Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 1).djvu/218

 He was afraid, this strong, rough, savage creature; afraid of something—perhaps of capture. She did not think that he might be dangerous to her. She touched him on the shoulder.

'Why do you want a knife? And what is it you dread?"

He looked at her and realised in a dim way that it was only a girl, a child, whose figure loomed dark between him and the grey sea sand.

'How came I here?' he asked her, confused still. There was scarce any light; but the little there was, reflected from the skies, showed her a face so sullen in its despair, so brutal in its ferocity that, bold child though she was, she trembled as she saw.

'You were drowning, she said simply. 'I saved you. That was all.'

'You saved me!'

He looked at her and laughed with a hard, grinding, joyless laugh that grated on her ears.

You? he echoed, 'you are a baby. It is a lie. There are men hidden

'There is no one. I am strong. I swam and saved you. I was foolish to do it.'

He was still sitting on the sand, his