that finished Narvasque. He was a-betting with
Shem Avery, and Shem, who felt he was in for a run of luck, layed it
on a bit heavy like; and the end o' it was, he won all Narvasque's two
months' diggin's, all to a twenty-eight 'ouncer' that he would n't bet
for anybody,--no, nor let any one see where he hid it. Shem had his
heart on that lump, and said, 'I 'll go fifty ounces against your lump,
Narvasque;' and the other did n't take it at first, but up he gets and
leaves the hut. 'Honor bright,' said he, 'no man follows me.' They all
gave their words, and he went out a short distance into the wood, where
he had a sheep's heart hanging near a rock, in the centre of which he
had concealed his treasure. He was n't three yards from the spot, when
a great spotted snake darts through the long grass, and, making a spring
at the piece of meat, bolts it and away! Narvasque followed into the
deep jungle, unarmed as he was; there a deadly combat must have ensued,
for when his cries aroused us, as we sat within the hut, we found him
bitten on every part of the body, and so near death that he had only
time to tell how it happened, when he expired."

"And the snake?" cried several, in a breath.

"He got clear away; we gave chase for four days after him in vain. But a
fellow with as much spare cash about him must have come to bad ere now."

"The Injians has ripped him open afore this, depend on't," said
another. "There 's scarce a snake of any size hasn't an emerald or
splice of gold in him."

"There's more gold lies hidden by fellows that have never lived, or come
back to claim it, than ye know of," said the old trapper; "and that's
the kind of 'Placer' _I'd_ like to chance upon, already washed and
smelted."

"They talk of martyrs!" said a tall, sallow Spaniard, who had been
educated for a priest: "let me tell you that those Injians, ay, even the
negroes, have endured as much torture for their gold as ever did
zealot for his faith. There was a fellow in my father's time up at
Guajuaqualla, who, it was said, had concealed immense treasures, not
only of gold, but gems, emeralds, diamonds, and rubies: well, he not
only refused all offers from the Gobernador of the mines to share the
booty, but he suffered his toes to be taken off by the smelting nippers,
rather than make a confession. Then they tried him with what the miners
call a 'nest-egg,' that is, a piece of gold heated almost red, and
inserted into the spine of the back; but