a dozen dance-halls. Yet all seemed plethorically
prosperous.

Many of the business houses were installed in tents. That huge canvas
erection was a mining exchange; that great log barn a dance-hall.
Dwarfish log cabins impudently nestled up to pretentious three-story
hotels. The effect was oddly staccato. All was grotesque, makeshift,
haphazard. Back of the main street lay the red-light quarter, and behind
it again a swamp of niggerheads, the breeding-place of fever and
mosquito.

The crowd that vitalised the street was strikingly cosmopolitan. Mostly
big, bearded fellows they were, with here the full-blooded face of the
saloon man, and there the quick, pallid mask of the gambler. Women too I
saw in plenty, bold, free, predacious creatures, a rustle of silk and a
reek of perfume. Till midnight I wandered up and down the long street;
but there was no darkness, no lull in its clamorous life.

I was looking for Berna. My heart hungered for her; my eyes ached for
her; my mind was so full of her there seemed no room for another single
thought. But it was like looking for a needle in a strawstack to find
her in that seething multitude. I knew no one, and it seemed futile to
inquire regarding her. These keen-eyed men with eager talk of claims and
pay-dirt could not help me. There seemed to be nothing for it but to
wait. So with spirits steadily sinking zerowards I waited.

We found, indeed, that there was little ground left to stake. The mining
laws were in some confusion, and were often changing. Several creeks
were closed to location, but always new strikes were being made and
stampedes started. So, after a session of debate, we decided to reserve
our rights to stake till a good chance offered. It was a bitter
awakening. Like all the rest we had expected to get ground that was gold
from the grass-roots down. But there was work to be had, and we would
not let ourselves be disheartened.

The Jam-wagon had already deserted us. He was off up on Eldorado
somewhere, shovelling dirt into a sluice-box for ten dollars a day. I
made up my mind I would follow him. Jim also would get to work, while
the Prodigal, we agreed, would look after all our interests, and stake
or buy a good claim.

Thus we planned, sitting in our little tent near the beach. We were in a
congeries of tents. The beach was fast whitening with them. If one was
in a hurry it was hard to avoid tripping over ropes and pegs. As each
succeeding party arrived they