"There is neither new gown nor lover in it, and you will never guess, so I am going directly to tell you," smiled Eyllen. "Do you see this piece of pretty rock, Father?"
"There you go again with calling rocks pretty. But stay! What is this, child? Where did you get it? Is there more? Do you know what it is that sparkles?" questioned the man rapidly, bending forward toward his daughter.
"Yes, Father, it is gold, and there is much more of it where that comes from. I have found the ledges."
"You, child? You? How did it happen? Tell me."
Then the girl proceeded to relate her experience with which we are already familiar; how she first came to drink at the spring, and her peculiar sensations which were at first affrighting; how she persisted in returning to the place until by accident she discovered the quartz pieces in the water; her foolish fears of a water witch, including her dream, and her decision to wear as a talisman a bit of the gold besprinkled rock; of her hesitating in telling her father her secret for fear he would divulge it to his companion, young Shismakoff, at the same time entreating her listener to keep sacred her confidence for fear that others would molest the treasure-laden ledges; and lastly, inquiring if he would, as her partner, accept one half of the property as a present.
"May the blessed saints preserve us! my child, what is this you are saying? Where are the ledges? Where are they?" and the man sprang to his feet in excited interest. At that, the buttermilk flask rolled away down the hillside where it landed against the stones below, breaking into hundreds of flying fragments. The lunch basket, too, toppled over, with the contents, luckily being only sandwiches of bread and butter; and Eyllen, as excited now as her father, ran lightly down the path to the spring from which she had filled her drinking cup a few minutes earlier.
"Here are the ledges, Father, here they are! Come and see for yourself!" pointing to the rocks she had already so thoroughly investigated.
The man quickly followed. He was weak and weary no longer. His walking stick lay neglected on the ground beside the luncheon, and he had forgotten that weariness or hunger were possible. Eagerly he examined the formation, the quartz, the wall rocks and surroundings, ejaculating and questioning Eyllen in the meantime.
She replied that she was positive no one knew of her interest in the hillside, as she had carefully kept concealed her destination when walking so frequently here. All prospecting had been done by herself, and now she would gladly share the work, worry, and profits with him, she laughingly avowed.
Only one condition would she rigidly impose, and that was that Shismakoff should be kept in ignorance of their good fortune as long as was possible.