elf."

So saying, the stout farmer threw his shepherd's plaid over his
shoulder, and went off to his cottage on the Border.

But we must pass from this subject. Space forbids our going deeper into
it, or touching on the terrible consequences of dishonesty coupled with
unlimited liability. Fortunes were wrecked; the rich and the poor, the
innocent and guilty, the confiding and the ignorant as well as the
knowing and wise, fell in the general crash. Many homes were desolated,
and many hearts were broken. May we not believe, also, that many hearts
were purified in passing through the furnace of affliction!

"All is not evil that brings sorrow," may be quite as true as the
proverb, "All is not gold that glitters." Some have been glad to say
with the Psalmist, "It was good for me that I was afflicted." This
truth, however, while it might strengthen some hearts to bear, did not
lighten the load to be borne. The great Bank failure produced
heart-rending and widespread distress. It also called forth deep and
general sympathy.

Out among the mountain gorges of California the gold-hunters knew
nothing of all this for many a day, and our adventurers continued to
dig, and wash, and pile up the superstructure of their fortunes, all
ignorant of the event which had crumbled away the entire foundations.

At last there came a day when these fortunate gold-miners cried, "Hold!
enough!" an unwonted cry--not often uttered by human beings.

Standing beside the camp fire one evening, while some of the party were
cooking and others were arranging things inside the tent Captain Samson
looked around him with an unusually heavy sigh.

"It's a grand country, and I'll be sorry to leave it," he said.

"Troth, and so will meself," responded O'Rook.

It was indeed a grand country. They had lately changed the position of
their tent to an elevated plateau near a huge mass of rock where a
little mountain stream fell conveniently into a small basin. From this
spot they could see the valley where it widened into a plain, and again
narrowed as it entered the gloomy defile of the mountains, whose tops
mingled magnificently with the clouds.

"You see, my lads," continued the captain, "it's of no use goin' on
wastin' our lives here, diggin' away like navvies, when we've got more
gold than we know what to do with. Besides, I'm not sure that we ain't
gettin' into a covetous frame of mind, and if we go on devotin' our
lives to the gettin' o