Well!"-- here he stretched his arms out with a long sigh--"And the silly girl is 'too busy' to come! As if I could not see through THAT little game! She'd give her eyes to come!--fine eyes they are, too! She just thinks she'll pay me out for being rough with her the other day--she's got an idea that she'll vex me, and make me want to see her.

She's right,--I AM vexed!--and I DO want to see her!" It was mid-morning, and the sun blazed down upon the hill-side with the scorching breath of a volcano.

He turned into his hut,--it was a dark, cool little dwelling, comfortable enough for a single inhabitant.

There was a camp-bed in one corner--and there were a couple of wicker chairs made for easy transposition into full-length couches if so required, A good sized deal table occupied the centre of the living-room,--and on the table was a clear crystal bowl full of what appeared at a first glance to be plain water, but which on closer observation showed a totally different quality.

Unlike water it was never still,--some interior bubbling perpetually moved it to sway and sparkle, throwing out tiny flashes as though the smallest diamond cuttings were striving to escape from it--while it exhaled around itself an atmosphere of extreme coldness and freshness like that of ice.