and down like a
cork, on which, as on a most luxurious cushion, reclined the little old
gentleman, cap and all. There was plenty of room for it now, for the
roof was off.

"Sorry to incommode you," said their visitor ironically. "I'm afraid
your beds are dampish. Perhaps you had better go to your brother's
room; I've left the ceiling on there."

They required no second admonition, but rushed into Gluck's room, wet
through and in an agony of terror.

"You'll find my card on the kitchen table," the old gentleman called
after them. "Remember, the LAST visit."

"Pray Heaven it may!" said Schwartz, shuddering. And the foam globe
disappeared.

Dawn came at last, and the two brothers looked out of Gluck's little
window in the morning. The Treasure Valley was one mass of ruin and
desolation. The inundation had swept away trees, crops, and cattle,
and left in their stead a waste of red sand and gray mud. The two
brothers crept shivering and horror-struck into the kitchen. The water
had gutted the whole first floor; corn, money, almost every movable
thing, had been swept away, and there was left only a small white card
on the kitchen table. On it, in large, breezy, long-legged letters,
were engraved the words:

SOUTH WEST WIND, ESQUIRE

CHAPTER II

OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE THREE BROTHERS AFTER THE VISIT OF SOUTHWEST
WIND, ESQUIRE; AND HOW LITTLE GLUCK HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF
THE GOLDEN RIVER

Southwest Wind, Esquire, was as good as his word. After the momentous
visit above related, he entered the Treasure Valley no more; and, what
was worse, he had so much influence with his relations, the West Winds
in general, and used it so effectually, that they all adopted a similar
line of conduct. So no rain fell in the valley from one year's end to
another. Though everything remained green and flourishing in the
plains below, the inheritance of the three brothers was a desert. What
had once been the richest soil in the kingdom became a shifting heap of
red sand, and the brothers, unable longer to contend with the adverse
skies, abandoned their valueless patrimony in despair, to seek some
means of gaining a livelihood among the cities and people of the
plains. All their money was gone, and they had nothing left but some
curious old-fashioned pieces of gold plate, the last remnants of their
ill-gotten wealth.

"Suppose we turn goldsmiths," said Schwartz to Hans as they entered the
large city.