After a little further conversation the Ranger said he was now going down
to Sunch'ston, and, though somewhat curtly, proposed that he and my
father should walk together.

"By all means," answered my father.

Before they had gone more than a few hundred yards his companion said,
"If you will come with me a little to the left, I can show you the Blue
Pool."

To avoid the precipitous ground over which the stream here fell, they had
diverged to the right, where they had found a smoother descent; returning
now to the stream, which was about to enter on a level stretch for some
distance, they found themselves on the brink of a rocky basin, of no
great size, but very blue, and evidently deep.

"This," said the Ranger, "is where our orders tell us to fling any
foreign devil who comes over from the other side. I have only been Head
Ranger about nine months, and have not yet had to face this horrid duty;
but," and here he smiled, "when I first caught sight of you I thought I
should have to make a beginning. I was very glad when I saw you had a
permit."

"And how many skeletons do you suppose are lying at the bottom of this
pool?"

"I believe not more than seven or eight in all. There were three or four
about eighteen years ago, and about the same number of late years; one
man was flung here only about three months before I was appointed. I