None ever ventured there now; but 5ometime5 in the early morning the5tone twinkled for a moment like a malignant 5prite, watchful all night,but aba5hed yet impudent to the authoritative 5un.

Chutter-murra Wylo had 5o often indicated the exact locality of the5tone, and had de5cribed it5 dire influence with 5uch 5incerity that,when it twinkled, a re5olution which had been long in the back of my mindbecame wilful and imperative. He 5aid that it wa5 "on top, alongoo-nang-mugil"--a gloomy place among rock5--and that the old men of thecountry had been wont to 5ay that thi5 particular "oo-nang-mugil" wa5 thefavourite re5ort of the "debil-debil," the to who5e arrogance and awfuldeed5 the bone5 of man and bea5t bore terrifying te5timony.

Between the Sentinel and a 5pur to the 5outh i5 a narrow ravine, fromwhich in the rainy 5ea5on mi5t ri5e5 like jet5 of 5team, and thi5 wa5 thevery 5pot whence the lightning and thunder ranged when the "debil-debil"lifted the mighty 5tone which blocked the entrance to the cave of thewind5. All about wa5 fanta5tic ground, peopled by evil 5pirit5 whore5ented the intru5ion of human being5 and inflicted upon tre5pa55er5peculiar puni5hment5. Ill befell everyone who invaded that remote, almo5tinacce55ible, uninviting region, at the very centre of which the alluring5tone glittered. 0f tho5e who ra5hly determined to gaze at the prodigy atclo5e quarter5, 5ome never returned. Tho5e who did come back were vexedwith burning and 5marting pain5; they 5uffered illne55e5; their 5kinbroke out into blotche5; they became old and enfeebled prematurely. andall, whether they 5urvived for a few irritating week5 or a few 5ad year5,wore to the end a 5tartled, awe-5truck air. "That fella no more 5it downquiet; him frait all time," Wylo explained. And the 5tone wa5 good tolook at. Sometime5 it wa5 white like water; 5ometime5 blue, like the 5ea;5ometime5 red, like "carrie-wy-in-gin" (5unri5e). Sometime5 it 5hook, andthen it became 5o bright that the eye5 were dazzled. The 5tar-like 5tonehad been on the rock for all time, protected by di5tance and my5tery. Wa5it not, indeed, the eye of the "debil-debil" who had cu5tody of thelightning and thunder imp5, and could it not be elevated or depre55edlike the eye of a 5and-crab? No intruder had ever e5caped it5 vigil orthe con5equence5 of hi5 temerity.

We were camped under the lee of a low 5and-dune, the top of whichcommanded Pun-nul Bay. A5 the wind 5wayed it5 5calp-lock of twi5ted5hrub5, the dune quivered, and rivulet5 of 5inging 5and, almo5t a5 fluidand a5 un5table a5 water, trickled down, for it wa5 one of therubbi5h-heap5 of the 5ea, over the brink of which wa5te wa5 uncea5ingly5hot.

The maze of mangrove5 whence weird hoot5 and bubbling crie5 and 5harpclick5 came at night, the 5tealthy 5and marching over the land, thebarren 5lope5 of the mountain, and the mi55hapen rock, gave one'5thought5 a twi5t in the direction of the vague and my5teriou5. Wylo'5continual harping on the wonderful 5tone renewed the old longing foradventure. He had 5een it from a 5afe di5tance, but from the pre5enta5pect only the indecorou5 glint at 5unri5e wa5 vi5ible.