Chu was grinning in pleasant reverie. Mamie laughed.

"But the funny thing in this little episode," continued Cummins, "was
the defense set up by George Washington's lawyer. There was no doubt
that George was guilty of highway robbery. He had been caught
red-handed, and ten Chinamen were prepared to testify to the fact. But
counsel argued that by the laws of the State a white man could not be
convicted on the testimony of Chinamen; and that, within the meaning of
the statute, in view of recent amendments to the Constitution of the
United States, George was a white man. The judge ruled that the point
was well taken; and, inasmuch as the prisoner had been thoroughly
bumped, he dismissed the case."

The story is well known in Nevada County; but Mamie laughed gleefully,
and turned her saucy eyes upon Charley:

"Did you help to bump George Washington?"

The Celestial was an honest man, and shook his head:

"Me only look on. That cullud niggah he lob me."

Will Cummins glanced at the Chinaman's pistol and smiled. By this time
the stage had crossed Bloody Run and was ascending the high narrow ridge
known as the Back-Bone, beyond which lay the village of North
Bloomfield. By the roadside loomed a tall lone rock, placed as if by a
perverse Providence especially to shelter highwaymen. For a moment
Cummins looked grave, and he reached for his six-shooter. Mat Bailey
cracked his whip and dashed by as if under fire.

From the Back-Bone the descent to North Bloomfield was very steep, and
was made with grinding of brakes and precipitate speed. Arrived at the
post-office, Dr. Mason and the two gamblers left the coach; and a
store-keeper and two surveyors employed by the great Malakoff Mining
Company took passage to Nevada City. In those halcyon days of hydraulic
mining, the Malakoff, employing fifty men, was known to clean up
$100,000 in thirty days. It was five hundred feet through dirt and
gravel to bed-rock, and a veritable canon had been washed out of the
earth.

The next stop was Lake City,--a name illustrative of Californian
megalomania; for the lake, long since gone dry, was merely an artificial
reservoir to supply a neighboring mine, and the city was a collection of
half a dozen buildings including a store and a hotel. Through the open
door of the store a huge safe was visible, for here was one of those
depositories for gold dust locally known as a bank. As the stage pulled
up, the banker and a lady stepped out to gre