hordes of rats. They were large, fat, saucy rats; and they strolled
about in broad daylight as if they owned the place. They sat upright on
sacks of grain; they scampered across the sidewalks; they scuttled from
behind boxes; they rustled and squeaked and fought and played in
countless droves. The ground seemed alive with them. It was a most
astonishing sight.

"And will you look at that dog!" cried Yank disgustedly.

Across an open doorway, blinking in the sun, lay a good-looking fox
terrier. His nose was laid between his paws, and within two yards of
that nose a large brown rat disported itself with a crust of bread.

"My Lord!" cried Johnny, his sporting blood aboil. "Here, pup, sic 'em!
sic 'em!" He indicated the game urgently. The fox terrier rolled up one
eye, wagged his stub tail--but did not even raise his nose.

"No use," observed the dog's owner, who had appeared in the doorway.

"What's the matter with him?" demanded Johnny indignantly; "is he sick?"

"No, he ain't sick," replied the owner sadly; "but he ain't got no use
for rats. I bought him for damn near his weight in gold dust when the
_Panama_ came in last month. He was the best ratter you ever see. I
reckon he must've killed a million rats the first week. But, Lord! he
got sick of rats. I reckon a rat could go right up and pull his whiskers
now, and he'd never mind."

We condoled with the _blase_ dog, and moved on.

"Same old mud," observed Yank.

The place was full of new buildings, some of them quite elaborate
two-story structures of brick; and elevated plank sidewalks had taken
the place of the old makeshifts. Although the Plaza was still the centre
of town, the streets immediately off it had gained considerable dignity
and importance. There were many clothing stores, nearly all kept by
Jews, and a number of new saloons and gambling houses. As we were
picking our way along we ran into an old acquaintance in the person of
the captain of the _Panama_. He recognized us at once, and we drew
up for a chat. After we had exchanged first news Johnny asked him if he
knew of a place where a fair price could be raised on the diamond.

"Why, the jewellery store is your ticket, of course," replied the
captain.

"So there's a jewellery store, too!" cried Johnny.

"And a good one," supplemented the captain. "Come along; I'll take you
to it."

It _was_ a good one, and carried a large stock of rings, chains,
pins, clocks, watches, and speaking trumpets