ellers at every step, as they wended their way pleasantly, beneath a
bright morning sun, over the hills and through the lesser valleys of the
great vale of the Sacramento. And all of these creatures, excepting the
crows and magpies, fell before the unerring and unexpectedly useful
blunderbuss of Captain Bunting, passed a temporary existence in the maw
of the big iron pot, and eventually vanished into the carnivorous jaws
of Ned Sinton and his friends.

Crows were excluded from their bill of fare, because the whole party had
an unconquerable antipathy to them; and Larry said he had "aiten many
pies in his lifetime, but he had niver aiten magpies, and he'd be shot
av he wos goin' to begin now."

The duties of chief hunter devolved upon the captain,--first, because he
was intensely fond of shooting; and, secondly, because game was so
plentiful and tame, that it was difficult to avoid hitting _something_,
if one only fired straight before one. For the same reasons the
blunderbuss proved to be more effectual than the rifle. The captain
used to load it with an enormous charge of powder and a handful of
shot--swan-shot, two sizes of duck-shot, and sparrow-hail, mixed, with
an occasional rifle-ball dropped in to the bargain. The recoil of the
piece was tremendous, but the captain was a stout buffer--if we may be
permitted the expression--and stood the shock manfully.

Stewed squirrels formed one of their favourite dishes, it was frequently
prepared by Tom Collins, whose powers in the culinary department proved
to be so great that he was unanimously voted to the office of _chef de
cuisine_--Bill Jones volunteering, (and being accepted), to assist in
doing the dirty work; for it must be borne in mind that the old
relations of master and man no longer subsisted amongst any of the
travellers now--excepting always the native vaquero. All were equal at
starting for the diggings, and the various appointments were made by,
and with the consent of the whole party.

Little Creek diggings were situated in a narrow gorge of the mountains,
through which flowed a small though turbulent stream. The sides of the
hills were in some places thickly clothed with trees, in others they
were destitute not only of vegetation but of earth, the rock on the
steeper declivities of the hills having been washed bare by the
periodical heavy rains peculiar to those regions. Although wild and
somewhat narrow, this little valley was, nevertheless, a c