bring
news of my uncle!" and the lad dashed out of the cabin and down again
upon the wharf.

"Or, better yet, the ship may bring him!" suggested Eyllen, in a
flutter, hastily rising and putting away her work. "I must see if my
father has really come."

"I trust it is so; then will my prayers not be in vain. If he brings
money again will they be answered," said the girl's relative.

"If he brings no gold his daughter will be glad to see him," said Eyllen
in a slightly offended tone.

"I meant no harm, Eyllen. You surely understand me. Has not your father
been always welcome here?"

"Yes, yes, Aunt," and tears forced their way out of her eyes, as the
girl threw her shawl about her. "But come, we will soon find out about
this vessel, and who is on board."

The ship was now moving into the placid bay and toward the shore. From a
flag staff the Russian emblem already fluttered a welcome to the
visiting craft. To be sure, the shore flag was accompanied by one made
up of stars and stripes, and this last floated proudly at top of the
mast above the other, but the two flags seemed not to be on unfriendly
terms.

At last the vessel swung alongside the dock. Eagerly did Eyllen and her
aunt, standing among the group of natives, scan the faces of those on
the vessel. None were familiar, and they were about to turn disappointed
away when they heard a shout.

Some one on deck motioned to the two women to come to the ship's side,
and they hurriedly obeyed, scarcely knowing what they did.

"Were you looking for someone?" kindly inquired an officer in Russian.

"My father," replied the girl, disappointedly. "But he cannot be on
board your ship or he would have been out to greet us."

"Your father's name?" asked the officer.

"Fedor Michaelovitz," responded Eyllen.

"He is on board, but he is ill. We will fetch him ashore presently," but
even as he spoke two men passed through the door to the gangplank. They
carried a litter between them upon which lay stretched a man.

Eyllen rushed toward the litter. It was really her father, but so
changed that she would not have recognized him.

According to the physician's orders Fedor Michaelovitz was placed in the
small hospital established upon the islands for sailors, and there he
was well tended. In a few days he was far enough recovered to relate to
his daughter his story.

After leaving her three years before and meeting many vicissitudes and
disappointments, he had at las