Forty-one Thieves / A Tale of California

d Swe

the best the larder afforded, not forgetting cond

markable about that, of course. Any man might have business at the Hibernia Bank. The

ith enthusiasm, "the

trips. And for that matter, I'm about through with busi

p from his coff

see an old

odd to think of old man Palm

her if I could strike it rich here in California. I'm older now, and wiser, I hope. If a woman won't marry a man 'for richer or poorer'-especially poorer-she oughtn't to marry him at all. There's my nephew w

woman, and because I thought I might help he

. Keeler noticed that h

eler; but we must get the rascals who shot C

h minx. But a young man who has had a good mother thinks all women are good, I guess. I was terribly

arriet Chesney was coming to California to murder me. He said she had burned two

e-devil," rem

if she could have got hold of my property. And if all the gold I ever mined could have saved her from the sin and m

ad, to associate with such a scarecrow. So she cleared out, and went to San Francisco. I guess she found out she was only a novice compared with the women down there. And I guess in a year or t

ptly, as if to put aside his dishes; and Keeler,

fore the letter reached me, for the trails were badly drifted and I had been shut up here some time. John Woolsey brought the letter, and

t her. Well, I called at the address she gave, which was in the edge of Chinatown. I tell you it was disgusting to run the gauntlet there, among those creatures.-I f

, and would probably live. I didn't know whether to be glad or sorry; and I was t

r; and I am glad I did, though I cou

as sick, the Devi

t well, the devil

il her-that it was the snow and the ca?on and not some other reason that kept me away. Said she thought she was going to die; and that she wanted me to know she was sorr

oney, most likel

to San Francisco. Of course, I agreed, though I told her I don't go down to the city once a year, as a usual t

st of June she was able to work. And since then she has earned

he proffered

isco, Sept

bert P

r S

Fillmore Hill. So he must have been a friend of yours. It is too bad. I might help you find the murderers, as all th

ing along

espect

et So

was Chesney," remarked Keel

her keep her self-respect. She says Somers is dead. For my part, I never enquired whether there ever was a sure-eno

ndertake to follow up those fellows. Perhaps I can find out something at Nevada Ci

check right now. Smith, the livery man at Eureka South, wil

kon we'd better n

Miners' paralysis was creeping on, and two years later the best he could do was to make his mark. But t

ly transacted when He

the gold fields twenty years before. Furthermore, the old man had proved the unfailing honesty of the younger man. Jew bankers, in blowing dirt and impurities from gold dust offered for sale, were not over-careful about blowing away gold dust, too, which would be caught on buckskin placed out of sight behind the counter. Palmer's dust was very fine, and more than once he had suffered through such sharp practice, only to vow he never would suffer so again. In Francis he had found a strictly ho

Francis. What news

I shall expect a telegram to-morrow or next day, telling of Will Cummins' burial in the village cemetery at home. A

artner once. Do you have any

lacklegs along Kanaka Creek. A robbery in Jackass Ravine was traced to that gang. But

just employed Bed-bug Brown in a similar capacity. For in descending the ca?on of the Middle Yuba, he had gone a mile out of his way up the river to the cabin of this worthy gent

d, they will stop hydraulic mining, for it keeps covering their good soil with sand and clay. The Government authorities say we are filling up San Francisco Bay

. "A man who has made his pile can afford to

ting to leave the gold fields. Gold makes people crazy. Half our

orrowed from Mr. Palmer last winter, would be a better Democrat back in Connecticut, making wooden hams and nutmegs." Wit

ere alone,

ogether. I have undertaken to settle up Cummins' affa

back. But I supposed I stood to lose it when the robbers took C

bt. The fact is, I borrowed the value of the stock from him. Strictly speaking, I got him to put a couple of thousand into a pa

because I have found out that honesty is a thing that ought to be encoura

indly feeling rather than hard sense, overlooked his frien