again in motion, and the miners were descending again
into their ravines and ditches. The great majority of the emigrants
continued eastward, bound for "the Sacramenty," there to renew their
strength. A few stayed in camp at Shirt-tail. But a weary lot they
all were--they and their animals; weary and seemingly bewildered now
that they actually had arrived in the famed gold fields of California.

Mr. Grigsby set the pace, as usual, for his party. Straightaway he
led, down the first ravine out of Shirt-tail, up the other side, and
into a draw or pass which wound among the hills. The miners whom they
passed, at work, gazed curiously; and one or two hailed with--"Where
you bound, strangers? What've you heard? Another strike?" But the
party only smiled and shook their heads.

Charley and Billy trudged together, leading burro and horse.

"Did you shoot anything on the way across?" asked Charley.

"You bet. Shot an antelope. Killed him first crack. He was mighty
good eating, too. But there wasn't much game. Too many people on the
trail."

"Did you kill any bear?"

"No. Didn't even see one. We were in too big a hurry to stop to hunt
much, anyway, and when we needed meat the worst, we couldn't find it.
That was on the desert between Salt Lake and these mountains. Where
are we going now? Do you know?"

"Over to a camp called Rough and Ready, in Grass Valley, I guess."

"What's there?"

"It's dry diggin's, mostly, but it's more of a quartz country than
this. We're on the track of a big quartz claim. You remember that
sick man I found in St. Louis?" Billy nodded. "Well, he told us about
a claim of his; he sort of gave it to dad and me. We aren't telling
anybody else, but now you're a partner, I can tell you that much."

"Jiminy!" exclaimed Billy. "Hope we find it."

"Well, if we don't we can wash out a lot of gold, anyhow."

"What are dry diggings, Charley?"

"They're diggin's in dry ground, where you have to bring in the water
some way. Wet diggin's are placers in the beds of streams where you're
in the water already. Shirt-tail was wet diggin's. They're the
hardest because your feet are soaked and get sore, and you catch
rheumatism and fever and everything.

"What's quartz diggin's, then?"

"Aw, those aren't diggin's, exactly," informed the wise Charley.
"Quartz is a rock that helps form a lode where the gold is carried,
first, before it's crumbled out by the weather and is washed down w