Dawn came--the dawn of a day that I am destined never to forget. Long, rosy streamers of light broke through the forest, shaking, quivering, like unstable beams from celestial search-lights. Mist floated upward from marsh and lake; and through it the spectral palms loomed, drooping fronds embroidered with dew. For a while the ringing outburst of bird music dominated all; but it soon ceased with dropping notes from the crimson cardinals repeated in lengthening minor intervals; and then the spell of silence returned, broken only by the faint splash of mullet, mocking the sun with sinuous, silver flashes. "Good-morning," said a low voice from the door as I stood encouraging the camp-fire with splinter wood and dead palmetto fans. Fresh and sweet from her toilet as a dew-drenched rose, Miss Barrison stood there sniffing the morning air daintily, thoroughly. "Too much perfume," she said--"too much like ylang-ylang in a department-store. Central Park smells sweeter on an April morning." "Are you criticising the wild jasmine?" I asked. "I'm criticising an exotic smell. Am I not permitted to comment on the tropics?" Fishing out a cedar log from the lumber-stack, I fell to chopping it vigorously. The axe-strokes made a cheerful racket through the woods. "Did you hear anything last night after you retired?" I asked. "Something was at my window--something that thumped softly and seemed to be feeling all over the glass. To tell you the truth, I was silly enough to remain dressed all night." "You don't look it," I said. "Oh, when daylight came I had a chance," she added, laughing. "All the same," said I, leaning on the axe and watching her, "you are about the coolest and pluckiest woman I ever knew." "We were all in the same fix," she said, modestly. "No, we were not. Now I'll tell you the truth--my hair stood up the greater part of the night. You are looking upon a poltroon, Miss Barrison." "Then there was something at your window, too?" "Something? A dozen! They were monkeying with the sashes and panes all night long, and I imagined that I could hear them breathing--as though from effort of intense eagerness. Ouch! I came as near losing my nerve as I care to. I came within an ace of hurling those cursed pies through the window at them. I'd bolt to-day if I wasn't afraid to play the coward." "Most people are brave for that reason," she said. The dog, who had slept under my bunk, and who had contributed to my entertainment by sighing and moaning all night, now appeared ready for business--business in his case being the operation of feeding. I presented him with a concentrated tablet, which he cautiously investigated and then rolled on. "Nice testimonial for the people who concocted it," I said, in disgust. "I wish I had an egg." "There are some concentrated egg tablets in the shanty," said Miss Barrison; but the idea was not attractive. "I refuse to fry a pill for breakfast," I said, sullenly, and set the coffee-pot on the coals.