, probably, he `warn't so 'cute as usual.'"

"Och, the scoundrels!" cried Larry; "an' is there no law for sich
doin's?"

"None; at least in most diggings men are left to sharpen their own wits
by experience. Sometimes, however, the biter is pretty well bitten.
There was a poor Chilian once who was deceived in this way, and paid
four hundred dollars for a claim that was scarcely worth working. He
looked rather put out on discovering the imposture, but was only laughed
at by most of those who saw the transaction for his softness. Some
there were who frowned on the sharper, and even spoke of lynching him,
but they were a small minority, and had to hold their peace. However,
the Chilian plucked up heart, and, leaping into his claim, worked away
like a Trojan. After a day or two he hit upon a good layer of blue
clay, and from that time he turned out forty dollars a day for two
months."

"Ah! good luck to him," cried Larry.

"And did the sharper hear of it?" inquired the captain.

"That he did, and tried to bully the poor fellow, and get his claim back
again; but there was a strong enough sense of justice among the miners
to cause such an outcry that the scoundrel was fain to seek other
diggings."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1. "Dirt" is the name given among miners, to the soil in which
gold is found.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

GOLD-WASHING--OUR ADVENTURERS COUNT THEIR GAINS, AND ARE SATISFIED--THE
"R'YAL BANK O' CALYFORNY" BEGINS TO PROSPER--FRYING GOLD--NIGHT VISIT TO
THE GRAVE OF A MURDERED MAN--A MURDERER CAUGHT--THE ESCAPE AND PURSUIT.

Having escaped from the Yankee land-shark, as has been related, our
adventurers spent the remainder of the day in watching the various
processes of digging and washing out gold, in imbibing valuable lessons,
and in selecting a spot for their future residence.

The two processes in vogue at Little Creek at that time were the _pan_
and the _cradle_ washing. The former has been already adverted to, and
was much practised because the ground at that time was rich in the
precious metal and easily wrought; the extreme simplicity, too, of the
operation, which only required that the miner should possess a pick, a
shovel, and a tin pan, commended it to men who were anxious to begin at
once. An expert man, in favourable ground, could gather and wash a
panful of "dirt," as it is called, every ten minutes; and there were few
places i