Far away, fixing his inward gaze with the fascination of a serpent's eye, was the grand result of his new enterprise, and all else was obscured by the brightness of a vortex toward which he was moving in swiftly-closing circles.

Already two-thirds of his handsome fortune was embarked in this new scheme, that was still growing in magnitude, and still, like the horse-leech, crying "Give! give!" All that now remained was "Woodbine Lodge," valued at over twenty-five thousand dollars.

This property he determined to leave untouched.

But new calls for funds were constantly being made by Mr.
Fenwick, backed by the most flattering reports from Mr.Lyon and his associates in Central America, and at last the question of selling or heavily mortgaging the "Lodge" had to be considered.

The latter alternative was adopted, and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars raised, and thrown, with a kind of desperation, into the whirlpool which had already swallowed up nearly the whole of his fortune.
With this sum in his hands, Mr.Markland went to New York.