, 1881-08-05

! fully, as one day merged into another
and still there came no trace OF HIM they
sought. One looked at another, heslta-
| ting to propose to return without finding
Andre. and still each feeling IN his
| heart that the quest was a frultlesS one.
At last one spoke out:
1--WE will go but another league.
| Then, if We come not across him we Will
! turn back.
"You are right, we Will do as you say.
| If the lad is not found by that time be
must have met with harm and search Will
! be useless"
7 With this undertaking they pressed on
until their way was stopped by dark
ravine through whose gloomy depths
flowed Il rapid stream.
Its sides were percipitous, and were so
| thickly clothed with yerdure that one
could scarcely see down to its bottom.
One man, more venturesOme than the
rest, caught hold of a slender young Sap
| ling and swung himself forward so as
| to peer over the dizzy verge. A cry OF
dismay arose from his mates, and expos
| tulating voices were raised against his
rash action.
But he gazed and gazed as though fas-
cinated before he swung himself back
again.
MATES" he said, with white face and
an awed voice, "he is down there! caught
on some shrubs that are growing on a
| kind of rocky shelf that projects out over
the water. He Is so white and still that
l think he is already past help; but if it
is only a sWoon the least motion would
| dislodge him, so what can we do?"
Various plans were suggested and dis
| IL IL II
who was almost as 1.-the and flexible of
body as a willow sapling proposed to
swing himself down by the shrubs and
see if life was still in Andre. Ii SO, he
would take measures to keep him from
slipping from his perilous position until
the others could find safer way to de-
scend.
After short interval the cheering cry
came up to the anxious listener.
"He is alive! make haster'
Jean was among the first to reach the
spot. His dark face worked with emo
ton at seeing poor Andre white as a
snoW-drift from eXhaus ton, with a
ghastly cut upon his head which had
colored his tangled curls with its tell
tale crimson. But rs his eyes wandered
from his face to the bush which his
hands had evidently clasped in ccnvul-
! sive grip as he had felt himself falling
over the precipice, he uttered an eX-
clamation of surprise.
''Surely the boy has found what he
was in quest of, he said, pointing to a
yellow gleam among the soil about the
roots of the up. torn bush.
1t was even SO. Andres quest had
been rewarded even at the moment when
life seemed slipping forever away from
his tired frame. 1t was one of those oc-
currences which are ever proving that
truth is stranger than fiction. For, al
though the boy did not own an inch of
the valuable soil which hid from view
the stray vein of virgin gold, his discov-
cry of it attracted the notice of the king,
who was much interested in his romantic
story, and made him valuable present
in golden coins, so that he was able to
claim the rich mans promise.
But, best of all, either the shock of his
fall or the blow upon his head scattered
the mists which had clouded his be-
wildered brain and made him Geraldine S
peer in understanding as we'll as comeli-
ness.
People came from far and near to wit
ness their wedding, and "Andre's Search
for the Ghomes" is one of the folk-tales
handed down from father to son in the
neighborhood where it took place.