sovereign tight between his teeth. We tried sweet reasonableness at
first. We offered him a sixpence in exchange; he looked insulted, and
evidently considered the proposal as tantamount to our calling him a
fool. We made it a shilling, then half-a-crown--he seemed only bored by
our persistence.

"I don't think you'll ever see this half-sovereign again, Hollis," said
Gadbut, laughing. We all, with the exception of young Hollis, thought
the affair a very good joke. He, on the contrary, seemed annoyed, and,
taking the dog from Gadbut, made an attempt to pull the coin out of its
mouth.

Tiny, true to his life-long principle of never parting if he could
possibly help it, held on like grim death, until, feeling that his little
earnings were slowly but surely going from him, he made one final
desperate snatch, and swallowed the money. It stuck in his throat, and
he began to choke.

Then we became seriously alarmed for the dog. He was an amusing chap,
and we did not want any accident to happen to him. Hollis rushed into
his room and procured a long pair of pincers, and the rest of us held the
little miser while Hollis tried to relieve him of the cause of his
suffering.

But poor Tiny did not understand our intentions. He still thought we
were seeking to rob him of his night's takings, and resisted vehemently.
His struggles fixed the coin firmer, and, in spite of our efforts, he
died--one more victim, among many, to the fierce fever for gold.

* * * * *