e he would
throw her from him, and let her struggle to reach him again as best she
could. The first few mornings she had to be pulled out almost at once;
but after that Feliu showed her less mercy, and helped her only when he
saw she was really in danger. He attempted no other instruction until
she had learned that in order to save herself from being half choked by
the salt water, she must not scream; and by the time she became
habituated to these austere experiences, she had already learned by
instinct alone how to keep herself afloat for a while, how to paddle a
little with her hands. Then he commenced to train her to use them,--to
lift them well out and throw them forward as if reaching, to dip them
as the blade of an oar is dipped at an angle, without loud
splashing;--and he showed her also how to use her feet. She learned
rapidly and astonishingly well. In less than two months Feliu felt
really proud at the progress made by his tiny pupil: it was a delight
to watch her lifting her slender arms above the water in swift, easy
curves, with the same fine grace that marked all her other natural
motions. Later on he taught her not to fear the sea even when it
growled a little,--how to ride a swell, how to face a breaker, how to
dive. She only needed practice thereafter; and Carmen, who could also
swim, finding the child's health improving marvellously under this new
discipline, took good care that Chita should practice whenever the
mornings were not too cold, or the water too rough.

With the first thrill of delight at finding herself able to glide over
the water unassisted, the child's superstitious terror of the sea
passed away. Even for the adult there are few physical joys keener
than the exultation of the swimmer;--how much greater the same glee as
newly felt by an imaginative child,--a child, whose vivid fancy can
lend unutterable value to the most insignificant trifles, can transform
a weed-patch to an Eden! ... Of her own accord she would ask for her
morning bath, as soon as she opened her eyes;--it even required some
severity to prevent her from remaining in the water too long. The sea
appeared to her as something that had become tame for her sake,
something that loved her in a huge rough way; a tremendous playmate,
whom she no longer feared to see come bounding and barking to lick her
feet. And, little by little, she also learned the wonderful healing
and caressing power of the monster, whose cool em