he dropped his seriousness and
remarked in a lighter tone: "That he is a poor man is not important now
that you will have riches yourself. Should both possess wealth it would
be too much of good luck, and one fortune is quite sufficient."

Eyllen was now herself once more. Tilting her head backwards she
measured the sun with her eyes.

"It is time we returned now, Father," she said, "for we will have
flowers to gather by handfuls. There is no such thing for us as reaching
home empty handed. It would never do. You see I have been much at this
work, and know how to manage."

"Right you are, child, we will do so."

"Here is your walking stick, Father," holding it out to him.

"Bah! I do not need it! I am now strong."

"But, Father, please use the stick, because you must not be grown strong
too rapidly. It may cause comment, and you must not excite suspicion of
our good fortune, and why we came here today. Leave the stick where you
will tomorrow, but take it with you today," she urged laughingly, and
with eyes twinkling.

"To be sure,--to be sure. I forgot. I will not expose your secret,
child; have no fear."

With that they turned their faces toward home. Flowers nodded gaily on
all sides, and soon replaced the luncheon in their basket.

Mosses, green and velvety, sank beneath the pressure of each foot-fall,
and a brood of eaglets tested their pinions near the crag above the
trail.

Right glad was Fedor Michaelovitz before reaching home that he had
listened to Eyllen and carried his walking stick. Without its support he
would have found much more tedious the long walk from the mountains.

A hot supper, a pipe full of tobacco and a restful evening, however,
restored him, especially as Shismakoff made his appearance all spick and
span after his day's work on the water. The recital of his adventures
with a school of whale in mid-ocean, and the capture of one of them,
occupied a good share of the evening. Eyllen's father asked many
questions relative to the subject. To these were supplemented the
queries of the youngster, whose large dark eyes fairly stood out upon
his cheeks with wonder at the tale. To say that the boy's admiration for
Shismakoff was thereafter greatly augmented would be speaking much too
mildly. From that day, the young man was looked upon by him as a hero
who needed only a following of soldiers to make him a real general.

In this way the evening passed with slight reference to the tramp of