Several related the circumstances that brought them thither . One had listened to a traveller 's tale of this marvellous stone in his own distant country , and had immediately been seized with such a thirst for beholding it as could only be quenched in its intensest lustre . Another , so long ago as when the famous Captain Smith visited these coasts , had seen it blazing far at sea , and had felt no rest in all the intervening years till now that he took up the search . A third , being encamped on a hunting-expedition full forty miles south of the White Mountains , awoke at midnight and beheld the Great Carbuncle gleaming like a meteor , so that the shadows of the trees fell backward from it . They spoke of the innumerable attempts which had been made to reach the spot , and of the singular fatality which had hitherto withheld success from all adventurers , though it might seem so easy to follow to its source a light that overpowered the moon and almost matched the sun . It was observable that each smiled scornfully at the madness of every other in anticipating better fortune than the past , yet nourished a scarcely-hidden conviction that he would himself be the favored one . As if to allay their too sanguine hopes , they recurred to the Indian traditions that a spirit kept watch about the gem and bewildered those who sought it either by removing it from peak to peak of the higher hills or by calling up a mist from the enchanted lake over which it hung . But these tales were deemed unworthy of credit , all professing to believe that the search had been baffled by want of sagacity or perseverance in the adventurers , or such other causes as might naturally obstruct the passage to any given point among the intricacies of forest , valley and mountain . In a pause of the conversation the wearer of the prodigious spectacles looked round upon the party , making each individual in turn the object of the sneer which invariably dwelt upon his countenance . `` So , fellow-pilgrims , '' said he , `` here we are , seven wise men and one fair damsel , who doubtless is as wise as any graybeard of the company . Here we are , I say , all bound on the same goodly enterprise . Methinks , now , it were not amiss that each of us declare what he proposes to do with the Great Carbuncle , provided he have the good hap to clutch it . -- What says our friend in the bearskin ? How mean you , good sir , to enjoy the prize which you have been seeking the Lord knows how long among the Crystal Hills ? '' `` How enjoy it ! '' exclaimed the aged Seeker , bitterly . `` I hope for no enjoyment from it : that folly has past long ago . I keep up the search for this accursed stone because the vain ambition of my youth has become a fate upon me in old age . The pursuit alone is my strength , the energy of my soul , the warmth of my blood and the pith and marrow of my bones . Were I to turn my back upon it , I should fall down dead on the hither side of the notch which is the gateway of this mountain-region .
Yet not to have my wasted lifetime back again would I give up my hopes XXXXX is deemed little better than a traffic with the evil one .
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