“All right! But the stakes? I haven’t a cuartilla—nay, not so much as a claco.”
“Carramba! Nor I either. I spent the last on a drink just before we got into the saddle. It’s bad; but we can bet upon the credit system, and use cartridges for counters.”
“Ah, stay!”
At which he turned his eyes upon the dwarf with a look of peculiar significance, cupidity the prevailing expression.
The latter saw it with a heaviness of heart, and a shuddering throughout his frame. All the time apprehensive about the plunder with which his pockets were crammed, he instinctively anticipated what was coming.
Chapter Fifty Two.
A Danae’s Shower.
“Now, I shouldn’t wonder,” continued the corporal, shifting upon his seat, and facing fully round to the dwarf. “I shouldn’t at all wonder but that this diminutive gentleman has some spare cash upon him; and maybe he’ll oblige us by a little loan, considering the occasion. What say you, Señor Enano?”