him down to the waterside for a drink, I shook my head. I had a great
respect for dead queens and kings, I said, but there were too many of
them up above to make me thirsty this morning; my respect did not go to
making me desire to imbibe them in solution!

Afterwards I chanced to ask him what he had been picking up just now along
the margin, and after looking at me suspiciously for a minute he asked--

"You are not a thief?" On being reassured on that point he continued:
"And you will not attempt to rob me of the harvest for which I venture
into this ghost-haunted glen, which you and I alone of living men
have seen?"

"No." Whatever they were, I said, I would respect his earnings.

"Very well, then," said the old man, "look here! I come hither to pick
up those pretty trifles which yonder lords and ladies have done with,"
and plunging his hand into another bag he brought out a perfect fistful
of splendid gems and jewels, some set and some unset. "They wash from
the hands and wrists of those who have lodgings in the crevices of the
falls above," he explained. "After a time the beach here will be thick
with them. Could I get up whence you came down, they might be gathered
by the sackful. Come! there is an eddy still unsearched, and I will
show you how they lie."

It was very fascinating, and I and that old man set to work amongst the
gravels, and, to be brief, in half an hour found enough glittering stuff
to set up a Fifth Avenue jeweller's shop. But to tell the truth, now
that I had breakfasted, and felt manhood in my veins again, I was eager
to be off, and out of the close, death-tainted atmosphere of that valley.