114 GLOOSCAP AND OTHER STORIES

ing along the shore, when suddenly he came upon three beautiful sea maidens. They were sitting upon a block of ice braiding their hair. Pulowech had never seen them before, and he thought, “How I wish that I might have one of those beautiful maidens for my wife!”

He stole near, thinking that he might seize one before they saw him. But just as he reached the block of ice where they were, they saw him, and with a scream sprang into the water and were out of sight.

“ I will wait here,” Pulowech said, “and they may come back again.”

He gathered many spruce boughs and made a bank of them near the block of ice. Day after day he hid there, waiting for the sea maidens to come back.

At last there came a day when the sea maidens returned to the very spot where they had been before. Pulowech, watching through the spruce boughs, saw them come up out of the water, and look cautiously around. Then they climbed upon the block of ice and untied their hair-strings and began unbraiding their hair.

Pulowech stepped out from behind the bank of spruce boughs, and came nearer and nearer to the sea maidens. They did not hear him coming. He was just reaching out his hand to seize one, when suddenly they all screamed and sprang into the sea again. But Pulowech