But the saddest part of the story connected with the miner's death remains to be told. After he was dead, no one would go near him, or assist to give the body a decent burial. Fred offered a handsome sum to any one who would do so, but all declined, until an American, whose heart was not contaminated by bad influence, gathered pieces of boards and made a coffin, and then assisted us to dig a grave on the hill-side, where we deposited the remains of the unfortunate man, to take his last rest.
Fred and I sat in the dark, conversing in a low tone, and starting at every sound, expecting to hear the slimy crawling of another snake; but in this we were disappointed, and happily so. As soon as daylight appeared, we started towards the hut of the inspector, situated at no great distance from our so-called store. Mr. Brown was asleep when we called, and it was with some difficulty that we aroused him.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed, at length, raising his head from his hard couch, and rubbing his eyes; "what's the matter? The store hasn't burned down, has it, and destroyed all the stock in trade?"
"Worse than that," returned Fred.
"Then a great misfortune must have occurred. What is it? If I can assist in any thing, I'll get up; if not, I'm going to sleep an hour or two longer. The miners had a meeting last evening, and what with bad rum and long resolutions, they kept me pretty busy until an hour since."
"Then make up your mind that you'll have no more sleep until our business is finished. Come, get up and take breakfast with us," Fred rejoined.
"That invitation is sufficient to make a hungry man forget sleep for a week. I'm with you."
The inspector gave himself a shake, and was dressed and ready to accompany us. He left word with one of his men, who was on duty, where he could be found in case he was wanted, and then declared that he was ready.
As we walked along, we told him of the visit that we had received the night before, and he listened without any expression of astonishment. When we reached the store things remained as we had left them, with blood scattered over the floor, and on the overturned boxes and barrels, while nearly side by side were the bodies of the snake and the robber.
Mr. Brown stooped down and examined the face of the corpse for a few minutes attentively.