The Heir to Grand-Pré

by John Frederic Herbin

It should be understood, from the base of the cliff near the road boats could be rowed to the mainland, and on one of these Winslow had returned. At low tide it was possible to cross by the ford of large stones placed for that purpose in the channel, which never lost all its water. After the turn of the coming tide it was not safe to attempt to cross against the strong current that would be running in. From half tide to full tide, and for a short time after, the current could be stemmed with a boat. For this reason the passage to and from the island was limited to these periods, and at other times the island was virtually shut off from the mainland.

After the greetings of the men were over, Winslow informed Pierre what he had seen on his first coming to the house when he met Len. He supposed that Marie would not speak of it to her father. The old man said nothing as he continued:

"I have paid him off to-day, as I shall have to leave for New York in a week or so. My uncle desires my return about that time. I am sorry I shall not be able to stay with you as long as I had purposed."

"I would like you to examine a vein of blue mineral I have found lately, in the bluff at the back of the island. I have been clearing a way to it, and the tide drove me in before I had finished it."

"We may look at it to-morrow, if you wish. How did you happen to discover it? I have never seen anything but blue agate veins about the island."

"I had been thinking about a valuable mineral which you told me about, and I remembered what my father used to tell me about a cave which was under the back of the island, and which had a blue vein. The cave, he told me, was known to the Indians in earliest time, and they yet have tradition of the existence of it somewhere. Like all the traditions of those days there is much of the supernatural woven into this story. The cave was made by the Micmacs during many years by cutting away the rock to remove fragments of the vein. The stone supplied them with their most precious and beautiful ornament. In the course of time the stones became valuable to the white people, and they were obtained from the Indians. The story goes that Glooscap, the Micmac god, created the stone for the Indian alone, and put a curse upon it for the white men, whom he did not like, as he saw that they were to become the enemies of his people. Strange to say, the stone has brought a curse to the white people. Yet the stones were bought of the Indians until they were all gone from them, and they had to break them out of the rock again and shape and polish them as the Micmac knew how. The 'Devil Stones,' or the 'Devil's Eye,' as they used to call the mineral, became scarce. A white man found out where the vein was, a secret which the Indians had guarded so carefully. They would not permit anybody not of their own race to remove the stone, because they considered it a gift of their own great spirit, Glooscap. One night the white man put a charge of powder in the rock to remove the vein, and when he returned to get the stone after the discharge the cave fell in with many thousands of tons of the cliff, and buried both the man and the blue vein. From that day all knowledge of the vein was lost. I had never seen the stones, for in my day the Indians had lost them all. My father said the noise of the falling stone could be heard for miles, and shook the island as if an earthquake had occurred at the same time. In the morning the great mass of rock was found piled up and rolled down on the beach. Until now the vein has never been seen, if what I have found is the blue vein of those early times."

"You do not know any other name for the stone, I think you said?" asked Winslow, when Pierre had ended his account of the blue vein.

"I have seen the stone called opal worn by so many of your people of late. From the description of the Devil Stone given by my father, and what I have heard of the supposed unlucky nature of the opal, I think the stones must be one and the same."

"My friend, if you have found an opal vein on your island you are a rich man, for the stone is valuable and in great demand just now. The people have outgrown the superstition as to its unlucky character, and there is a large demand for it this season."

"It will be of little use to me," said Pierre; "but I have not as much to leave Marie as I would wish. I must send her away," the old man continued, thoughtfully, "for Len is becoming too troublesome, and it is affecting my daughter more than it used to."