dart out
and find his father.

"Dad!" hoarsely whispered Charley. "That was a gold miner who came
aboard in a skiff! He was paying his fare with gold dust."

"Was he? How do you know?"

"I saw him at the desk, but the clerk wouldn't take any dust, so he had
to pay with money. He has a buckskin sack, just like ours. Wish I
could talk with him."

"Maybe he'll talk with you, if you give him the chance. You can try
and see. But don't ask him any foolish questions, or seem inquisitive."

Presently the tall man (he was taller even than Mr. Adams) emerged from
the cabin, to stand by the rail, leaning on his rifle and gazing at the
shore line. A picturesque figure he made, with his starred
shirt-collar rolled back, and his leathery trousers wrinkled down over
his boot-tops.

Charley sidled around him, expectantly; and the man noticed him.

"You look as if you were going out, too," addressed the man, a twinkle
under his bushy brows.

"Yes, sir," answered Charley. "To California."

"Anybody with you?"

"My father." And Charley proudly nodded toward another tall form.
"Were you ever there?" he added, hesitantly.

"I should rather think so. Five years ago, and four years ago; and now
I'm making another trip by a new route. The other times I crossed by
the land trail."

"Oh, you must have been with Fremont!" exclaimed Charley.

The whiskered man nodded.

"I was. I was with Carson and Fremont in Forty-three--Forty-four, and
again in Forty-five--Forty-six."

"I know about those travels," cried Charley. "I'm reading Colonel
Fremont's reports now. I'm just finishing his last one. I guess
they're about the best description of California there is. Did you
fight in the war?"

The man smiled.

"See my shirt?" he queried. "All we Fremont men wore these navy
shirts--some of us clear through the campaign. The sloop of war
_Portsmouth_ sent us a lot of ship's supplies, when we marched down
from the mountains to Sutter's Fort, just before the uprising of the
Bear War in June, Forty-six. I saved my shirt, and now I only wear it
occasionally. I'm sorter proud of this shirt."

"I should think you would be," agreed Charley. "Did you mine in
California?"

"Yes, sir. I started in to settle there, after the war, till the gold
craze broke out. Ever see any dust?"

"Some," admitted Charley.

"There's not much in this sack now," continued the Fremont man, showing
it. "But I've filled it many a time."