g with the cold. If voices came from the spot where the
"New Marsh" lay unseen and the "Star" shone coldly watchful, they were
for the most part in a tongue which the wayfarers could not understand.
But now and again, some said, there were orders spoken in English, and
then the clank of arms and the tramp of marching feet. Of course these
things were held in question by many of the settlers, but there were
none so hardy as to suffer themselves to be caught upon the "New Marsh"
after nightfall. "The Eye of Gluskap" discerned a supernatural terror in
many a heart that claimed renown for courage.

III.

A hundred years had rolled down the hillsides of the Gaspereau and out
across the Minas tides into the fogs and hollows of the past; and still
the patch of dyked land at the creek's mouth was lit by the unsearchable
lustre of the "Eye of Gluskap."

As for the various distinguished scientists who undertook to unravel the
mystery, either much study had made them blind, or the lights were
unpropitious; for not one of them ever attained to a vision of the
violet gleam. They went away with laughter on their lips.

One spring there came to Grand Pre a young Englishman named Desbra, a
long-limbed, ample-chested youth, with whitish hair and ruddy skin, and
clear, straightforward blue eyes. Desbra was resolved to learn farming
in a new country, so he bought an old farm on the uplands, with an
exhausted orchard, and was for a time surprised at the infertility of
the soil.

Gradually he made himself master of the situation, and of some more
desirable acres, and also, incidentally it seemed, of the affections of
a maiden who lived not far from Grand Pre.

Dugald McIntyre had prospered again when the "Eye of Gluskap" no longer
looked malignantly on his fortunes; and to his descendants he had left
one of the finest properties within view of Blomidon. It was Jessie
McIntyre, his great-grandchild, who had captured the heart of young
Desbra.

One rosy September afternoon, as Jessie stood in the porch where the
wild grapes clustered half ripe, the young Englishman came swinging his
long legs up the slope, sprang over the fence between the apple trees,
and caught the maiden gleefully in his arms.

"Congratulate me, Mistress McIntyre," he cried, as the girl pushed him
away in mock disapproval. "I have just made a bargain,--a famous
bargain,--a thing I never did before in my life."

"Good boy," replied Jessie, standing a-tip-toe to