"May the blessed saints preserve us! my child, what is this you are saying? Where are the ledges? Where are they?" and the man sprang to his feet in excited interest. At that, the buttermilk flask rolled away down the hillside where it landed against the stones below, breaking into hundreds of flying fragments. The lunch basket, too, toppled over, with the contents, luckily being only sandwiches of bread and butter; and Eyllen, as excited now as her father, ran lightly down the path to the spring from which she had filled her drinking cup a few minutes earlier. "Here are the ledges, Father, here they are! Come and see for yourself!" pointing to the rocks she had already so thoroughly investigated. The man quickly followed. He was weak and weary no longer. His walking stick lay neglected on the ground beside the luncheon, and he had forgotten that weariness or hunger were possible. Eagerly he examined the formation, the quartz, the wall rocks and surroundings, ejaculating and questioning Eyllen in the meantime. She replied that she was positive no one knew of her interest in the hillside, as she had carefully kept concealed her destination when walking so frequently here. All prospecting had been done by herself, and now she would gladly share the work, worry, and profits with him, she laughingly avowed. Only one condition would she rigidly impose, and that was that Shismakoff should be kept in ignorance of their good fortune as long as was possible. At this her father arose from his stooping position among the rocks and looked keenly at Eyllen. "You mistake if you think that Shismakoff is unable to keep a secret," said he earnestly. Then seeing Eyllen's blushing and downcast countenance, the facts began to take shape in his brain. "Oh, ho! I see it! Is that your meaning? My wit is not the keenest, else I would sooner have caught it. Well, well, child, perhaps you are right, although I shall sorely want his counsel and advice in this matter. I promise to withhold the knowledge of these ledges from him until I have your permission to tell it; so rest easy, and fret not. He is a good fellow, and I fancy will presently remove the necessity for further secrecy by making known his intentions to your father. With your acceptance of his hand there need be only confidence between us." As he finished speaking, a wave of sentiment passed over him, and his eyes filled with tears. Approaching his daughter, he took her hand in his own, drew her closer to him and kissed her. "You are a good child, Eyllen, and very like your mother. It is a pity she cannot be with us! You are worthy of a good husband, and he will be one. You will have great happiness." Resuming his examination of the rocks 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."