e impossible, for I had been on the
Chain Pier last night, and had seen nothing of the kind. Some prudent
impulse restrained me.

"I would not go so far as to say it was murder," interrupted a sturdy
boatman. "I have been about here a great many years, and I have seen
some queer things. I should hardly call this murder."

"It was a life taken away, whether you call it murder or not," said the
old man.

"May be; but I am not sure. I have seen many mad with misery, but murder
is a rare thing."

"What is it?" I asked.

"A child, sir--only a little child," said the sturdy boatman. "The body
of a little child found drowned off the pier here."

Now, why should I start and tremble and grow sick at heart? What had it
to do with me? I knew nothing of any murdered child, yet great drops
formed on my brow, and my very heart trembled.

"A little child found drowned," I repeated; "but how do you know it was
murdered? It may have fallen into the water."

"It was not old enough for that, sir," said the elder boatman; "it is
but a fair little mite--a baby girl; they say not more than three months
old."

Ah! why did the beautiful, desperate face I had seen the night before
flash before my eyes then?

The boatman went on:

"It is plain to my eyes that it is a murder, although the child is but a
tender babe; all the greater murder for that; a bigger child might have
helped itself; this one could not."

"Tell me about it," I said.

Ah! if my heart would but stop beating, or if the beautiful, desperate
face would but fade from my memory.

"It was James Clayton who found it," continued the old man. "He was at
work in the jetty this morning when he caught sight of something moving
up and down with the waves. At first he thought it looked like an old
rag, and he took no notice of it; then something about it attracted his
attention more and more. He went nearer, and found that it was a gray
and black shawl, that had caught on some large hooks which had been
driven into the wooden pillars for some purpose or other--a woman's
shawl, sure as could be; some lady, he thought, had dropped it over the
pier, and it had caught on these hooks below the water. Jim was pleased.
He thought, if worth anything, he might get a trifle reward for it; if
not, he might take it home to his old mother.

"He took his boat to the spot, but, sir, to Jim's surprise, he found it
was not only a shawl, but a bundle. He thought he had found a treasure,