“I wish we knew her name!” observed Oliver. “I have often read of acts like these, and of the way in which women have saved the lives of people as, I am sure, she has done ours. They are the same all the world over. We have now a proof of it.”
We were in hopes that after this we should be employed entirely by the kind lady, for lady she was in her look and manner, though she had but few garments and no ornaments.
The next day, however, Prince Frizzlepate made his appearance, and ordered us to go off fishing. She nodded to us as much as to tell us that we had better do so, and accordingly we entered the canoes which we had used before. We had even more than our usual success, and returned with a number of fine fish. On landing we took up the finest to our friend.
“I have thought of a name for her,” I exclaimed, as we walked along. “I remember reading of a Princess Serena of some island in the Pacific, and I doubt if she could have been more amiable than this lady; so I propose we call her Princess Serena.”
Oliver agreed with me. Macco only grinned. Probably he saw nothing like a princess about her—only a kind-hearted girl, who had taken compassion on three unfortunate strangers.
We presented our fish in due form to the princess, and she graciously received them, being indeed highly pleased with the present. With the remainder we returned to our masters. They received the fish as a matter of course, not deigning in any way to thank us. Without asking their leave we slipped back into our canoes, and paddled away towards the hut of the princess. The men called after us, but we pretended not to hear them, and were soon afterwards seated round a fire roasting several fish we had lately caught.
For several days we were employed in the same manner. At length, however, the fish would not bite, or they had left the bay—at all events, we caught but few. Each time we returned we were received with scowling looks by our masters; and it was very evident that though their disposition towards us had been far from amiable when we first encountered them, it was now considerably worse.