The child ceased crying, and with big blue tear-wet eyes looked with
wonder upon his dusky faced deliverer.
"_Oksunae_" (be strong), said Abel with a reassuring smile, as he
stooped and took the little one's hand into his big rough palm.
The child did not understand the word of greeting, but he did
understand, with the intuition and instinct of little children and dumb
creatures, that Abel was his friend.
Beneath the deck, forward, were blankets, in which the boy had doubtless
been sleeping when Abel first looked into the boat and discovered the
dead man. Beneath the deck Abel also found among other things, a jug
partly filled with tepid water, a tin cup, and a bag containing a few
broken fragments of sea biscuits. He gave the child a sip of the water
and selected for it one of the larger fragments of biscuit. Then,
patting it affectionately upon the cheek he tenderly tucked it among the
blankets, beneath the deck, that it might be sheltered from the breeze.
And the little one, content with the ministrations and attentions of his
new guardian, quietly acquiesced.
Abel was greatly excited by his wonderful discovery, and he was eager to
surprise Mrs. Abel Zachariah and to present to her the fair-skinned boy,
and therefore he lost no time in further exploration of the boat.
Unafraid now of evil spirits, and disregarding the dead man lying aft,
he undid the painter of his skiff and secured it astern, where the skiff
would tow easily.
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