One of my comrades there—another of those victims of eighteen years of unrequited toil and blighted hopes—was one of the gentlest spirits that ever bore its patient cross in a weary exile: grave and simpleⒶemendation Dick Baker, pocket-minerⒺexplanatory note of Dead-Horse GulchⒶtextual note.Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐemendation He was forty-six, gray as a rat, earnest, thoughtful, slenderly educated, slouchily dressed and clay-soiled, but his heart was finer metal than any gold his shovel ever brought to light—than any, indeed, that ever was mined or minted.

WheneverⒶemendation he was out of luckⒶemendation and a little down-hearted, he would fall to mourning over the loss of a wonderful cat he used to own (for where women and children are not, men of kindly impulses take up with pets, for they must love something.) And he always spoke of the strange sagacity of that cat with the air of a man who believed in his secret heart that there was something human about it—maybeⒶemendation even supernatural.

X

tom quartz.

I heard him talking about this animal onceⒺexplanatory note. He said, “Gentlemen, I used to have a cat here, by the name of Tom Quartz, which you’d a took an interest in I reckon—most anybodyⒶemendation would. I had him here eightⒶemendation year—and he was the remarkablest cat I ever see. He was a large gray one of the Tom specie, an’ he had more hard, natchralⒶemendation sense than any man in this camp—’n’Ⓐemendation a power of dignity—he wouldn’t aⒶemendation letⒶtextual note the Gov’ner of CalifornyⒶemendation be familiar with him. He never ketched a rat in his life—’peared to be above it. He never cared for nothing but mining. He knowed more about mining, that cat did, than any man I ever [begin page 417] ever see. You couldn’t tell him noth’n’ ’bout placer diggin’s—’n’Ⓐemendation as for pocket-miningⒶemendation, why he was just born for it. He would dig out after me an’ Jim when we went over the hills prospect’n’Ⓐemendation, and he would trot along behind us for as much as five mile, if we went so fur. An’Ⓐemendation he had the best judgment about mining ground—why you never see anything like it. When we went to work, he’d scatter a glance around, ’n’Ⓐemendation if he didn’t think much of the indications, he would give a look as much as to say, ‘WellⒶemendation, I’ll have to get you to excuse me,’ ’n’Ⓐemendation without another word he’d hyste his nose into the air ’n’ shove for home. But if the ground suited him, he would lay low ’n’ keep dark till the first pan was washed, ’n’Ⓐemendation then he would sidle up ’n’ take a look, an’Ⓐemendation if there was about six or seven grains of gold he was satisfied—he didn’t want no better prospect ’nⒶemendation that—’n’ then he would lay down on our coats and snore like a steamboat till we’d struck the pocket, an’ then get up ’n’Ⓐemendation superintend. He was nearly lightnin’ on superintending.Ⓐemendation

“Well, by an’ byⒶemendation, up comes this yerⒶemendation quartz excitement. Everybody was into it—everybodyⒶemendation was pick’n’ ’n’ blast’n’Ⓐemendation instead of shovelin’Ⓐemendation dirt on the hillside—everybodyⒶemendation was put’n’Ⓐemendation down a shaft instead of scrapin’ the surface. Noth’n’Ⓐemendation would do Jim, but we must tackle the ledges, too, ’n’ so we did. We commenced put’n’Ⓐemendation down a shaft, ’n’ Tom Quartz he begin to wonder what in the Dickens it was all about. He hadn’t ever seen any mining like that before, ’n’Ⓐemendation he was all upset, as you may say—he couldn’t come to a right understanding of it no way—it was too many for him. He was down on it, too, you bet you—he was down on it powerful—’n’Ⓐemendation always appeared to consider it the cussedest foolishness out. But that cat, you know, wasⒶemendation always agin new fangled arrangements—somehow he never could abide ’em. You Ⓐemendation know how it is with old habits. But by an’ by Tom Quartz begin to git sort of reconciled a little, though he never could altogether understand that eternal sinkin’Ⓐemendation of a shaft an’ never pannin’Ⓐemendation out anythingⒶemendation. At last he got to comin’Ⓐemendation down in the shaft, hisself, to try to cipher it out. An’ when he’d gitⒶemendation the blues, ’n’ feel kind o’ scruffy, ’n’ aggravated ’n’Ⓐemendation disgusted—knowin’Ⓐemendation as he did, that the bills was runnin’ up all the time an’Ⓐemendation we warn’t makin’ a cent—he would curl up on a gunny sack in the corner an’Ⓐemendation go to sleep. Well, one day when the shaft was down about eightⒶemendation [begin page 418] foot, the rock got so hard that we had to put in a blast—the first blast’n’ we’d ever done since Tom Quartz was born. An’Ⓐemendation then we lit the fuse ’n’ clumb out ’n’Ⓐemendation got off ’bout fiftyⒶemendation yards—’n’ forgot ’n’Ⓐemendation left Tom Quartz sound asleep on the gunny sack. In ’bout a minute we seen a puff of smoke bust up out of the hole, ’n’Ⓐemendation then everything let go with an awful crash, ’n’ about four million ton of rocks ’n’Ⓐemendation dirt ’n’ smoke ’n’Ⓐemendation splinters shot up ’bout a mile an’ a half into the air, an’Ⓐemendation by George, right in the dead centreⒶemendation of it was old Tom Quartz a goin’Ⓐemendation end over end, an’ a snortin’ an’ a sneez’n’, an’ a clawin’ an’ a reachin’Ⓐemendation for things like all possessed.

X

an advantage taken.

X

after an excursion.

“That was jest his style. An’Ⓐemendation maybeⒶemendation you won’t believe it, but after that you never see a cat so prejudiced agin quartz mining as what he was. An’ by an’ byⒶemendation when he did get to goin’Ⓐemendation down in the shaft agin, you’d a been astonished at his sagacity. The minute we’d tetch off a blast ’n’Ⓐemendation the fuse’d begin to sizzle, he’d give a look as much as to say: ‘WellⒶemendation, I’ll have to git you to excuse me,’ an’Ⓐemendation it was surpris’n’, the way he’d shin out of that hole ’n’ go f’rⒶemendation a tree. SagacityⒶemendation Ⓐtextual note? It ain’t no name for it. ’Twas inspiration!”

I said, “Well, Mr. Baker, his prejudiceⒶemendation against quartz miningⒶemendation was remarkable, considering how he came by it. Couldn’t you ever cure him of it?”

“Cure Ⓐemendation him! No!Ⓐemendation When Tom Quartz was sot once, he was always sot—and you might a blowed him up as much as threeⒶemendation million times ’n’ you’d never a brokenⒶemendation him of his cussed prejudice agin quartz mining.”

The affection and the pride that lit up Baker’s face when he delivered this tribute to the firmness of his humble friend of other days, will always be a vivid memory with me.Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐemendation

At the end of two months we had never “struck” a pocket. We had panned up and down the hillsides till they looked plowed like a field; we could have put in a crop of grain, then, but there would have been no way to get it to market. We got many good “prospects,” but when the gold gave out in the pan and we dug down, hoping and longing, we found only emptiness—the pocket that should have been there was as barren as our own.Ⓐemendation At last we shouldered our pans and shovels and struck out over the hills to try new localities. We prospected around Angel’s Camp, in Calaveras CountyⒶemendation, during three weeksⒺexplanatory note, but had no success. Then we wandered [begin page 420] on foot among the mountains, sleeping under the trees at night, for the weather was mild, but still we remained as centless as the last rose of summer. That is a poor joke, but it is in pathetic harmony with the circumstances, since we were so poor ourselves. In accordance with the custom of the country, our door had always stood open and our board welcome to tramping miners—they drifted along nearly every day, dumped their postⒶemendation Ⓐtextual note shovelsⒺexplanatory note by the threshold and took “pot luck” with us—and now on our own tramp we never found cold hospitality.

Our wanderings were wide and in many directions; and now I could give the reader a vivid description of the Big Trees and the marvels of the Yo Semite—but what has this reader done to me that I should persecute him? I will deliver him into the hands of less conscientious touristsⒺexplanatory note and take his blessing. Let me be charitable, though I fail in all virtues else.