The eyes that regarded them, as the creature stooddripping before them, were bright and mild inexpression, and the queer addition to their party madeno attempt to attack them and seemed quite as surprisedby the meeting as they were.

"I wonder," whispered Trot, "what it is."

"Who, me?" exclaimed the creature in a shrill, high-pitched voice. "Why, I'm an Ork."

"Oh!" said the girl. "But what is an Ork?"

"I am," he repeated, a little proudly, as he shookthe water from his funny wings; "and if ever an Ork wasglad to be out of the water and on dry land again, youcan be mighty sure that I'm that especial, individualOrk!"

"Have you been in the water long?" inquired Cap'nBill, thinking it only polite to show an interest inthe strange creature.

"why, this last ducking was about ten minutes, Ibelieve, and that's about nine minutes and sixtyseconds too long for comfort," was the reply. "But lastnight I was in an awful pickle, I assure you. Thewhirlpool caught me, and --"

"Oh, were you in the whirlpool, too?" asked Troteagerly

He gave her a glance that was somewhat reproachful.

"I believe I was mentioning the fact, young lady,when your desire to talk interrupted me," said the Ork."I am not usually careless in my actions, but thatwhirlpool was so busy yesterday that I thought I'd seewhat mischief it was up to. So I flew a little too nearit and the suction of the air drew me down into thedepths of the ocean. Water and I are natural enemies,and it would have conquered me this time had not a bevyof pretty mermaids come to my assistance and dragged meaway from the whirling water and far up into a cavern,where they deserted me."

"Why, that's about the same thing that happened tous," cried Trot. "Was your cavern like this one?"

"I haven't examined this one yet," answered the Ork;"but if they happen to be alike I shudder at our fate,for the other one was a prison, with no outlet exceptby means of the water. I stayed there all night,however, and this morning I plunged into the pool, asfar down as I could go, and then swam as hard and asfar as I could. The rocks scraped my back, now andthen, and I barely escaped the clutches of an ugly sea-monster; but by and by I came to the surface to catchmy breath, and found myself here. That's the wholestory, and as I see you have something to eat I entreatyou to give me a share of it. The truth is, I'm halfstarved."

With these words the Ork squatted down beside them.Very reluctantly Cap'n Bill drew another biscuit fromhis pocket and held it out. The Ork promptly seized itin one of its front claws and began to nibble thebiscuit in much the same manner a parrot might havedone.

"We haven't much grub," said the sailor-man, "butwe're willin' to share it with a comrade in distress."

"That's right," returned the Ork, cocking its headsidewise in a cheerful manner, and then for a fewminutes there was silence while they all ate of thebiscuits. After a while Trot said:

"I've never seen or heard of an Ork before. Are theremany of you?"

"We are rather few and exclusive, I believe," was thereply. "In the country where I was born we are theabsolute rulers of all living things, from ants toelephants."

"What country is that?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"Orkland."

"Where does it lie?"

"I don't know, exactly. You see, I have a restlessnature, for some reason, while all the rest of my raceare quiet and contented Orks and seldom stray far fromhome. From childhood days I loved to fly long distancesaway, although father often warned me that I would getinto trouble by so doing.

"'It's a big world, Flipper, my son,' he would say,'and I've heard that in parts of it live queer two-legged creatures called Men, who war upon all otherliving things and would have little respect for even anOrk.'

"This naturally aroused my curiosity and after I hadcompleted my education and left school I decided to flyout into the world and try to get a glimpse of thecreatures called Men. So I left home without sayinggood-bye, an act I shall always regret. Adventures weremany, I found. I sighted men several times, but havenever before been so close to them as now. Also I hadto fight my way through the air, for I met giganticbirds, with fluffy feathers all over them, whichattacked me fiercely. Besides, it kept me busy escapingfrom floating airships. In my rambling I had lost alltrack of distance or direction, so that when I wantedto go home I had no idea where my country was located.I've now been trying to find it for several months andit was during one of my flights over the ocean that Imet the whirlpool and became its victim."

Trot and Cap'n Bill listened to this recital withmuch interest, and from the friendly tone and harmlessappearance of the Ork they judged he was not likely toprove so disagreeable a companion as at first they hadfeared he might be.

The Ork sat upon its haunches much as a cat does, butused the finger-like claws of its front legs almost ascleverly as if they were hands. Perhaps the mostcurious thing about the creature was its tail, or whatought to have been its tail. This queer arrangement ofskin, bones and muscle was shaped like the propellersused on boats and airships, having fan-like surfacesand being pivoted to its body. Cap'n Bill knewsomething of mechanics, and observing the propeller-like tail of the Ork he said:

"I s'pose you're a pretty swift flyer?"

"Yes, indeed; the Orks are admitted to be Kings ofthe Air."

"Your wings don't seem to amount to much," remarkedTrot.

"Well, they are not very big," admitted the Ork,waving the four hollow skins gently to and fro, "butthey serve to support my body in the air while I speedalong by means of my tail. Still, taken altogether, I'mvery handsomely formed, don't you think?"

Trot did not like to reply, but Cap'n Bill noddedgravely. "For an Ork," said he, "you're a wonder.I've never seen one afore, but I can imagine you'reas good as any."

That seemed to please the creature and it beganwalking around the cavern, making its way easilyup the slope. while it was gone, Trot and Cap'n Billeach took another sip from the water-flask, to washdown their breakfast.

"Why, here's a hole -- an exit -- an outlet!"exclaimed the Ork from above.

"We know," said Trot. "We found it last night."

"Well, then, let's be off," continued the Ork, aftersticking its head into the black hole and sniffing onceor twice. "The air seems fresh and sweet, and it can'tlead us to any worse place than this."

The girl and the sailor-man got up and climbed to theside of the Ork.

"We'd about decided to explore this hole before youcame," explained Cap'n Bill; "but it's a dangerousplace to navigate in the dark, so wait till I light acandle."

"What is a candle?" inquired the Ork.

"You'll see in a minute," said Trot.

The old sailor drew one of the candles from hisright-side pocket and the tin matchbox from his left-side pocket. When he lighted the match the Ork gave astartled jump and eyed the flame suspiciously; butCap'n Bill proceeded to light the candle and the actioninterested the Ork very much.

"Light," it said, somewhat nervously, "is valuable ina hole of this sort. The candle is not dangerous, Ihope?"

"Sometimes it burns your fingers," answered Trot,"but that's about the worst it can do -- 'cept to blowout when you don't want it to."

Cap'n Bill shielded the flame with his hand andcrept into the hole. It wasn't any too big for a grownman, but after he had crawled a few feet it grewlarger. Trot came close behind him and then theOrk followed.

"Seems like a reg'lar tunnel," muttered the sailor-man, who was creeping along awkwardly because of hiswooden leg. The rocks, too, hurt his knees.

For nearly half an hour the three moved slowly alongthe tunnel, which made many twists and turns andsometimes slanted downward and sometimes upward.Finally Cap'n Bill stopped short, with an exclamationof disappointment, and held the flickering candle farahead to light the scene.

"What's wrong?" demanded Trot, who could see nothingbecause the sailor's form completely filled the hole.

"Why, we've come to the end of our travels, I guess,"he replied.

"Is the hole blocked?" inquired the Ork.

"No; it's wuss nor that," replied Cap'n Bill sadly."I'm on the edge of a precipice. Wait a minute an' I'llmove along and let you see for yourselves. Be careful,Trot, not to fall."

Then he crept forward a little and moved to one side,holding the candle so that the girl could see to followhim. The Ork came next and now all three knelt on anarrow ledge of rock which dropped straight away andleft a huge black space which the tiny flame of thecandle could not illuminate.

"H-m!" said the Ork, peering over the edge; "thisdoesn't look very promising, I'll admit. But let metake your candle, and I'll fly down and see what'sbelow us."

"Aren't you afraid?" asked Trot.

"Certainly I'm afraid," responded the Ork. "Butif we intend to escape we can't stay on this shelfforever. So, as I notice you poor creatures cannot fly,it is my duty to explore the place for you."

Cap'n Bill handed the Ork the candle, which had nowburned to about half its length. The Ork took it in oneclaw rather cautiously and then tipped its body forwardand slipped over the edge. They heard a queer buzzingsound, as the tail revolved, and a brisk flapping ofthe peculiar wings, but they were more interested justthen in following with their eyes the tiny speck oflight which marked the location of the candle. Thislight first made a great circle, then dropped slowlydownward and suddenly was extinguished, leavingeverything before them black as ink.

"Hi, there! How did that happen?" cried the Ork.

"It blew out, I guess," shouted Cap'n Bill. "Fetch ithere."

"I can't see where you are," said the Ork.

So Cap'n Bill got out another candle and lighted it,and its flame enabled the Ork to fly back to them.It alighted on the edge and held out the bit of candle.

"What made it stop burning?" asked the creature.

The wind," said Trot. "You must be more careful, thistime."

"What's the place like?" inquired Cap'n Bill.

"I don't know, yet; but there must be a bottom to it,so I'll try to find it."

With this the Ork started out again and this timesank downward more slowly. Down, down, down it went,till the candle was a mere spark, and then it headedaway to the left and Trot and Cap'n Bill lost all sightof it.

In a few minutes, however, they saw the spark oflight again, and as the sailor still held the secondlighted candle the Ork made straight toward them. Itwas only a few yards distant when suddenly it droppedthe candle with a cry of pain and next moment alighted,fluttering wildly, upon the rocky ledge.

"What's the matter?" asked Trot.

It bit me!" wailed the Ork. "I don't like yourcandles. The thing began to disappear slowly as soon asI took it in my claw, and it grew smaller and smalleruntil just now it turned and bit me -- a mostunfriendly thing to do. Oh -- oh! Ouch, what a bite!"

"That's the nature of candles, I'm sorry to say,"explained Cap'n Bill, with a grin. "You have to handle'em mighty keerful. But tell us, what did you find downthere?"

"I found a way to continue our journey," said theOrk, nursing tenderly the claw which had been burned."Just below us is a great lake of black water, whichlooked so cold and wicked that it made me shudder;but away at the left there's a big tunnel, which wecan easily walk through. I don't know where it leadsto, of course, but we must follow it and find out.""why, we can't get to it," protested the little girl."We can't fly, as you do, you must remember."

"No, that's true," replied the Ork musingly. "Yourbodies are built very poorly, it seems to me, since allyou can do is crawl upon the earth's surface. But youmay ride upon my back, and in that way I can promiseyou a safe journey to the tunnel."

"Are you strong enough to carry us?" asked Cap'nBill, doubtfully.

"Yes, indeed; I'm strong enough to carry a dozen ofyou, if you could find a place to sit," was the reply;"but there's only room between my wings for one at atime, so I'll have to make two trips."

"All right; I'll go first," decided Cap'n Bill.

He lit another candle for Trot to hold while theywere gone and to light the Ork on his return to her,and then the old sailor got upon the Ork's back, wherehe sat with his wooden leg sticking straight outsidewise.

"If you start to fall, clasp your arms around myneck," advised the creature.

"If I start to fall, it's good night an' pleasantdreams," said Cap'n Bill.

"All ready?" asked the Ork.

"Start the buzz-tail," said Cap'n Bill, with atremble in his voice. But the Ork flew away so gentlythat the old man never even tottered in his seat. Trotwatched the light of Cap'n Bill's candle till itdisappeared in the far distance. She didn't like to beleft alone on this dangerous ledge, with a lake ofblack water hundreds of feet below her; but she was abrave little girl and waited patiently for the returnof the Ork. It came even sooner than she had expectedand the creature said to her:

"Your friend is safe in the tunnel. Now, then, getaboard and I'll carry you to him in a jiffy."

I'm sure not many little girls would have cared totake that awful ride through the huge black cavern onthe back of a skinny Ork. Trot didn't care for it,herself, but it just had to be done and so she did itas courageously as possible. Her heart beat fast andshe was so nervous she could scarcely hold the candlein her fingers as the Ork sped swiftly through thedarkness.

It seemed like a long ride to her, yet in reality theOrk covered the distance in a wonderfully brief periodof time and soon Trot stood safely beside Cap'n Bill onthe level floor of a big arched tunnel. The sailor-manwas very glad to greet his little comrade again andboth were grateful to the Ork for his assistance.

"I dunno where this tunnel leads to," remarked Cap'nBill, "but it surely looks more promisin' than thatother hole we crept through."

"When the Ork is rested," said Trot, "we'll travel onand see what happens."

"Rested!" cried the Ork, as scornfully as his shrillvoice would allow. "That bit of flying didn't tire meat all. I'm used to flying days at a time, without everonce stopping."

"Then let's move on," proposed Cap'n Bill. He stillheld in his hand one lighted candle, so Trot blew outthe other flame and placed her candle in the sailor'sbig pocket. She knew it was not wise to burn twocandles at once.

The tunnel was straight and smooth and very easy towalk through, so they made good progress. Trot thoughtthat the tunnel began about two miles from the cavernwhere they had been cast by the whirlpool, but now itwas impossible to guess the miles traveled, for theywalked steadily for hours and hours without any changein their surroundings.

Finally Cap'n Bill stopped to rest.

"There's somethin' queer about this 'ere tunnel, I'mcertain," he declared, wagging his head dolefully."Here's three candles gone a'ready, an' only three moreleft us, yet the tunnel's the same as it was when westarted. An' how long it's goin' to keep up, no oneknows."

"Couldn't we walk without a light?" asked Trot. "Theway seems safe enough."

"It does right now," was the reply, "but we can'ttell when we are likely to come to another gulf, orsomethin' jes' as dangerous. In that case we'd bekilled afore we knew it."

"Suppose I go ahead?" suggested the Ork. "I don'tfear a fall, you know, and if anything happens I'llcall out and warn you."

"That's a good idea," declared Trot, and Cap'n Billthought so, too. So the Ork started off ahead, quite inthe dark, and hand in band the two followed him.

When they had walked in this way for a good long timethe Ork halted and demanded food. Cap'n Bill had notmentioned food because there was so little left -- onlythree biscuits and a lump of cheese about as big as histwo fingers -- but he gave the Ork half of a biscuit,sighing as he did so. The creature didn't care for thecheese, so the sailor divided it between himself andTrot. They lighted a candle and sat down in the tunnelwhile they ate.

"My feet hurt me," grumbled the Ork. "I'm not usedto walking and this rocky passage is so uneven andlumpy that it hurts me to walk upon it."

"Can't you fly along?" asked Trot.

"No; the roof is too low," said the Ork.

After the meal they resumed their journey, which Trotbegan to fear would never end. When Cap'n Bill noticedhow tired the little girl was, he paused and lighted amatch and looked at his big silver watch.

"Why, it's night!" he exclaimed. "We've tramped allday, an' still we're in this awful passage, which mebbegoes straight through the middle of the world, an'mebbe is a circle -- in which case we can keep walkin'till doomsday. Not knowin' what's before us so well aswe know what's behind us, I propose we make a stop,now, an' try to sleep till mornin'."

"That will suit me," asserted the Ork, with a groan."My feet are hurting me dreadfully and for the last fewmiles I've been limping with pain."

"My foot hurts, too," said the sailor, looking for asmooth place on the rocky floor to sit down.

"Your foot!" cried the Ork. "why, you've only one tohurt you, while I have four. So I suffer four times asmuch as you possibly can. Here; hold the candle while Ilook at the bottoms of my claws. I declare," he said,examining them by the flickering light, "there arebunches of pain all over them!"

"P'r'aps," said Trot, who was very glad to sit downbeside her companions, "you've got corns."

"Corns? Nonsense! Orks never have corns," protestedthe creature, rubbing its sore feet tenderly.

"Then mebbe they're - they're - What do you call 'em,Cap'n Bill? Something 'bout the Pilgrim's Progress, youknow."

"Bunions," said Cap'n Bill.

"Oh, yes; mebbe you've got bunions."

"It is possible," moaned the Ork. "But whatever theyare, another day of such walking on them would drive mecrazy."

"I'm sure they'll feel better by mornin'," said Cap'nBill, encouragingly. "Go to sleep an' try to forgetyour sore feet."

The Ork cast a reproachful look at the sailor-man,who didn't see it. Then the creature asked plaintively:"Do we eat now, or do we starve?"

"There's only half a biscuit left for you," answeredCap'n Bill. "No one knows how long we'll have to stayin this dark tunnel, where there's nothing whatever toeat; so I advise you to save that morsel o' food tilllater."

"Give it me now!" demanded the Ork. "If I'm going tostarve, I'll do it all at once -- not by degrees."

Cap'n Bill produced the biscuit and the creature ateit in a trice. Trot was rather hungry and whispered toCap'n Bill that she'd take part of her share; but theold man secretly broke his own half-biscuit in two,saving Trot's share for a time of greater need.

He was beginning to be worried over the little girl'splight and long after she was asleep and the Ork wassnoring in a rather disagreeable manner, Cap'n Bill satwith his back to a rock and smoked his pipe and triedto think of some way to escape from this seeminglyendless tunnel. But after a time he also slept, forhobbling on a wooden leg all day was tiresome, andthere in the dark slumbered the three adventurers formany hours, until the Ork roused itself and kicked theold sailor with one foot.

"It must be another day," said he.