e the darling little blue eyes
peeping at us! Tomorrow I will look for the iris. But let me eat my
supper now, for I am very hungry," laughed Eyllen, after she had placed
her spring beauties in water.

"When we played by the schoolyard," remarked her youngster cousin dryly,
from between huge mouthfuls of fish and potato, "she was standing on the
high hilltop and looking out to sea. I am certain I saw her wave
something to the sailors, only there were no sailors there," and the
urchin glanced roguishly across the table at Eyllen.

"Ha, you rogue! It was likely the corner of my apron you saw, if indeed
your sight was clear enough to see me at all so far away. I wonder
Father Peter allows you to let go your fancy in such manner."

"Father Peter wishes us to learn by seeing, he tells us. Besides I
wondered how you thought to pluck flowers on that barren hilltop where
the snow is hardly yet melted. Warm and sunny hillsides are the spots
where spring flowers grow."

"There, there," said the boy's mother, "you talk far too much. Eat your
supper and let your elders alone."

The boy shrugged his shoulders and gulped down his tea, having finished
his tea before the others owing to his haste in beginning.

The older woman then gravely inquired if any ships had that day been
seen.

None could be reported; and the youngster was soon in a state of great
sleepiness in bed, while the two women washed the supper dishes and made
the small cabin once more tidy.

That night Eyllen slept little. On her cot in the corner she pondered
long and earnestly. Just what was the nature of the strange phenomenon
with which she was so lately identified she had no idea. She only knew
that the mystical rocks lying embedded in that spring were full of life
which thrilled her tremendously as she made a near approach to them.
As a magnet they had attracted her until finally she perceived what to
her constituted discovery.

[Illustration: _Father Peter_]

How very strange it was! Could it be possible that here were ledges
containing much gold which no one had ever discovered, and which might
all be her own if she could succeed in keeping her secret until her
father should arrive? Of his coming she had not the least doubt, as had
her aunt; she felt positive if he were dead she would in some way know
it. It was springtime and the season for vessels to put into the harbor
for coal and fresh water on their way to the Arctic Ocean; and they
would br