e found who could
tell him aught of the strange black ship with the fiery sails or the
lost Emerald of the Sea. Even the people of the Land of the Dawn could
tell him only that the gem had been sold to an unknown prince.

Presently the winter of the year overtook him, and in one of the sudden
storms that heralded the coming of the cold, his little boat went ashore
on a rocky coast, and was soon pounded to pieces by the breakers. Thrown
into the sea during the wreck, the sailor was himself so tossed and
trampled by the waves that he reached the shore far more dead than
alive. Indeed, had it not been for a poor fisherman and his wife, there
would have been no more story to tell. These good people, I am glad to
say, rescued the sailor from the fury of the waters and nursed him back
to health and strength again.

When his strength was quite restored, the sailor told this good couple
the story of how he had gone forth to seek through the wide world the
Emerald of the Sea.

"But my poor lad," said the kind fisherman, "the Emerald of the Sea has
vanished forever from mortal eyes."

"What! You know of the emerald?" cried the sailor.

"Alas, yes," replied the fisherman. "Two years ago the Prince of the
Unknown Isles sent the finest vessel in his fleet to the Land of the
Dawn to buy the jewel. A beautiful ship was she, with a hull as black as
night and sails as red as fire. My brother and I sailed in her crew. The
jewel was taken aboard. Our brave ship set sail for the Unknown Isles.
Hardly were we three days out of the sight of land, when a storm
overtook us and sank the vessel. I chanced to be tossed in the water
near a great fragment of the mast, and clung to this until a passing
vessel found me. Of all aboard, I alone survived. Forty fathoms deep
lies the Emerald of the Sea, never more to be seen but by the dumb
creatures of the waters."

At these tidings the brave sailor's heart became like ice; nevertheless,
he cried:--

"Alas, good friend, I know that what you say is true, yet shall I not
despair; for, come what will, I must save my father!"

Hearing this, the fisherman's wife, a quiet, good body who had had
little to say, whispered that it would be well first to consult the
Witch of the Sands.

"The Witch of the Sands? Who is she and where can I find her?" cried the
sailor.

"The Witch of the Sands dwells a hundred leagues from here," replied the
fisherman's wife. "All the mysteries of the waters are in her k