We followed the direction of his gaze, but saw only the meadow, and the
horses feeding in it, and the thin smoke beyond, where Don Gaspar was
bending his proud Castilian spirit to attend to fried steak and
flapjacks.

"Look at those horses!" cried McNally with growing indignation.

"What's the matter with them?" cried Johnny and I in a breath.

"Matter with them! Nothing!" cried McNally with comical disgust. "The
matter's with us." He rapped his knuckles on his head. "Solid, all the
way through!" said he. "Why, save from nat'ral born human imbelicity,
should horses be living like gentlemen while gentlemen are working like
horses!"

We took the hint. That afternoon we saddled the pack-horses and led
them, laden with the dirt, back and forth between the ravine and the
cradle.

All of us worked until rather later in the day than usual.... The
hunters, too, did not return until dark. We weighed the results of our
labour with eager interest. From our cradle we had taken eleven ounces,
while those working the bar had gained just over nine. That was a good
day's work, and we were much elated.

"And most any time," exulted Johnny, "we'll run into a big pocket with
thousands."

CHAPTER XXIV

THE INDIANS

Although we did not immediately run into the expected thousands, nor did
the promise of that first glorious day of discovery quite fulfil itself,
nevertheless our new diggings turned out to be very rich. We fell into
routine; and the days and weeks slipped by. Bagsby and one companion
went out every day to hunt or to fish. We took turns at a vacation in
camp. Every night we "blew" our day's collection of sand, weighed the
gold, and packed it away. Our accumulations were getting to be very
valuable.

For a month we lived this idyllic life quite unmolested, and had
gradually come to feel that we were so far out of the world that nothing
would ever disturb us. The days seemed all alike, clear, sparkling,
cloudless. It was my first experience with the California climate, and
these things were a perpetual wonder to my New England mind.

Then one day when I was camp keeper, at the upper end of our long
meadow, a number of men emerged from the willows and hesitated
uncertainly. They were too far away to be plainly distinguishable, but I
believed in taking no chances, so I fired my revolver to attract the
attention of my companions. They looked up from their labour, saw the
men, and promptly came into camp.

The