The Indians remained and encamped outside our fort;
last night and this morning the greater part took
their departure. The guard last night had orders
to keep a sharp look-out, as we thought that our friends,
even though they had no hostile intentions towards
us, might still take a strong liking to some of our
horses; but nothing of a suspicious character occurred.
Five young men of the tribe also have stopt behind,
who wish to continue with us and work for us, but the
low state of our commissarial renders it desirable
not to accept their offer, unless our hunters return
to-day with a good stock of provisions.
August 13th. Our hunters have been very
successful these last few days. We have a large
stock of elk meat, which we intend drying after the
Indian fashion. On Friday, while Don Luis and
the trapper were out together, they were surprised
by the sight of a huge bear right before them, slowly
walking up towards them. As soon as he arrived
within about a hundred paces he squatted down upon
his haunches for a few moments; but, as they got nearer
to him, and just as they were preparing to give him
a greeting in the shape of a couple of balls through
his head, he rose up and scampered off. They fired,
but without success, and the brute plunged into a
dense thicket; after which they saw nothing more of
him.
Our Indians, after stopping with us a couple of days,
during which period we compelled them to encamp at
night-time outside the fort, took their departure
early on Friday morning, or else during the night of
Thursday, unperceived by our sentinels. They,
however, took nothing with them belonging to our party,
except a couple of blankets we had lent to the two
principal men.
CHAPTER XVII.
A rich mine of gold discovered
A guard both night and day
A good morning’s work
An Indian scout
How he served Dowling, and how Dowling
served him
A look-out
Indians seen advancing
A moment of fear
A yell
Arrows and rifles
A wounded chief carried off
The field of battle
The return to the camp
Horses driven off by Indians
Where Jose was found
The wounded attended to
An after-dinner discussion
How the watch went to sleep, and how they
were woke up
McPhail missing
Wolves, deer, and a puma
A party set out in search of McPhail.
August 20th, Sunday.—The past week
has been in many respects an eventful one. On
Friday, while several of us were rambling about the
neighbourhood of the camp, exploring the numerous mountain
canones which lie between us and the Sierra Nevada,
we found, among the loose particles of rock which
had crumbled away from the sides of the ravine and
fallen to the bottom, several lumps of gold of a much
larger size than any we had before met with.
This induced us to examine the upper part of the ravine,
