TWILIGHT LAND

“Tell me,” said the young man to the Talisman, ‘‘ what
shall I do now?”

“Thou fool,” said the Talisman, ‘go sweat and toil,
but do not go down into the vault beneath this house.
There in the vault is a red stone built into the wall. The
red stone turns upon a pivot. Behind the stone is a
hollow space. As thou wouldst save thy life from peril,
go not near it!”

“Hear that now,” says the young man, ‘first, this
Talisman told me not to go, and 1 found silver. Then it
told me not to go, and I found gold; now it tells me not
to go—perhaps I shall find precious stones enough for a
king’s ransom.”

He lit a lantern and went down into the vault beneath
the house. There, as the Talisman had said, was the red
stone built into the wall. He pressed the stone, and it
turned upon its pivot as the Talisman had said it would
turn. Within was a hollow space, as the Talisman said
there would be. In the hollow space there was a casket
of silver. The young man snatched it up, and his hands
trembled for joy. :

Upon the lid of the box were these words in the
father’s handwriting, written in letters as red as blood:
‘‘Fool, fool! Thou hast been a fool once, thou hast been
a fool twice ; be not a fool for a third time. Restore this
casket whence it was taken, and depart.”

‘T will see what is in the box, at any rate,” said the
young man.

He opened it. There was nothing in it but a hollow
glass jar the size of an egg. The young man took the
jar from the box; it was as hot as fire. He cried out
and let it fall. The jar burst upon the floor with a crack

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