fire.
He had eaten nothing since the day before, and he was nearly as
exhausted as the girl. He cooked some breadfruit, there was some cold
fish left over from the day before; this, with some bananas, he served
up on two broad leaves, making Emmeline eat first.

Before they had finished, the creature in the bundle, as though it had
smelt the food, began to scream. Emmeline drew the scarf aside. It
looked hungry; its mouth would now be pinched up and now wide open, its
eyes opened and closed. The girl touched it on the lips with her
finger, and it seized upon her fingertip and sucked it. Her eyes filled
with tears, she looked appealingly at Dick, who was on his knees; he
took a banana, peeled it, broke off a bit and handed it to her. She
approached it to the baby's mouth. It tried to suck it, failed, blew
bubbles at the sun and squalled.

"Wait a minute," said Dick.

There were some green cocoa-nuts he had gathered the day before close
by. He took one, removed the green husk, and opened one of the eyes,
making an opening also in the opposite side of the shell. The
unfortunate infant sucked ravenously at the nut, filled its stomach
with the young cocoa-nut juice, vomited violently, and wailed. Emmeline
in despair clasped it to her naked breast, wherefrom, in a moment, it
was hanging like a leech. It knew more about babies than they did.

CHAPTER XIV

HANNAH

At noon, in the shallows of the reef, under the burning sun, the water
would be quite warm. They would carry the baby down here, and Emmeline
would wash it with a bit of flannel. After a few days it scarcely ever
screamed, even when she washed it. It would lie on her knees during the
process, striking valiantly out with its arms and legs, staring
straight up at the sky. Then when she turned it on its face, it would
lay its head down and chuckle, and blow bubbles at the coral of the
reef, examining, apparently, the pattern of the coral with deep and
philosophic attention.

Dick would sit by with his knees up to his chin, watching it all. He
felt himself to be part proprietor in the thing--as, indeed, he was.
The mystery of the affair still hung over them both. A week