ch; Uncle Jim's sprained foot was a sufficient reason for his giving
up his present vocation, which he could also sell at a small profit.
His domestic arrangements were very simple; there was nothing to take
with him--there was everything to leave behind. And that afternoon, at
sunset, the two reunited partners were seated on the deck of the Napa
boat as she swung into the stream.

Uncle Billy was gazing over the railing with a look of abstracted
relief towards the Golden Gate, where the sinking sun seemed to be
drawing towards him in the ocean a golden stream that was forever
pouring from the Bay and the three-hilled city beside it. What Uncle
Billy was thinking of, or what the picture suggested to him, did not
transpire; for Uncle Jim, who, emboldened by his holiday, was
luxuriating in an evening paper, suddenly uttered a long-drawn whistle,
and moved closer to his abstracted partner. "Look yer," he said,
pointing to a paragraph he had evidently just read, "just you listen to
this, and see if we ain't lucky, you and me, to be jest wot we
air--trustin' to our own hard work--and not thinkin' o' 'strikes' and
'fortins.' Jest unbutton yer ears, Billy, while I reel off this yer
thing I've jest struck in the paper, and see what d--d fools some men
kin make o' themselves. And that theer reporter wot wrote it--must hev
seed it reely!"

Uncle Jim cleared his throat, and holding the paper close to his eyes
read aloud slowly:--

"'A scene of excitement that recalled the palmy days of '49 was
witnessed last night at the Arcade Saloon. A stranger, who might have
belonged to that reckless epoch, and who bore every evidence of being a
successful Pike County miner out on a "spree," appeared at one of the
tables with a negro coachman bearing two heavy bags of gold. Selecting
a faro-bank as his base of operations, he began to bet heavily and with
apparent recklessness, until his play excited the breathless attention
of every one. In a few moments he had won a sum variously estimated at
from eighty to a hundred thousand dollars. A rumor went round the room
that it was a concerted attempt to "break the bank" rather than the
drunken freak of a Western miner, dazzled by some successful strike.
To this theory the man's careless and indifferent bearing towards his
extraordinary gains lent great credence. The attempt, if such it was,
however, was unsuccessful. After winning ten times in succession the
luck turned, and the unfort