She
carried the other end out through the door, and tossed it over the side
just in time for Winn to catch it, as the moving of the boat once more
gave him freedom of action.
Hauling himself up by this welcome rope, and at the same time being
assisted by the two men, the boy quickly gained the open doorway, where
he stood blinking in the bright lamplight, while mud and water ran from
him in streams. He faced the occupants of the boat, who, standing a few
steps back in the room, regarded him with undisguised wonder, not unmixed
with suspicion. On the table behind them stood a small, gaudily-dressed
object, that Winn at first took to be a child. Upon his appearance it
remained motionless for a few seconds, and then, with a frightened cry,
it sprang to the little girl's shoulder, from which it peered at the
stranger, chattering angrily all the while.
"Well, I am blest if this isn't a most extraordinary situation!"
exclaimed the old man. "It suggests a tableau of Venus rising from the
sea."
"Or a alligator," said the negro.
Sabella wanted to laugh at the comical spectacle presented by the
dripping, coatless, hatless, bare-footed, and generally woe-begone boy;
but pitying his evident embarrassment, she exclaimed:
"Uncle, how can you! Don't you see that he is shivering? You must go at
once and find him some dry clothes.
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