"
The boys in turn hacked out great pieces of quartz and rubbed the free
gold loose. Much of it could only be crushed out in machinery made for
the purpose, but a sufficient quantity of the quartz was poor and soft.
As the boys worked, they grew more and more silent, more and more
absorbed. They forgot their delight in rodeo, coliar, bear-hunts, bull-
fights, riding about the ranches from morning till noon, the race, the
religious processions, the dulces of their mothers' cooks. A new and
mighty passion possessed them, the strongest they had ever known. Their
lips were pressed hard together--those soft Spanish lips that were
usually half apart--their eyes glowed with a steady fire. Their chests
rose and fell in short regular spasms.
Suddenly a thrill ran through Roldan. He had felt it before when a
rattlesnake, ready to strike, had fixed its green malignant eyes upon
him. He flashed the lantern about swiftly, twisting his neck with deep
anxiety. It would be no minor adventure to encounter a coiled rattler in
this narrow place. Then he saw something white shining out of the
darkness high above the rays, a large white disk, in which glittered two
points of light inexpressibly infuriate.
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