flung himself, exhausted and shuddering, on the firm turf of the mountain.

He had been compelled to abandon his basket of food when he was crossing the glacier, and had now no means of refreshing himself but by breaking off and eating some of the pieces of ice. This, however, relieved his thirst; an hour's repose recruited his hardy frame, and with the indomitable spirit of greed he resumed his journey to the source of the Golden River.

His way lay straight up a ridge of bare rocks, without a blade of grass to relieve the foot, or a projecting angle to afford an inch of shade from the south sun. It was past noon, and the rays beat intensely upon the steep path, while the whole atmosphere was motionless and penetrated with heat. Intense heat was soon added to the bodily fatigue with which Hans was afflicted; glance after glance he cast on the flask of water which hung at his belt. "Three drops are enough," at last thought he; "I may, at least, cool my lips with it."

He opened the flask and was raising it to his lips when his eye fell on an object on the rock beside him. He thought it moved. It was a small dog, apparently in the last agony of death from thirst. Its tongue was out, its jaws dry, and its limbs extended lifelessly. Its eye moved to the bottle which Hans held in his hand. He raised it, drank, spurned the animal with his foot, and passed on. And he did not know how it was, but he

thought that a strange shadow had suddenly come across the blue sky.

The path became steeper and more rugged every moment; and the high hill air, instead of refreshing him, seemed to throw his blood into a fever. The noise of the hill cataracts sounded like mockery in his ear; they were all distant, and his thirst increased every moment.

Another hour passed, and again he looked down to the flask at his side; it was half empty, but there was much more than three drops in it. He stopped to open it, and again as he did so, something moved in the path before him. It was a fair child stretched nearly lifeless. on the rock, its eyes closed, and its lips parched and burning. Hans eyed it deliberately, drank a part of the water in his flask, and passed on. And a dark gray cloud came over the sun, and long, snake-like shadows crept up the mountain side.

Hans struggled on. The sun was sinking, but its descent seemed to bring no coolness; the leaden weight of the dead air pressed upon his brow and heart, but the goal was near. He saw the cataract of the Golden River springing from the hillside, scarcely five hundred feet above him. He paused for a moment to breathe, and sprang on to complete his task.

At this instant a faint cry fell on his ear. He turned and saw a gray-haired old man extended on the rocks. His eyes were sunk, his features deadly pale and

gathered into an expression of despair. "Water!" he stretched his arms to Hans and cried feebly, “Water! I am dying!"

"I have none," replied Hans; "thou hast had thy share of life." He strode over the prostrate body and darted on. A flash of blue lightning rose out of the east shaped like a sword. It shook thrice over the whole heaven, and left it dark with one heavy, impenetrable shade. The sun was setting; it plunged toward the horizon like a red-hot ball.

The roar of the Golden River rose on Hans's ear. He stood at the brink of the chasm through which it ran. Its waves were filled with the red glory of the sunset; they shook the crests like tongues of fire, and flashes of bloody light gleamed along their foam. Their sound came mightier and mightier on his senses; his brain grew giddy with the prolonged thunder. Shuddering, he drew the flask from his girdle and hurled it into the centre of the torrent. As he did so an icy chill shot through his limbs; he staggered, shrieked, and fell. The waters closed over his cry, and the moaning of the river rose wildly into the night as it gushed over

ONE BLACK STONE.

Poor little Gluck waited very anxiously, alone in the house, for Hans's return. Finding he did not come back, he was terribly frightened, and went and told Schwartz in the prison all that had happened. Then Schwartz was very much pleased, and said that Hans must have certainly been turned into a black stone; he should have all the gold to himself. But Gluck was very sorry and cried all night. When he got up in the morning there was no bread in the house nor any money; so Gluck went and hired himself to another goldsmith, and he worked so hard and so neatly, and so long every day that he soon got money enough together to pay his brother's fine, and he went and gave it all to Schwartz, and Schwartz got out of prison. Then Schwartz was quite pleased, and said that he should have some of the gold of the river; but Gluck only begged that he would go and see what had become of Hans.

1 Find the definition and pronunciation of these words in the vocabulary.

Now when Schwartz heard that Hans had stolen the holy water, he thought to himself that such a proceeding might not be considered altogether correct by the King of the Golden River, and determined to manage matters better. So he took some more of Gluck's money and bought the water. Then Schwartz was sure that it was all quite right. So he got up early in the morning, before the sun rose, took some bread and meat in a basket, put the water in a flask, and set off for the mountain.

Like his brother, he was much surprised at the sight of the glacier, and had great difficulty in crossing it even after leaving his basket behind him. The day was cloudless, but not bright; there was a heavy purple haze hanging over the sky, and the hills looked lowering and gloomy. As Schwartz climbed the steep rocky path, the thirst came upon him, as it had upon his brother, until he lifted the flask to his lips to drink. Then he saw the fair child lying near him on the rocks, and it cried to him and moaned for water.

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Water, indeed!" said Schwartz; "I haven't enough for myself," and passed on.

As he went he thought the sunbeams became dim, and he saw a low bank of black cloud rising out of the west; and when he had climbed for another hour the thirst overcame him again, and he would have drunk. Then he saw the old man lying before him on the path,