eyes get to see clearer, and
at length, growing stronger and stronger, acquire the power of reading
in the stones, the gems, and the minerals, the mirroring of secrets
which are hidden above the clouds. You know nothing about mining, Elis.
Let me tell you a little.'

"He sat down on the bench beside Elis, and began to describe the
various processes minutely, placing all the details before him in the
clearest and brightest colours. He talked of the Mines of Falun, in
which he said he had worked since he was a boy; he described the great
main-shaft, with its dark brown sides; he told how incalculably rich
the mine was in gems of the finest water. More and more vivid grew his
words, more and more glowing his face. He went, in his description,
through the different shafts as if they had been the alleys of some
enchanted garden. The jewels came to life, the fossils began to move;
the wondrous Pyrosmalite and the Almandine flashed in the light of the
miner's candles; the Rock-Crystals glittered, and darted their rays.

"Elis listened intently. The old man's strange way of speaking of all
these subterranean marvels as if he were standing in the midst of them,
impressed him deeply. His breast felt stifled; it seemed to him as if
he were already down in these depths with the old man, and would never
more look upon the friendly light of day. And yet it seemed as though
the old man were opening to him a new and unknown world, to which he
really properly belonged, and that he had somehow felt all the magic of
that world, in mystic forebodings, since his boyhood.

"Elis Froebom,' said the old man at length, 'I have laid before you all
the glories of a calling for which Nature really destined you. Think
the subject well over with yourself, and then act as your better
judgment counsels you.'

"He rose quickly from the bench, and strode away without any good-bye
to Elis, without looking at him even. Soon he disappeared from his
sight.

"Meanwhile quietness had set in in the tavern. The strong 'Aehl' and
brandy had got the upper hand. Many of the sailors had gone away with
the girls; others were lying snoring in corners. Elis--who could go no
more to his old home--asked for, and was given, a little room to sleep
in.

"Scarcely had he thrown himself, worn and weary as he was, upon his
bed, when dreams began to wave their pinions over him. He thought he
was sailing in a beautiful vessel on a sea calm and clear as a mirror,
with a