sovereignty. Near by the squatter had dug a
promising hole, and if only money and machinery could be had,
_perhaps_ he might realize something from it. The young man
assured me that they had an agent in New York negotiating for
machinery, and in a few months they would be able to declare
dividends. Biting my lips to suppress a hearty laugh, I put the
paper printed with red ink into my pocket.

On my arrival in New York, I was thunderstruck at seeing a gilded
sign stuck up on the Merchants' Exchange: "---- MINING COMPANY
OFFICE." Not over-troubled by modesty, I ventured in, and
inquired if that machinery had been sent out. I was requested to
be seated in a fine cushioned chair. As I love entertainment, I
sat down, and took a survey of the desks, the Brussels carpet,
the ledgers, and the piles of pamphlets, which clearly
demonstrated that a man would get his money back many times over
before he paid it in. It seemed strange how all this could he
supported on the supposed future earnings of a hole in the
ground. The Board of Directors assembled. Many of them, I was
assured, were the leading men of New York, and things went off
with all solemnity. When all was ready, an immense piece of the
richest gold quartz was taken from a desk, such as used to be
sold at good prices in San Francisco for this very purpose. But
not a man in that august assembly dreamed of the manner in which
such things are gotten up, except perhaps the said agent sent out
to get machinery, but now figuring as a director. I was easily
prevailed on to sign an argumentative certificate, and was shown
one signed by Robert J. Walker on a much worse hole in the ground
than this. I was also informed that New York was not the proper
market, which I understand to mean that machinery could not be
obtained in New York on the credit of a quartz vein; and in
London they would not look at a scheme that did not embrace a
million at least, said the agent aforesaid. Therefore he proposed
to give me an engraved certificate, declaring that I had paid
$8000, which of course I readily accepted when I found that there
was no machinery in the case, and that all I had to rest my
engraved certificate upon was the one hundredth part of the said
hole in the ground, w