There was some reason, if not much truth, in this conclusion, and he fell to work with might and main. The stream was about a dozen feet in breadth, some eighteen or twenty inches in depth, with a clear current, and a hard, sandy bottom. As he had not his tools with him, he laid his rifle on the bank, and procured a heavy stick with which he raked the sand hither and thither in his search.
A few minutes’ search revealed another piece considerably smaller than the first, but large enough to fill Jim’s heart with joy.
“Talk about spooks!” he exclaimed contemptuously, “dat ’ere lump ob yaller stuff is more interesting dan all de spooks on de lake or in de wood. I tinks I’ll settle here for de present.”
He plied his rude rake with unabated vigor, but nothing more rewarded his labor. He gradually worked his way up the channel, so intent on his labor as not to observe or care for aught that took place around him.
This persevering toil undoubtedly would have continued until darkness, had it not been checked in a most sudden and alarming manner. Jim’s head was bent down, as he grovelled in the dust, when a peculiar, whirring noise caught his ear, and he looked up just in time to see a dark, circling ring descending over him, and, ere he could dodge, the loop of the lasso dropped to his elbows, and was drawn taut with the quickness of lightning.
The huge fellow comprehended his predicament in an instant, and exerted his giant strength to the utmost to free himself.
“Dat ’ere will nebber do! My gracious, dey’ll got all my gold!”
So great was his strength, that, in all probability, he would have broken the rope which enclosed his arms; but, in the midst of his furious struggles, a second lasso, from nearly an opposite point, shot up in the air, and, in spite of the attempt he made to dodge it, came down with unerring certainty, and helped imprison his arms.
“Dat ’ere is a little too lubbin’,” muttered Jim, toiling like a giant in his bonds, but, finding himself unable to accomplish anything in this manner, he resorted to different tactics.