ore daybreak, breakfasted, and got the
horses in readiness just as the sun showed over the mountain. At my
suggestion, Malcolm had the strongest horse we possessed allotted to
him, as it had been arranged that he should carry the bulk of the gold,
and that Don Luis and Bradley, who were to take as much as they could
carry in their saddle-bags, were to form the guard. This plan was
adopted in preference to having a led horse, which it was thought would
greatly impede their progress, and prevent the party from reaching the
settlements on the Sacramento that night. Bradley and Don Luis each
took with them eighteen pounds weight of gold; Malcolm, who was
unencumbered by anything, and merely carried a brace of pistols in his
belt, took very nearly seventy pounds. To relieve Malcolm's horse as
much as possible, three of us, who were to act as an escort to within a
few miles of the Sacramento Valley, were each to carry fifteen pounds
weight of the gold so far as we went. This escort was composed of
Story, Jose, and myself.

We started off soon after sun rise, amidst the faint cheers of our
invalided companions, and, as it was necessary for the escorting party
to return to the camp that night, it was agreed that we were to retrace
our steps at noon or thereabouts. The commencement of our ride was
through an open country, broken up by boulders of granite and clumps of
dark grey sage trees, when, after ascending some low rocky hills, their
summits crowned with a dense forest of gigantic pines, we entered a
grassy valley, lined with groups of noble cedars, whose spreading
branches offered a most inviting shade. Every now and then, we had to
make our way down the sides of huge chasms which intercepted our
progress, and then to toil slowly up the difficult ascent.

At noon we halted and took shelter from the sun in a little dell with a
gushing spring bubbling up in the midst, and a patch of willows
fringing the banks of the running stream. We scampered our horses down
it, dismounted, and, turning them loose to graze, seated ourselves at
the base of a huge rock of granite. Our wallet of provisions was
opened, and we soon made a hearty meal. Just as we had finished, some
loose earth and a few small stones came tumbling down from above,
knocking every now and then against the projecting ledges of rock in
their descent. We immediately started up, thinking it might be some
grizzly old bear anxious to make a meal of us, and Bradley and M