“Enter, little Sea Blossom,” said a deep, not unmusical voice, and a finely modeled, but painfully thin hand was lifted from the gorgeous brocaded robes that enveloped him, and held out to her in welcome. Sun Li’s hand, like his face, was not yellow at all, but a warm cream, and on it the delicate veining stood out clearly. Erica drew nearer, still timidly, and slipped a confiding hand into the one stretched toward her. She was conscious of a great rush of pity for anyone so obviously ill, and with it a most strange and pleasant sense of having known the owner of the hand long and affectionately. Meeting her Chinese godfather was like coming home to a near and dear member of her family. She entirely forgot to be afraid of his strangeness and his grandeur. But no words came to her for the moment, and she merely stood there holding the fragile ivory-colored hand in hers, and smiling rather wistfully down at the thin, tired old face that smiled so valiantly back at her. But such unwonted shyness on Erica’s part did not last long, and by the time her father and Lis had joined them in the orange-hung cabin her tongue was wagging busily as she described, in answer to quiet, amused questions from the old Chinese, her home life, the various members of her family, and her bubbling gratitude for the accumulated gifts that had come to her during the past fifteen years, on each return voyage of the _Sea Gull_. Sun Li—he quickly forbade all attempts at the formal Your Excellency, on either Lis’s or Erica’s part—seemed so well entertained by his new visitors, that the elderly physician, creeping in softly after half an hour’s time, to see how his master did, crept out as softly, his leathery old face wreathed in smiles, and allowed the racing chatter to proceed unchecked. Lis sat silently listening, for the most part, and after a while Captain Eric followed the old doctor out of the cabin, and was gone for quite a time, on business of his own, leaving his daughter’s tongue still wagging in lively fashion, and Sun Li hearing her with obvious amusement and pleasure showing on his usually impassive countenance. When the Captain did return, it was to announce that he had sent a boat ashore with a message to Mrs. Folger, stating that he was planning to keep both children on board all night and would bring them ashore with him early the following morning.