As I partially lifted her from the boat to the sand, she staggered heavily, and would have fallen had I not instantly caught her to me.

For a single moment her dark eyes looked up confidingly into mine, as she rested panting against my shoulder, and I could feel her slender form tremble within my arms.
"You are ill--faint ?" I questioned anxiously.
She drew back from me with all gentleness, and did not venture again to attempt standing entirely without support.
"I am ashamed so to exhibit my weakness," she murmured.

"I fear I am greatly in need of food.

What day is this ?" "The twelfth of August." "And it was the night of the tenth when I drifted out of the mouth of the river.

Ever since then I have been drifting, the sport of the winds and waves." "Sit you down here, then," I commanded, now fully awakened to her immediate need.