Still, she longed for a drink of water, and taxed her small stock of Spanish to make known her desire.
"Agua, senhora," she said with a smile, and the delight of mother and daughter was great, since they thought she could speak their language.
Therein, of course, they were disappointed, but not more so than Iris when she tasted the brackish fluid alone procurable on the south coast of Fernando Noronha.

That was a fortunate thing in itself.

Only those who have endured real thirst can tell how hard it is to refrain from drinking deeply when water is ultimately obtained; but the mixture of milk and eggs had already soothed her parched mouth and palate, and she quickly detected an unpleasantly salt flavor in the beverage they gave her.
Then she set herself to discover her whereabouts.

The women were eager to impart information, but, alas, Iris's brain had regained its every-day limitations, and she could make no sense of their words.

At last, seeing that the door was barred and the hut was innocent of any other opening, she stood upright, and signified by a gesture that she wished to go out.