he child."

"Dead?"

"No; the dog has held its face above water."

"The dog,--quick! he's sinking!"

"Here!"

"A rope!"

"There!"

"No, no! Catch him by the neck!"

"Save the child first!"

"I've got him!"

"And I've got her!"

"Hang on to the dog! Pull him into the boat, stupid!"

"Why, she's strapped down to something!"

"What is this, anyhow?"

"Pull the dog loose, man!--he'll drown her yet!"

"There!"

"Your knife, Pierre!"

"Hold!"

This was from the river policeman, who held up his bull's-eye lantern
so that it threw a yellow glare on the white upturned face.

"She's dead, poor little thing!"

"We shall bring in the body just as it is," said the official.

"But----"

"That's the law!"

"Tonnerre! Is it the law to let a child drown in one's sight?"

"Oh, she's dead enough, I'm afraid."

"I don't know about that."

"Bring it in just as it is," repeated the official, adjusting a rope
to the mysterious thing beneath the body.

"Sacre bleu! And if she's alive?"

"Poor doggie! He's about done for too."

And so it really seemed, for Tartar lay in the bottom of the boat,
still breathing, but in convulsive gasps. In his teeth remained a
portion of the child's clothing, torn away with him. He had hung to
his charge to the last. His jaws had never relaxed.

In the mean time the whole fleet with its spoils had been floating
steadily down with the powerful current. Amidst the wrangle of
contending voices, and with some angry altercation, the police boat
and its accompanying consorts were towing the yet unknown object and
its silent burden towards the shore.

This was not an easy job, since the river becomes more narrow as it
threads the city, and the current proportionately stronger, and the
undertow caught at the low-hanging mass as if determined to bear it
down to the morgue just below. They had been carried under the Pont de
Bercy and were drawing near the Quai d'Austerlitz. Finally they got
ashore at the Gare d'Orleans.

"Parbleu! it's a little chiffonniere!"

"Truly!"

"She has evidently fallen into the river with her basket on her back."

They had now, in the rapidly growing daylight, discovered the
character of the object that held her in its embrace. In fact, when
half a dozen stout fellows had attempted to lift the whole thing out
of the water the rags had dropped out unseen and were borne away by
the current, leaving the light empty pannier and the body of the child