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"Rosa! What have you done--"

Cobo ran on unheeding: "It reat treasure, indeed, fros That's what Cueto said, 'The ransos!' Those were his very words"

The fellow continued to sway hi as if his eyes were about to leave his head For a long arded O'Reilly, but finally as he gained aze shifted and his expression altered He changed his weight to his left arht hand he drew his revolver

"What are you doing?" O'Reilly cried, hoarsely

The colonel seeuely surprised at this question "Fool! Do you expect h--for all of us," O'Reilly feebly protested; then, as he heard the click of the cocked weapon: "Let me out I'll pay you well-- hand to dash out the candle, but even as he did so the colonel spoke, at the saht What a about? There must be no noise Caramba! A pretty business that would be, wouldn't it? Withup here to see what it was all about No, no! No gunshots, no disturbance of any kind You understand what I rin as he tossed the revolver aside, then undertook to detach a stone fro curb "No noise!" he chuckled "No noise whatever"

O'Reilly, stupefied by the sudden appearance of this monstrous creature, stunned by the certainty of a catastrophe to Rosa, awoke to the fact that this man intended to brain him where he stood In a panic he cast his eyes about hi to take shelter in the treasure-cave, but that retreat was closed to hiether at the first alarm He was like a rat in a pit, utterly at the mercy of this maniac And Cobo was a maniac at the moment; he had so far lost control of hirasp It fell with a thud at O'Reilly's feet, causing the assassin to laugh once more

"Ho, ho!" he hiccoughed "My fingers are clumsy, eh? But there is no need for haste" He stretched out his arain, laid hold of another missile, and strained to loosen it from its bed "Jewels! Pearls the size of plums! And I a poor man! I can't believe it yet" He could not detach the stone, so he fu "Pearls, indeed! I would send a dozen men to hell for one--"