"

"One _medio_ to big ship, senors."

"My canoe biggest."

"Try me, senors. Ver' hones'."

"No. I hones', senors."

Plainly enough the only way to get out to the _California_ was by
canoe. Mr. Adams tried to make himself heard. More gold seekers were
loafing and waiting on the beach; and these added their shouts and
advice to the clamor of the boatmen.

"Going out to the _California_, strangers?" demanded a red-shirted man,
pushing his way through the uproar.

"Yes."

"No use. She won't take you. She's full up and all ready to sail.
Don't listen to these boatmen. All they want is a fare. You might
just as well unpack, and wait for the next boat, like the rest of us."

"We'll go out, anyhow," declared Mr. Adams. He picked on one of the
jostling boatmen--a yellow fellow with a tiny moustache and earrings.
"Two boats," he said, holding up two fingers. "The _California_."

"Si, si," nodded the boatman. He beckoned to a partner, who sprang to
help him; and the remainder of the boatmen calmly dispersed and sat
down again.

Pablo and the packer began to unlash the luggage from the bullocks, and
following the example of his father and Mr. Grigsby, Charley stiffly
dismounted. Immediately the yellow boatman stooped and motioned to
Charley to climb aboard his back.

"We'll have to be carried out to the canoes, Charley," spoke his
father. "They can't come inshore. Hurry up."

But at this instant there was another interruption. "You are
Americans, aren't you, gentlemen? Then will you help another American?
I hate to ask it, but I've got to."

He was a young man, of not more than twenty-one or two, exceedingly
thin and sallow. Otherwise he would have been good-looking. His voice
and manner were refined.

"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Adams.

"My name is Motte. I'm flat broke. I came through a month ago; was
taken with cholera and robbed. I sent my wife on, by kindness of other
strangers; and I've been here ever since, waiting for a chance and
trying to get work. She's up in San Francisco, alone, and what's
happened to her I don't know. There are 300 people here now, sir,
waiting for the next vessel, and tickets are selling at from six
hundred to a thousand dollars! If in any way you can take me along
with your party, I'll do anything in the world." He choked with his
earnestness. "I hate to beg--but I _must_ get to my wife. I'll pay
you back at my first opportunity. There's work at