asted Dick had got
on fairly well. He was always ready to do odd jobs, and as the draught
cattle were growing weaker and weaker, and every pound of weight was of
importance, no one grudged him his rations in return for his services;
but when the company began to descend the slopes of the Sierra Nevada
they began to break up, going off by twos and threes to the diggings of
which they heard such glowing accounts. Some, however, kept straight on
to Sacramento, determining there to obtain news as to the doings at all
the different places, and then to choose that which seemed to them to
offer the surest prospects of success.

Dick proceeded with them to the town, and there found himself alone. His
companions were absorbed in the busy rush of population, and each had
so much to provide and arrange for, that none gave a thought to the
solitary boy. However, at that time no one who had a pair of hands,
however feeble, to work need starve in Sacramento, and for some weeks
Dick hung around the town doing odd jobs, and then having saved a few
dollars, determined to try his luck at the diggings, and started on foot
with a shovel on his shoulders and a few days' provisions slung across
it.

Arrived at his destination, the lad soon discovered that gold digging
was hard work for brawny and seasoned men, and after a few feeble
attempts in spots abandoned as worthless he gave up the effort, and
again began to drift; and even in Pine Tree Gulch it was not difficult
to get a living. At first he tried rocking cradles, but the work was
far harder than it appeared. He was standing ankle deep in water from
morning till night, and his cheeks grew paler, and his strength, instead
of increasing, seemed to fade away. Still, there were jobs within his
strength. He could keep a fire alight and watch a cooking pot, he could
carry up buckets of water or wash a flannel shirt, and so he struggled
on, until at last some kind hearted man suggested to him that he should
try to get a place at the new saloon which was about to be opened.

"You are not fit for this work, young 'un, and you ought to be at home
with your mother; if you like I will go up with you this evening to
Jeffries. I knew him down on the flats, and I dare say he will take you
on. I don't say as a saloon is a good place for a boy, still you will
always get your bellyful of victuals and a dry place to sleep in, if
it's only under a table. What do you say?"

Dick thankfully accepted the