ome bright yellow specks
shining in the dirt. He gathered a little of the sparkling dust,
washed it clean, and carried it to the house. That evening after the
men had come in from their work on the mill, Marshall said to them,
"Boys, I believe I've found a gold mine." They laughed, and one of
them said, "I reckon not; no such luck."

[Illustration: CAPTAIN SUTTER'S SAW-MILL AT COLOMA, WHERE GOLD WAS
FIRST FOUND.]

[Footnote 3: Coloma (Ko-lo'ma): see map in paragraph 236.]

238. Marshall takes the shining dust to Captain Sutter; what he did
with it, and how he felt about the discovery.--A few days after that
Marshall went down to the fort to see Captain Sutter. Are you alone?
he asked when he saw the captain. Yes, he answered. Well, won't you
oblige me by locking the door; I've something I want to show you.
The captain locked the door, and Marshall taking a little parcel out
of his pocket, opened it and poured some glittering dust on a paper
he had spread out. "See here," said he, "I believe this is gold, but
the people at the mill laugh at me and call me crazy."

Captain Sutter examined it carefully. He weighed it; he pounded it
flat; he poured some strong acid on it. There are three very
interesting things about gold. In the first place, it is very heavy,
heavier even than lead. Next, it is very tough. If you hammer a piece
of iron long enough, it will break to pieces, but you can hammer a
piece of gold until it is thinner than the thinnest tissue paper,
so that if you hold it up you can see the light shining through it.
Last of all, if you pour strong acids on gold, such acids as will
eat into other metals and change their color, they will have no more
effect on gold than an acid like vinegar has on a piece of glass.

For these and other reasons most people think that gold is a very
handsome metal, and the more they see of it, especially if it is their
own, the better they are pleased with it.

Well, the shining dust stood all these tests.[4] It was very heavy,
it was very tough, and the sharp acid did not hurt it. Captain Sutter
and Marshall both felt sure that it was _gold_.

But, strange to say, the captain was not pleased. He wished to build
up an American settlement and have it called by his name. He did not
care for a gold mine--why should he? for he had everything he wanted
without it. He was afraid, too, that if gold should be discovered
in any quantity, thousands of people would rush in; they would