e gentleman's embrace, then with the instinct of her
sport-loving race, grabbed again for the line and now there was seasoned
muscle behind her, and the dolphin knew he had met his master. Hand over
hand they pulled away, five, ten, fifteen fathoms, and the dripping cord
curled upon the deck, and at last the gleaming beauty of the Pacific
seas came leaping into view and swinging at the stern, and then Pancha,
with sparkling eyes and eagerly flushing cheeks, ducked out of the way
as Loring skillfully swung her prize aboard and sent the magnificent
fellow gasping and flapping upon the deck.

And so at last the spell was broken. He had spoken slowly and with grave
kindness in his modulated voice a few words of the stately and sonorous
tongue she loved, and now in the fresh, sweet air of the morning, in the
gladness of the ocean breeze and the heyday of life and youth, these two
stood there at the taffrail of the Idaho, she so slender, dark and
willowly, he almost Saxon in his blue-eyed, fair-haired, fair-skinned
manliness, alone with each other and their prize. The child who had
fainted at sight of him less than a week agone, was peeping shyly up at
him now, and thinking how good a face was that, so fresh and fair and
strong, with its smooth-shaven chin and cheeks, its round white throat,
and the flawless teeth that glistened under the curling mustache
whenever he opened his lips to speak, and that showed so seldom at any
other time. Not until this moment had she ever seen him smile.

The fringe of her Mexican _rebosa_ had caught the button of his
snugly-fitting sack coat, and it needed her deft, slim fingers to
release it. Then in its frantic struggles the dolphin threatened to
spring back to its native element, and Loring had to head him off and
thrust him to the middle of the deck again, close to the skylight of the
"saloon," and there he bade her come and watch the vivid, swiftly
changing, iridescent hues of the beautiful creature, and she obediently
drew near and stood bending over in mingled triumph and compassion.
"_Ah, que es bonito!_" she sighed, as the frantic leapings seemed to
cease and the prize lay gasping at full length, exhausted by the
violence of the long battle. Presently Loring called the steward to send
up for the Senorita's captive, and to serve it at the Senorita's table
for breakfast, and then perhaps he might have returned to his solitary
walk, but the study of Spanish is never more fascinating tha