ld-fever,
beggars all description. Writers on that place and period find
difficulty in selecting words and inventing similes in order to convey
anything like an adequate idea of their meaning. Even eye-witnesses
found it almost impossible, to believe the truth of what they heard and
saw; and some have described the whole circle of life and manners there
to have been more like to the wild, incongruous whirl of a pantomime
than to the facts of real life.

Even in the close and abrupt juxtaposition of the ludicrous and the
horrible this held good. Ned Sinton had scarcely parted from his
hilarious shipmate, when he was attracted by shouts, as if of men
quarrelling, in a gaming-house; and, a few moments later, the report of
a pistol was heard, followed by a sharp cry of agony. Rushing into the
house, and forcing his way through the crowd, he reached the table in
time to see the bloody corpse of a man carried out. This unfortunate
had repeatedly lost large sums of money, and, growing desperate, staked
his all on a final chance. He lost; and, drawing his bowie-knife, in
the heat of despair, rushed at the president of the table. A dozen arms
arrested him, and rendered his intended assault abortive; nevertheless,
the president coolly drew a revolver from under the cloth, and shot him
dead. For a few minutes there was some attempt at disturbance, and some
condemned, while others justified the act. But the body was removed,
and soon the game went on again as if nothing had occurred.

Sickened with the sight, Ned hurried from the house, and walked rapidly
towards the shores of the bay, beyond the limits of the canvas town,
where he could breathe the free ocean air, and wander on the sands in
comparative solitude.

The last straggling tent in that quarter was soon behind bun, and he
stopped by the side of an old upturned boat, against which he leaned,
and gazed out upon the crowded bay with saddened feelings. As he stood
in contemplation, he became aware of a sound, as if of heaving,
plethoric breathing under the boat. Starting up, he listened intently,
and heard a faint groan. He now observed, what had escaped his notice
before, that the boat against which he leaned was a human habitation. A
small hole near the keel admitted light, and possibly, at times, emitted
smoke. Hastening round to the other side, he discovered a small
aperture, which served as a doorway. It was covered with a rag of
coarse canvas, which he