gold had lodged, a comparatively small
proportion being carried away over the lower lip of the basin. When the
bed rock was found at the lower end of the claim, they set to work to
clear away and wash the whole surface to that depth, as far as the foot
of the rocks on either side of the little amphitheatre.

Frank and two of the men went down to Sacramento with horses to bring up
pumps, for below the level of the lip of the hole it was, of course,
full of water. The stream was carried in a shoot beyond this point, and
when the pumps arrived they were soon set to work.

Every foot that they descended they found, as they expected, the gravel
to be richer and richer; and many nuggets, some of them weighing upwards
of a pound, were found.

At the end of each week four of the miners, armed to the teeth, carried
down the gold and deposited it at the Bank of Sacramento. An escort was
needed, for many attacks were made on gold convoys by parties of
desperadoes; four men would indeed have been an insufficient guard, but
at the same time other diggers in the valley sent down their find, and
the escort was always made up to eight men from the general body.

Frank, from the first, generally formed one of the escort; he himself
was perfectly ready to take his share in the more laborious work of
digging, but where Frank went Turk went, and Turk formed so valuable a
member of the escort that the rest of the party begged his master always
to go with the treasure. Every week had added to the weight and power of
the animal, and he was now a most formidable-looking beast. He was
extremely quiet and good-tempered at ordinary times, except that he
would not allow any stranger to touch him; but when at all excited, his
hair bristled from his neck to his tail, and his low, formidable growl,
gave a warning which few men would have been inclined to
despise,--indeed, of the many rough characters in the camp, there was
not one who would not rather have faced a man with a revolver in his
hand than have ventured upon a conflict with Turk.

The dog appeared to know that the escort duty was one which demanded
especial vigilance. On the road a low growl always gave notice of the
approach of strangers; and at night, when they stopped, and the heavy
valises were carried from the pack animals into the wayside
resting-places, Turk always lay down with his head upon them. He seemed
so thoroughly to understand that this was in his special charge, that