oom and dropped on her knees beside Madge.

Madge sprang from her lounge and stumbled across the room toward the old
sailor. Phil kept close beside her.

"Tania!" whispered Madge faintly, for she too had seen the captain's
face. "Where is my little Fairy Godmother?"

"We have found Tania, Madge," said Captain Jules gently, "but she is very
ill. We found her lying under a tree in the swamp, delirious with fever.
She is almost starved, and she is so frail--that----" The old man's voice
broke.

"Don't say she is going to die, Captain Jules," implored Mrs. Curtis. "If
she does, I shall feel that I am responsible. Surely, something can be
done for her." The proud woman buried her face in her hands.

At that moment Tom entered, bearing in his arms a frail little figure,
whose thin hands moved incessantly and whose black eyes were bright with
fever.

With a cry of "Tania, dear little Fairy Godmother, you mustn't, you
shan't die!" Madge sprang to Tom's side and caught the little, restless
hands in hers.

For an instant the black eyes looked recognition. "Madge," Tania said
clearly, "he took me away--the Wicked Genii." Her voice trailed off into
indistinct muttering.

"She must be rushed to a hospital at once." Captain Jules's calm voice
roused the sorrowing friends of little Tania to action.

"I'll have my car at the door in ten minutes," declared Tom huskily.
"Make her as comfortable as you can for the journey."

It was in Captain Jules's strong arms that little Tania made the journey
to a private sanatorium at Cape May. Madge sat beside the captain, her
eyes fixed upon the little, dark head that lay against the captain's
broad shoulder. The strong, magnetic touch of the old sailor seemed to
quiet the fever-stricken child, and, for the first time since they had
found her, Tania lay absolutely still in his arms.

Mrs. Curtis occupied the front seat with her son, who drove his car at a
rate of speed that would have caused a traffic officer to hold up his
hands in horror. It had been arranged that Tom should return to the
farmhouse as soon as possible for the rest of the party.

No one of the occupants of the car ever forgot that ride. Once at the
hospital, no time was lost in caring for Tania. The physician in
attendance, however, would give them no satisfaction as to Tania's
condition beyond the admission that it was very serious. Mrs. Curtis
engaged the most expensive room in the hospital for the child, as well a