invade them. This piece of red-man
faith, however jocularly recorded, did not meet that full contempt from
my comrades I could have expected. On the contrary, many cited instances
of disasters and calamities which seemed like curious corroborations
of the creed. Indeed, I soon saw how naturally superstitious credences
become matter of faith to him who lives the wild life of the prairies.

"Then you think we shall have to pay the price of all this enjoyment,
Hermose?" said I, as I lay luxuriously beneath a spreading banana.

"Quien sabe? who knows?" exclaimed he, in his Mexican dialect, and with
a shrug of the shoulders that implied doubt.

Although each event is well marked in my memory, and the incidents of
each day indelibly fixed upon my mind, it is needless that I should
dwell upon passages, which, however at the time full of adventure and
excitement, gave no particular direction to the course of my humble
destiny. We succeeded in finding a spot by which the bed of the river
might be changed; and after some days of hard labor we accomplished the
task.

The course of the stream thus left dry for a considerable distance
became the scene of our more active exertions. The first week or two
little was discovered, save gold dust, or an occasional "spicula" of
the metal, heavily alloyed with copper; but as we followed up the course
towards the mountain, a vein of richest ore was found, lying near the
surface too, and presenting masses of pure gold, many of them exceeding
twenty ounces in weight.

There could be no doubt that we had chanced upon a most valuable Placer;
and now orders were given to erect huts, and such rude furnaces for
testing as our skill stood in need of. A strict scale of profits was
also established, and a solemn oath exacted from each, to be true and
faithful to his comrades in all things. Our little colony demanded
various kinds of service; for, while the gold-seeking was our grand
object, it was necessary, in order to subsist the party, that a corps
of trappers and hunters should be formed, who should follow the buffalo,
the red-deer, and the wild hog over the prairies.

Many declined serving on this expedition, doubtless suspecting that
the share of treasure which might be allotted to the absent man would
undergo a heavy poundage. Her-mose, however, whose adventurous spirit
inclined more willingly to the excitement of the chase than the
monotonous labor of a washer, volunteered to go, and I o