"You are a strange girl." "Yes; mine is a hard lot; I am a waif; I am nothing; I am all outcast; a thing, and yet--" The girl ceased. She had spoken with a wild energy, and she had looked ravishingly beautiful while talking. "And yet, what?" said the detective interrogatively. "My heart is full of all the ambitions that might fill the heart of a girl born in the midst of splendor and luxury; and although the companion of smugglers, I love only what is pure and beautiful; I cherish the fondest dreams, and yet--" Again the detective supplemented: "Well, go on." "I am a poor, ragged, barefooted girl, the daughter of a boat-keeper, and that is not all!" "Tell me all." "Shall I?" "Yes." "I had reason to suppose that my pretended father was my friend; one thing is certain no millionaire ever guarded a fair daughter with more tenderness than he has guarded me. He has sent me to school, and has permitted me to become educated far above my station. You know in this land that is an easy thing for a poor man to do, but within a few days strange suspicions have crossed my mind; no man even among the roughest of them ever dared insult me. Tom Pearce would have killed the man who dared bring one faint flush to my cheek with his vile tongue! but alas! I fear--fear." "What do you fear?" "Shall I say it?" "Certainly." "I fear his tender care of me has been a speculation." "You do not believe he is your friend?" "I fear he is not." "Some enemy may have traduced Tom Pearce." "No; the words that aroused my suspicions fell from his own lips." "And what do you fear?" "You must learn from other lips." "Who will tell me?" "If you are to know at all, you must learn my fears from the lips of my enemies." "How shall I do that?" "Are you willing to serve me?" The detective was silent. He was certainly charmed and lured by this beautiful child of the shore, but could he afford to undertake to be the champion of a barefooted girl, though she did own a strangely beautiful face? "If you serve me I will serve you." "What can you do for me?" The girl's eyes gleamed as she answered: "Let me but know that these men are my foes, that I owe them no gratitude, and I can give you information for which the government would pay thousands! and even to-night in serving me you would also serve yourself." "Will you tell me how?" "One of the bosses is to visit the shore to-night." "Aha! there is where the whale blows." "Yes." "Who does he visit?" "Tom Pearce." "What is his purpose?" "I only guess." "What do you guess?" "Am I to speak more plainly to you, or can you not discern?" "Have you ever met the man?" "Yes." "You fear him?" "I do not know yet; you may find out." "What do you suspect?" A moment the girl was silent, but at length she said: "I suspect I am to be sent away!" "You mistrust your reputed father?" "I do." "And this man comes to-night?" "Yes." "You would offer a suggestion?"