could
not, without stepping towards us, observe it.

"I s'pose you fellers want to know why I am here," the ruffian asked,
with a sneer.

I tried to reply, but I could not; my eyes were fastened upon the
glowing orbs of the snake, and it seemed to me that if I spoke, he would
spring towards me.

"I'll tell ye why I am here, and how I got in. I want to revenge the
injury which you have inflicted upon my friend Burley, and I also want
to get a few pounds to pay me for the trouble I have taken in his
behalf; so just heave ahead and shell out the shiners, and then we'll
spin a yarn 'bout other affairs. Interest first, and then satisfaction."

I heard every word that the villain uttered, but if he had drawn a
pistol, and offered to have shot me where I stood, I could not have
moved a hand in my behalf. I struggled to overcome the feeling, but it
was in vain; the glistening, restless eyes of the snake were on me, and
seemed to dance with triumph at their thraldom. The tail was motionless
now, as though awaking the result of the conversation.

I wondered that Fred did not come to my relief; but the longer that I
looked, the less I thought on the subject, and after a while I began to
really enjoy my situation, and to feel surprised that I had considered
the monster so terrible. I felt a strange desire to move forward, and
fondle the snake, and the eyes that at first seemed so hideous now
looked like glittering stones of inestimable value. The black, slimy
skin appeared to be of burnished gold, and I thought that if I could but
touch it, I should be enriched forever.

Even in my stupor I could hear the loud barking of Rover, on the outside
of the building, and it passed through my mind, like an electric shock,
that he was uttering a howl for my death. But, like a flash, the bitter
feeling that I experienced passed away, and I no longer regretted that I
was to die; in fact, I felt rather rejoiced that I was so soon to end my
troubles, and it appeared that I had got but a step to move forward, and
I should be surrounded with all the pleasures of paradise.

"Why, what is the matter with you two lubbers?" I heard the ruffian ask,
the few minutes' silence that had prevailed having startled him; "darn
yer eyes, can't one of ye speak, and say that you'll come down with the
shiners?"

I could hear the loud breathing of Fred, and I thought that he was
trying to answer, but if he did attempt it, the effort was a failure,
and the