der the gold they earn
On kin-folk ill to please
Go soon to the grave, but he toils in the grave--
The miner upon his knees.

The Gold Road is a dark road--
No bird by the wayside sings,
No sun shines into the canons deep,
No children's laughter rings.
They are slaves who delve in the stubborn rocks
For the pittance their labor brings.
Their bread is bitter who toil for their own,
But they starve who toil for Kings.

The Gold Road is a small road,--
A man must tread it alone,
With none to help if he faint or fall,
And none to hear his groan.
The weight of gold is a weary weight
When we toil for the sake of our own--
But our masters are branding our hearts and souls
With a Christ that is carved in stone!

VIII

THE DOG WITH TWO MASTERS

"They fight among themselves too much. They need the man with the whip."

"_Bough! wough!_"

"_Yar-r-rh! arrh!--agh!_"

A spirited and entertaining dog-fight was going on just outside the
house of the governor of Darien. The deep sullen roar of Balboa's big
hound Leoncico was as unmistakable as the snarling, snapping, furious
bark of Cacafuego, who belonged to the Bachelor Enciso. The two hated
each other at sight, months ago. Now they were having it out. The man
with the whip evidently came on the scene, for there was a final
crescendo of barks, yelps and growls, followed by silence.

Pizarro's remark, however, did not refer to the dogs but to the
settlers, who had been rioting over the governorship of the colony. The
outcome of this disturbance had been the practical seizure of the office
of captain-general by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Pizarro himself, and Juan
de Saavedra, to whom he addressed his comment, had supported Balboa.
Saavedra did not commit himself further than to answer, with a shrug,
"Balboa can use the whip on occasion, we all know that. Ah, here he
comes now."

The man and the dog would have attracted attention anywhere, separately
or together. The man was well-made and vigorous, with red-brown hair and
beard, and clear merry eyes, a leader who would rather lead than
command. The dog was of medium size but very powerful, tawny in color
with a black muzzle, and the scars on his compact body recorded many
battles, not with other dogs but with hostile Indians. He had been his
master's body-guard in several fights, and Balboa sometimes lent him to
his frie