with the determination that if they remaind unsuccessful, they would search for an outlet from the gorge, and continue their journey to the point they had set out with the intention of visiting.
The morning after they had encamped afresh, Geoffrey drove the two mules out to graze as usual. They had so completely recovered from their fatigue by this time, that their first proceeding was generally to lay down and roll; on this morning one of them jumped into the stream, and after taking a hearty drink, scrambled out on the opposite side; but in getting out a part of the bank gave way, and rolled into the water, his feet shipping back along with it. A second and more violent struggle enabled the animal to get clear, but in this struggle his hoofs cut deep into the loose ground, now deprived of the protection of the turf, and Geoffrey saw glittering signs which caused him to shout to his father and brother to come, he himself plunging into the river, and eagerly thrusting his hands into the loose soil, and letting it run through his fingers. With eager eyes they all three examined the dirt, and were delighted with the appearance it presented. Grains of metal of a pale yellow colour were scattered thickly among it, which they instantly perceived to be gold. Arthur ran and fetched a spade with which he dug deeper into the ground, and the deeper he went, the richer it became. Holes were dug in several other places, which showed that the same degree of richness prevailed for about two hundred yards below, and for three times that distance above, after which it became evidently poorer; beyond these points they did not pursue their examination.
After their joy had had time to moderate itself, and they were capable of thinking, a little consideration led to the conclusion that these particles could only have been washed down the side of the mountains at this spot, and they all three rushed off to examine it. It was no wonder that the sight they saw prevented them from uttering anything but exclamations for several minutes. They were looking at a wall fully one-third of which was gold; not bright dazzling gold, as it appears in jewellers’ shops, but a dull metal of a pale yellow colour, not easily to be distinguished from the rock at a short distance. Moved by an idea which occurred to them simultaneously, they returned to their encampment in profound silence. They all knelt down,the father setting the example, after which he offered a brief thanksgiving to the Supreme Being, and besought His protection to enable them to benefit by their discovery. They were not ordinarily what are called “over-religious” men; but the wonderful discovery they had made had so excited them, that they felt instinctively the necessity for an exercise which by its solemnity should calm their minds.
After this was over, they consulted with respect to the course of proceeding they should adopt for getting the gold down to San Francisco, and it was eventually decided that Rawlinson and his eldest son, Arthur, should go there with as much gold as the mules could carry, and endeavour to organise a plan by means of which it might be transported thither in larger quantities. Geoffrey agreed to remain on the spot, partly with a vague notion of defending their rights, though in reality they had none, and partly to make sure of securing a good quantity of gold, in case any other band of explorers should enter the valley. Before Arthur and his father left, they assisted in digging a hole in which to bury the gold.
To give it the appearance of a hole which had been dug in searching for the metal, and then abandoned, the earth to a certain depth was heaped up beside it, the remainder being thrown into the river which ran alongside. Other holes similar in appearance were dug near it, in order that if any person should suspect a “cache,” and try the test of digging, the chances should be against their pitching upon that which contained the gold.
The two elder Rawlinsons having started on their return journey, Geoffrey was left to his own resources. For four days he worked hard at the cradle, although there was not the least occasion for it, since the proportion of gold in the dirt was so large that every cradleful of stuff yielded several pounds weight of the metal, and it could only be the work of a few hours when his father and brother returned, to wash as much as would load all the mules they could bring with them. He knew this, nevertheless such is the innate greed for gold in the human heart, that he could not sit still, and be content with this knowledge, he felt that he must pass it through his hands before he could take possession, and that he must transfer it from the place where the operations of nature had deposited it, to the depository which he had himself assisted in making. By the afternoon of the fourth day he had filled the hole with gold, and covered it with the turf which had been cut from the surface; putting the grass downwards, and throwing in a quantity of the dirt upon this, which he wetted with water from the stream, the sun’s rays speedily hardening it almost to the consistency of a brick.
Having finished this matter he resolved that he would, the following day, give himself some relaxation, which was, besides, necessary, as he began to feel the want of animal food, the dried flesh of the bear which had been allotted to him being not only unpalatable but almost as indigestible as leather. The pine-wood extended with occasional gaps from the original encampment up to the new one, and as far beyond as he could see, and the number of birds which frequented it was large enough to render it easy to shoot as many as he might require for his maintenance, so that he had nothing to fear on the score of want of food. He did not shoot more than he thought would be sufficient for the day’s consumption, after which he returned, and gave himself up to the luxury of a day’s idleness, feasting his eyes on the wealth spread out before him, and his mind with the contemplation of what he would do when he got back to England.
Having once given the reins to his imagination, he found it difficult to sleep; moreover he was not tired out by labour as on other days, and he had to pay the penalty which the possession of riches is sure to inflict, at any rate, on their first acquisition. He fancied he heard movements