the Indies.

"'No, ye duffer, the Mainland o' Orkney, to be sure,' says the
pilot. 'What other Mainland is there?'"

As I sat on my low stool by the fire, my mother and Jessie being in
the inner room, I took the viking's charm from my pocket and
examined it. Captain Gordon had lighted his pipe, and when my
father's anecdote was finished he said:

"Now, Halcro, my lad, lay aft here and let us have another look at
that magic stone of yours."

And then, as I handed it to him, he proceeded to tell my father of
our discovery of the treasure.

The two men discussed the probable value of what we had found, and
I felt some disappointment in their estimate of what the dominie
might be able to sell the relics for.

"It is very good to find these things," said my father, blowing a
mist of tobacco smoke from amidst his beard. "But what use are
they, whatever? Nae use ava! The dominie might send them to the
museum folk at Edinburgh, and he would get mebbe a pickle pounds
for them--hardly enough for the lads to buy an auld boat wi'. I
wouldna be bothered wi' the things."

"What was it the old woman was saying about this stone, though,
Halcro?" asked the captain.