CHAPTER XIII
THE NEWCOMER
He could not move for a moment, then he sprang to his feet and rantowards her. She looked pale and dazed, and she held something in herarms; something wrapped up in her scarf. As he pressed her to him, thesomething in the bundle struggled against his breast and emitted asquall—just like the squall of a cat. He drew back, and Emmeline,tenderly moving her scarf a bit aside, exposed a wee face. It wasbrick-red and wrinkled; there were two bright eyes, and a tuft of darkhair over the forehead. Then the eyes closed, the face screwed itselfup, and the thing sneezed twice.
“Where did you _get_ it?” he asked, absolutely lost in astonishment asshe covered the face again gently with the scarf.
“I found it in the woods,” replied Emmeline.
Dumb with amazement, he helped her along to the house, and she satdown, resting her head against the bamboos of the wall.
“I felt so bad,” she explained; “and then I went off to sit in thewoods, and then I remembered nothing more, and when I woke up it wasthere.”
“It’s a baby!” said Dick.
“I know,” replied Emmeline.
Mrs James’s baby, seen in the long ago, had risen up before theirmind’s eyes, a messenger from the past to explain what the new thingwas. Then she told him things—things that completely shattered the old“cabbage bed” theory, supplanting it with a truth far more wonderful,far more poetical, too, to he who can appreciate the marvel and themystery of life.
“It has something funny tied on to it,” she went on, as if she werereferring to a parcel she had just received.
“Let’s look,” said Dick.
“No,” she replied; “leave it alone.”
She sat rocking the thing gently, seeming oblivious to the whole world,and quite absorbed in it, as, indeed, was Dick. A physician would haveshuddered, but, perhaps fortunately enough, there was no physician onthe island. Only Nature, and she put everything to rights in her owntime and way.
When Dick had sat marvelling long enough, he set to and lit the fire.He had eaten nothing since the day before, and he was nearly asexhausted as the girl. He cooked some breadfruit, there was some coldfish left over from the day before; this, with some bananas, he servedup on two broad leaves, making Emmeline eat first.
Before they had finished, the creature in the bundle, as though it hadsmelt the food, began to scream. Emmeline drew the scarf aside. Itlooked hungry; its mouth would now be pinched up and now wide open, itseyes opened and closed. The girl touched it on the lips with herfinger, and it seized upon her fingertip and sucked it. Her eyes filledwith tears, she looked appealingly at Dick, who was on his knees; hetook a banana, peeled it, broke off a bit and handed it to her. Sheapproached it to the baby’s mouth. It tried to suck it, failed, blewbubbles at the sun and squalled.
“Wait a minute,” said Dick.
There were some green cocoa-nuts he had gathered the day before closeby. He took one, removed the green husk, and opened one of the eyes,making an opening also in the opposite side of the shell. Theunfortunate infant sucked ravenously at the nut, filled its stomachwith the young cocoa-nut juice, vomited violently, and wailed. Emmelinein despair clasped it to her naked breast, wherefrom, in a moment, itwas hanging like a leech. It knew more about babies than they did.