een, what sort of things?"

"Oh, like beasts. Come kik!"

"They wasn't sarpints, was they?" said Malone, seating the child on his
shoulder and hastening towards the rocky point which separated Silver
Bay from the land beyond.

"No, no--not saa'pints. Long beasts, like mans, only hims not stand and
walk, but lie down and crawl."

Much impressed with the child's eager manner, the Irishman hurried
towards the point of rocks, filled with curiosity as to what the
creatures could be.

"What sort o' hids have they, darlint?" he asked, as he neared the
point.

"Hids same as mans, and faces like you, but more uglier, all scratched
over, an' dey try to catch me, but me runned away."

Teddy Malone's hitherto obtuse faculties were awakened. He stopped
suddenly, being by that time convinced that he stood unarmed within
spear-throw of savages in ambush. To advance, supposing his conjecture
to be right, he knew would be certain death. To turn and fly would
probably be the same, for naked savages could easily overtake him even
if unburdened with Brown-eyes, whom, of course, he could not forsake,
and he was too far from the settlement to shout an alarm.

Perspiration burst from poor Teddy's brow, for even delay, he knew,
would be fatal, as the savages would suspect him of having discovered
them.

Suddenly he put Brown-eyes down on the sand, and, twisting his figure
into a comical position, began to hop like a frog. His device had the
desired effect; Brown-eyes burst into a hearty fit of laughter, forgot
for the moment the "funny beasts," and cried, "Do it agin!"

The poor man did it again, thinking intensely all the time what he
should do next.

"Would you like to see me dance, darlint?" he asked suddenly.

"Oh yis!"

Thereupon Teddy Malone began to dance an Irish jig to his own whistling,
although, being much agitated, he found it no easy matter to whistle in
tune or time, but that was unimportant. As he danced he took care to
back in a homeward direction. The child naturally followed. Thus, by
slow degrees, he got beyond what he considered spear-throw, and feeling
boldness return with security, he caught the child up and danced with
her on his shoulder. Then he set her down, and pretended to chase her.
He even went the length of chasing her a little way in the wrong
direction, in order to throw the savages more completely off their
guard. By degrees he got near to the settlement, and there was met by
Otto.