girl's fingers.
Her high cap of coarse undyed French linen fell away from her black
locks as she stooped to grope passionately in the ooze which had
swallowed up her treasure. In a moment the comely picture of her dark
blue sleeves, gray petticoat, and trim red stockings was sadly
disfigured by the mud. The girl's despair was piercing; but the
impatient guards, who knew not what she had lost, were on the point of
taking her forcibly to the boat, when Colonel Winslow, who stood near
by, checked them peremptorily.

Seeing the priest gird up his cassock and step forward to help the
sobbing girl in her search; Colonel Winslow questioned of the
interpreter as to what the damsel had lost to cause such lament.

"A toy, a mere gaud, your Excellency," said the shrewd interpreter,
giving Winslow a title which he would not have employed had there been
any one present of higher rank than the New England Colonel. "A mere
gaud of a purple stone; but they do say it would be worth a thousand
pounds if one had it in London. These poor folk call it the 'Witch
Stone,' because, they say, it brings bad luck to the man that has it.
The more learned sort smile at such a superstition, and call the stone
'The Star' by reason of its surpassing beauty,--Pierrot Desbarat's star,
they call it now, since that youth picked it up last spring on Blomidon,
where it had once before been found and strangely lost again. They say
the youth gave the jewel to his betrothed yonder to keep for him, if so
she might ward off the evil fortune."

The New England colonel's high-arched eyebrows went up into his forehead
at this tale. His round and ruddy face softened with sympathy for the
poor girl's despair. Winslow was convinced of the wisdom and justice of
the orders which he was carrying out so firmly; but he wished the task
of removing the Acadians had been confided to any other hands than his.
"This affair is more grievous to me," he wrote to a friend about this
time, "than any service I was ever employed in."

Presently, remarking that the girl's efforts were fruitless, and the
tide ebbing rapidly, Winslow ordered several of his soldiers down into
the mud to assist her search. Veiling their reluctance the men obeyed,
and the ooze was explored to the very water's edge. At length, realizing
that the departure could not safely be longer delayed, Winslow ordered
the quest to cease.

As the girl turned back to the boat the colonel caught sight of the
despair