uraged, she drained the cup, laughing aloud as she did
so.

"Ha, ha! old water witch of the mountains! I am neither afraid of you
nor your twin brother, the wind wizard. I am light, love and happiness,
and you cannot harm me."

Saying this she began braiding her long hair with which the breezes had
played so mischievously during her rambles, and growing more serious she
reflected on the phenomenon.

"It is in the rocks or ground underneath the spring, and not in the
water. Surely I have proved that. Before today have I visited this
place, and it is always the same. I will tell no one, else the priest
may say I am bewitched, and make me do severe penance. Only once more
will I approach the spring today and then I must surely go home or I
will lose my supper."

She was the lodestone, being irresistably drawn to the magnet, which was
apparently the rocks at the fountain.

As before she approached, but with less trepidation. She began to lose
all fear. Some inner monitor urged fearlessness, and she felt full of
courage.

As she stooped low above the spring, surrounded on all sides as it was
by ledges of rocks and boulders, she determined to hold herself,
notwithstanding the decidedly disagreeable sensations it gave her,
firmly in position long enough to get a view of the bottom of the
spring. It was not a deep pool, forming a mirror for all above it, but
rather a bed of loose rocks, evidently from crumbled ledges. These
latter, crossed the place from east to west, but to the careless glance
of Eyllen, seemed simply a confused jumble of rocks and nothing more.

Several of these pieces were light and clear. They looked attractive in
contrast to darker ones, and being washed clean by the water, and made
brighter by the sunshine, tempted the young girl to reach for them,
which she did.

"See! What was that?"

The rock was filled with shining yellow specks which shone dazzlingly in
the sunbeams.

The girl gazed in astonishment upon them.

"Holy Mother Mary!" she ejaculated. "How beautiful! I believe its gold!"

With that she made a dash for other bits of the same rock, and though
her head ached fearfully, and it seemed to her that she stood upon an
electric battery, which was anything but pleasant, she secured as much
as she could carry, and fled as before from the spot.

[Illustration: "Holy Mother Mary!" she ejaculated. "How beautiful! I
believe its gold!"]

Upon examination it proved to be the same as the f