ses, said the _cabo_ to
his comrade--

"By the way, Perico, have you your cards with you?"

"Did you ever know me to be without them?"

"How lucky! I quite forgot mine."

"That's because your mind was bent upon Pepita. I saw you giving your
moustache an extra twist this evening."

"Oh! bother Pepita. Let's have an _albur_ of monte."

"How about light?"

"The moon's clear enough, if it wasn't we could manage with our cigars.
Many's the game I've played that way."

"All right! But the stakes? I haven't a _cuartilla_--nay, not so much
as a _claco_."

"_Carramba_! Nor I either. I spent the last on a drink just before we
got into the saddle. It's bad; but we can bet upon the credit system,
and use cartridges for counters."

"Ah, stay!"

At which he turned his eyes upon the dwarf with a look of peculiar
significance, cupidity the prevailing expression.

The latter saw it with a heaviness of heart, and a shuddering throughout
his frame. All the time apprehensive about the plunder with which his
pockets were crammed, he instinctively anticipated what was coming.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

A DANAE'S SHOWER.

"Now, I shouldn't wonder," continued the corporal, shifting upon his
seat, and facing fully round to the dwarf. "I shouldn't at all wonder
but that this diminutive gentleman has some spare cash upon him; and
maybe he'll oblige us by a little loan, considering the occasion. What
say you, _Senor Enano_?"

"I haven't any," was the ready answer. "And sorry to say it too--that I
am."

"It don't look much like he has," observed Perico, with a glance at the
hunchback's tattered habiliments.

"Looks are not always to be relied on," persisted the corporal. "Who'd
ever suspect a pearl inside an ugly oyster-shell?"

"I haven't, indeed, _Senor Cabo_," once more protested the dwarf with
earnest emphasis. "If I had, you'd be welcome to the loan you speak of.
No man likes a game of _monte_ better than myself. Alas! so far from
being in funds, I'm too like your worships--without a _claco_. I've
been stripped of everything; and, if you knew my story, you'd pity me,
I'm sure."

"What story?" demanded the _cabo_, becoming curious.

"Why, that I've been robbed of all the money I had. It wasn't much, to
be sure, only two _pesetas_ and a _real_, but still that was better than
empty pockets. It happened about half an hour ago. I was on my way to
San Augustin, thinking I'd there get some supper, with a