renzied as the craziest." The air to him suddenly began to shimmer;
all his thoughts were of "leads" and "ledges" and "veins"; all his
clouds had silver linings; all his dreams were of gold. He joined
an expedition at once; he reproached himself bitterly for not having
started earlier.

Hurry was the word! We wasted no time. Our party consisted of four
persons--a blacksmith sixty years of age, two young lawyers, and
myself. We bought a wagon and two miserable old horses. We put
1,800 pounds of provisions and mining tools in the wagon and drove
out of Carson on a chilly December afternoon.

In a letter to his mother he states that besides provisions and mining
tools, their load consisted of certain luxuries viz., ten pounds of
killikinick, Watts's Hymns, fourteen decks of cards, Dombey and Son, a
cribbage-board, one small keg of lager-beer, and the "Carmina Sacra."

The two young lawyers were A. W.(Gus) Oliver (Oliphant in 'Roughing
It'), and W. H. Clagget. Sam Clemens had known Billy Clagget as a
law student in Keokuk, and they were brought together now by this
association. Both Clagget and Oliver were promising young men, and would
be heard from in time. The blacksmith's name was Tillou (Ballou), a
sturdy, honest soul with a useful knowledge of mining and the repair
of tools. There were also two dogs in the party--a small curly-tailed
mongrel, Curney, the property of Mr. Tillou, and a young hound. The
combination seemed a strong one.

It proved a weak one in the matter of horses. Oliver and Clemens had
furnished the team, and their selection had not been of the best. It was
two hundred miles to Humboldt, mostly across sand. The horses could not
drag their load and the miners too, so the miners got out. Then they
found it necessary to push.

Not because we were fond of it, Ma--oh, no! but on Bunker's account.
Bunker was the "near" horse on the larboard side, named after the
attorney-general of this Territory. My horse--and I am sorry you do
not know him personally, Ma, for I feel toward him, sometimes, as if
he were a blood relation of our family--he is so lazy, you know--my
horse--I was going to say, was the "off" horse on the starboard
side. But it was on Bunker's account, principally, that we pushed
behind the wagon. In fact, Ma, that horse had something on his mind
all the way to Humboldt.--[S. L. C. to his mother. Published in
the Keokuk (Iowa) Gate c