Page:Sidnay McCall--The dragon painter2.djvu/42

 "Chiefly among the mountains of Kiu Shiu," answered the other.

"Kiu Shiu," murmured the artist. "I wandered there in youth and have thought always to return. The rocks and cliffs are of great beauty. I remember well one white, thin waterfall that flung itself out like a laugh, but never reached a thing so dull as earth. Midway it was splintered upon a sunbeam, and changed into rainbows, pearls, and swallows!"

"I know it excellently well," said Uchida. "Indeed I have been zealous to preserve it, chiefly for your sake."

"Preserve it? What can you mean?"

"I have become a government inspector of mines," explained Uchida, in some embarrassment. "I thought you knew. There is a rich coal deposit near that waterfall."

"Ando! Ando!" groaned the old man, "you were once an artist! The foreigners are tainting us all."

"I love art still," said Ando, "but I make