olitude of his uncompanionable existence, revelling
in all the illusions with which his mind was filled! With what sympathy
must he have followed his fellow-laborers in every far-away quarter of
the globe! how mourned over their disappointments, how exulted in their
successes! These little scraps and sentences were the only links that
tied him to the world--they were all that spoke to him of his own
species!

As I went about the hut, the appearance of the greatest poverty and
privation struck me on every side: his clothing, worn to very tatters,
had been mended by skins of beasts and patches of canvas; the tools
with which he worked showed marks of rude repair that proved how "he to
himself sufficed," without aid from others.

I passed the night without sleep, my mind full of the melancholy picture
before me. When day broke, I walked forth into the cool air to refresh
myself, and found, to my astonishment, that the spot had been a Placer
of once great repute,--at least so the remains around attested. The
ruined framework of miners' huts; the great massive furnaces for
smelting; huge cradles, as they are called, for gold-sifting; long
troughs, formed of hollowed trunks, for washing,--lay scattered on all
sides. The number of these showed what importance the spot had once
possessed, and the rotten condition in which they now were proved how
long it had been deserted by all save him who was now to take his rest
where, for many a weary year, he had toiled and labored.

A little cross, decorated with those insignia of torture so frequently
seen in Catholic countries,--the pincers, the scourge, and the crown of
thorns,--showed where Piety had raised an altar beside that of Mammon;
and underneath this I resolved to lay the poor old Gambusino's bones, as
in a Christian grave. I could not divest my mind of the impression that
some power, higher than mere chance, had led me to the spot to perform
those last offices to the poor outcast. Having eaten my breakfast, which
I shared with the dog, I set to work to fashion something that should
serve as a coffin. There was timber in abundance, and the old miner's
tools sufficed for all I needed. My labor, however, was only completed
as night closed in, so that I was obliged to wait for morning to finish
my task.

Wearied by my exertions, I slept soundly, and never awoke till the
bright sunbeams pierced through the chinks of the log-hut, and streamed
in amidst its dusky atmosphere; th