Digs and Finds what he did not Expect. 81
and the last of him that appeared, his boots,
namely, bore testimony enough to his having
reached the water. Willie peered down into the
well, and caught the dull glimmer of it through
the stones; then, a good deal disappointed, fol-
lowed Sandy as he strode away towards the
house, :

“You'll come and have your breakfast with me,
Sandy, won’t you?” he said from behind him,

“No, thank you,” answered Sandy. “I don’t
like any porridge but my mother’s.”

And without looking behind him, he walked right
through the cottage, and away home,

Before Willie had finished his porridge, he had
got over his disappointment, and had even begun
to see that he had never really expected to find a
treasure. Only it would have been fun to hand it
over to his father!

Allthrough morning school, however, his thoughts
would go back to the little vault, so cool and
shadowy, sheltering its ancient well from the light
that lorded it over all the country outside. No |
doubt the streams rejoiced in it, but even for them
it would be too much before the evening came to
cool and console them; while the slow wells in the
marshy ground up on the mountains must feel faint
in an hour of its burning eye. This well had always
been, and always would be, cool and blessed and
sweet, like--like a precious thing you can only