It was impossible, placed as she was, to pour any water into the girl"s mouth; but Elizabeth sprinkled a little on her head. After a time the girl stirred, opened her eyes and moved her lips, but no sound came from them, and in a moment her eyelids again drooped.
"She"s absolutely done," said Elizabeth. "We"ll tow the canoe home.
Tommy, fasten the painter. The poor child"s very bad."
The boat"s head was turned, and Elizabeth rowed as hard as she could against the current. Fortunately, they had not come very far beyond the gap in the reef. When the boat reached the still water it travelled much faster, and within an hour of leaving they regained the sh.o.r.e. During this time Tommy had thrown an occasional glance over her shoulder at the prostrate girl. Once she caught the child"s eyes fixed upon her, and felt a thrill as she recognized them; they were the same as she had seen peering at her out of the bush. She felt no fear now, but a longing to help the little stranger and know more about her.
When they had landed and drawn the boat up, they lifted the girl and carried her among them to the hut. Her eyes opened during the journey, and she shivered; but she did not speak or struggle, and indeed hung so limply in their arms that they feared she was past help.
"On my bed, please," said Tommy, when they reached the hut.
They laid her gently down, and Elizabeth poured a little cocoa-nut milk between her lips. She now gave signs of animation, swallowed the juice greedily, and looked with the eyes of a timid fawn from one to another of the three girls. Presently she murmured a few words; her voice was plaintive and pleading.
"Don"t be frightened," said Elizabeth soothingly.
The words seemed to startle the child. She tried to rise, but was too weak to move.
"She must have been adrift a long time to be in this terrible state,"
said Elizabeth. "I wonder how it happened?"
"Poor thing," murmured Tommy. "What a sweet little face she has!"
"Hush!" said Elizabeth, "our voices frighten her. Of course she doesn"t understand what we say. I think you had better leave her to me for a little while. I"ll feed her, and she"ll see by and by that we mean her no harm."
Tommy"s face wore for an instant a look of defiance, but she got the better of her inclination to rebel, and with Mary left the hut.
Elizabeth remained with the little stranger, feeding her at frequent intervals, bathing her head, occasionally murmuring a word of encouragement. Her gentleness was effective. Presently the look of fright vanished from the brown girl"s eyes--large, liquid eyes that Elizabeth found wonderfully attractive. Once she timidly stroked Elizabeth"s strong firm hand, and at last, with a faint smile, she dropped off to sleep.
"She"s asleep," said Elizabeth, quietly going forth to join her sisters. "What an extraordinary thing to happen!"
"Look here, Bess," said Tommy fiercely, "if you think you"re going to keep her to yourself you are jolly well mistaken. I saw her first; you wouldn"t believe me; and now I"m going to look after her, so there!"
"Instead of the parrot?" Mary could not help saying.
Elizabeth frowned at her.
"Very well, dear," she said pleasantly. "She"s a little younger than you, I should think, but I dare say she will like you to mother her.
But what will happen? Won"t her friends come and look for her?"
"And if they do, and find we have treated her kindly, they"ll just love us," said Tommy.
The other girls were amazed at Tommy"s complete change of att.i.tude.
Her fearfulness seemed to have been quite swallowed up in another emotion. The discovery that the native of whom she had been so needlessly frightened was a girl more helpless than herself filled her with a kind of rapture. She stepped softly into the hut, and seeing that the child was still asleep, placed a peeled orange beside her mat, where it must be seen as soon as she awoke.
"I wonder if we ought to go to the native hut and try to explain to her people that the girl is safe," said Elizabeth, as they sat on the gra.s.s eating their dinner.
"Certainly not," said Tommy decisively. "I dare say they were cruel to her, and the poor thing was glad to get away."
"What an imagination you have!" said Elizabeth, smiling. "For all you know, her mother may be broken-hearted."
"I don"t believe it. Anyhow, she"s too weak to go home, and we shall soon see if she wants to. I"ll talk to her by and by, and I know she"ll be quite pleased to stay with us."
Remembering Tommy"s ill-success with the parrot, the elder girls were amused at her confident belief that she would make the child talk, and understand what she said. Indeed, when, later in the day, the girl awoke, and Tommy went to attend to her, the first attempt at opening communications was a complete failure. By way of putting the little patient at her ease, Tommy grinned at her, patted her head, nodded, pointed to herself and said "Me Tommy," with the result that the child shrank away from her as if scared. When she realized that she had nothing to fear, she gazed upon the white girl with wide-open eyes and the same wondering look as may be seen on the face of a child watching a conjurer.
The ravenous way in which she ate the food given to her confirmed the girls" belief that she was half-starved. She rapidly gained strength, and it became clear that her weakness was due to hunger and not to illness. She began to talk, pouring out her words in liquid tones that fell pleasantly on the English ears. When she saw how puzzled the girls were she laughed; then, with a sober look of reflection, pointed to herself and said "Me Tommee" so drolly that the girls screamed with laughter.
Just before sunset, when the girls came into the hut for the night, they sat eating their supper and talking about their dusky guest. She knew by instinct that she was the subject of their conversation, and looked timidly from one to another, watching their lips, her features reflecting every expression on their faces.
Tommy gave her some baked fish for supper, and then prepared to "tuck her up," as she said, with her own wraps; but the girl rejected the covering and coiled herself up like a dog.
Next morning she got up and followed them when they went down to the sh.o.r.e for their usual bath. She seemed to be astonished at the whiteness of their skin, and amused them very much by scrubbing herself with sand, to see if she could make her brown body resemble theirs.
She watched every detail of their toilet with intense interest, and when she saw them comb their hair she held out her hand for the comb.
"Don"t give it to her, Tommy," said Mary, looking with distaste at the girl"s greasy mop.
"Rubbish!" said Tommy. "We can wash it afterwards."
But even Tommy regretted her generosity when, after being vigorously tugged through the thick matted hair, the comb was restored to her with several of its teeth missing.
"My word!" she exclaimed. "Fancy breaking wooden teeth! My poor old pony"s mane was nothing to her thatch."
After breakfast the girl followed them about like a dog. They noticed that she looked about her eagerly, as though searching for some recognizable landmark. But she evinced no desire to leave them, and indeed soon became tired; her strength was not yet equal to much exertion. The girls all sat on the gra.s.s with the child in the midst.
"Let"s try to find out her name," suggested Mary.
"Let me try," said Tommy. Pointing to Elizabeth, she said "Bess,"
repeating the name several times. Then she touched Mary, p.r.o.nouncing her name, and lastly herself.
"Me Tommee," said the girl, laughing delightedly.
"Tommy," said her instructor, "not "me," just Tommy."
"Me Tommee," repeated the girl; then after a moment pointed to Mary, saying "Mailee," and to Elizabeth, calling her "Bess," with a long sibilant.
"Now you," said Tommy, pointing to the girl herself.
She at once recognized what was required and said, "Fangati."
"What a pretty name!" said Elizabeth.
"I wonder how she spells it," remarked Mary.
At this Tommy shrieked.
"She doesn"t spell at all, you goose!" she said; "of course she never learnt her letters."
And then the laugh was on Mary"s side, for Fangati, as if thoroughly enjoying the fun, touched Tommy"s hand, saying "Me Tommee," over and over again.
"You"ll be "Me Tommee" always now," said Elizabeth. "You should have used correct English, my dear."
"I don"t care," said Tommy philosophically. "Anyhow, she can"t say Mary. Try again, Fangati," she added, pointing to her sister.