any price, and the majority of
the miners go about in rags. Collected round a rude shanty, where
brandy was being dispensed at a dollar a-dram! I saw a group of ragged
gold-diggers, the greater part of them suffering from fever, paying
this exorbitant price for glass after glass of the fiery spirit, every
drop of which they consumed was only aggravating their illness, and, in
all probability, bringing them one step nearer to their grave.

The big bony American, who treated Lacosse and the trapper in such a
peremptory manner, and who seemed to be the terror of these diggings,
was pointed out to me. I learnt, however, that he had accumulated a
very large amount of gold, over sixteen thousand dollars' worth, it was
said; and his suspicions that parties were lying in wait to plunder him
of it was the cause of his acting as he had done. He thought they only
came to his shanty with an excuse, for the purpose of observing its
weak points, and that no doubt they had a scheme in their heads for
robbing him, either at night time, or while he was absent digging and
washing during the day. The men he had shot, it seems, were common
thieves--one, a deserter from the garrison at Monterey, and the other
belonging to a similar band of robbers to that by which our party had
been attacked, and our gold carried off.

I reached Sutter's Fort the next day, and found it like the most
crowded localities of some of our great cities, with the exception that
the bulk of the people we met with belonged to a totally different
race. I saw Captain Sutter for a few moments, when he informed me that
Mr. Bradley and his party had left a couple of days ago; and that a
gentleman, accompanied by a man named Joe White, who, as the Captain
said, used to trap for him before the gold fever came up, had been
making inquiries at the Fort respecting Mr. Bradley that very day. I at
once saw that this could be no other than Lacosse, and set off to see
if I could meet with him. After some search, I was fortunate enough to
discover him at the newly opened hotel here, where he had intended
stopping for the night. I remained with him and shared his room--a
little box not more than ten feet by twelve, or thereabouts; but we
considered ourselves fortunate in having obtained even that, the place
being tremendously crowded.

I heard from Lacosse that Captain Sutter had informed him that the
leader of the band of desperadoes who had plundered us had been seen
down at t