Feeling about the
half-dark cave place Cora came upon a pail of water. Beside it was
a tin cup and this she filled and carried to the sick girl's lips.
"Try to drink," she whispered. "Then if you can stand I will take
you to my house in my boat."
The girl did sip some of the water. Again she opened those
wonderful eyes and looked at Cora.
"You are kind," she said. "He did not send you?"
"No one sent me, dear, and I promise never to betray you."
"At last," she murmured, "a friend!"
"Yes, a friend," Cora assured her, "and I am going to prove it to
you. I saw you one day as we--some girls and myself came to this
island. Then I saw you win that splendid race, and since then I
have been determined to find you."
"'He made me do it, he made me go in the race," said the girl, "and
now he brings this letter."
"What has shocked you so?" Cora asked. "Was it the letter?"
"Yes, he says they are coming for father!"
"Who?" Cora asked, but the girl's face went so white that again she
pressed the tin cup to her lips.
"There," Cora went on, "we will talk of nothing now but of what we
shall do to make you well again. Could you walk ever so little a
distance? To my motor boat?"
"If I could, what then?" asked the girl.
"Then loving hands would bring back the color into your checks, and
then the best boys in the world would come to help your father.
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