“Nonsense!” laughed Alice, but she looked questioningly at Paul.

“Lots of people drink the water,” he said.  “Allow me,” and he lowered a small bucket attached to a rope made fast to the roof of the well.

He drew it up, brimming over, and with a low bow handed some of the water to Alice, pouring it into a small collapsible cup he happened to have with him.

“Drink!  And may you never grow old!” he said, and there was more of meaning in his eyes than in his words.

“We’ll all sample it!” cried Russ, and as Ruth was induced, just for the fun of the thing, to try some, they heard the murmur of voices behind them.

“Save some for us!” was the call, and Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon came up.

“We’ll all be young together,” said Alice.  Though she and her sister were not very chummy with the two former vaudeville actresses, they were not exactly unfriendly.  And who could be unfriendly in that beautiful spot, and on the reputed site of the Fountain of Youth?

“The more you drink the younger you get!” bantered Paul, as Miss Dixon asked him for a second cup.

“Gracious, then I’ll turn into a baby,” exclaimed Miss Pennington.  “I’ve been here once before this morning, and I took several glasses.”

“Back to juvenile roles for yours!” cried Russ.  “Mr. Pertell will have to look for another leading lady.”

“I haven’t noticed any effect yet,” she said, as she took out a vanity box, and surreptitiously used her chamois, leaving a more brilliant tint on her face.

“It takes time,” went on Russ, half-seriously.  “You will awaken in the morning, crying for a rattle.”

Thus they made merry near the well, with its queer square stones built into pillars to hold up the roof.

“Poor Ponce de Leon,” sighed Ruth.  “How disappointed he must have been when he found out that his life was slipping away in spite of the Fountain of Youth.  I wonder if he really believed he had found it?”

“He couldn’t have—­when he came to die,” remarked Russ, practically.

“But it is a pretty story,” Ruth said, softly.  “Poor Ponce de Leon!”

“The Indians told him this was the fountain,” said Paul, who had been reading history.  “Near this fountain was found a large coquina cross.  The cross was located by the discovery of a silver casque, which contained documents telling of the matter, and one seems to fix the date of the first visit of Ponce de Leon to Florida.  That was in 1513, according to the documents found in the casque.

“Am I boring you?” he asked quickly, for he thought the two former vaudeville actresses looked as though they wanted to talk of something else besides dry historical facts.

“No, indeed!” cried Alice.  “I just love to hear about this.”

“Do go on,” urged Ruth, and even Miss Pennington condescended to say: 

“It sounds interesting.”