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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
130 HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.
coarse gold, and our claim promised to
furnish us with occupation at those wages
for some months,
One day when we went up to dinner
we found that all our provisions of every
kind, amounting to about 100 pounds in
all, had been stolen from our tent. The
theft was a very bold one, for our tent
was not more than one hundred yards
from where we were at work, and we
could easily see it when standing erect
in our claim. The loss wasa very severe
one to us, pecuniarily, and as we thought
over it on empty stomachs, we vowed
yengence on the thieves if we should
catch them. Bill went out with rifle,
with the hope of discovering the offenders or getting some game, while I went
off to Ben Wright’s camp to borrow some
flour and pork for supper. Thus we lost
all that afternoon. The next day I borrowed one of Ben Wright’s horses and
went over to the Springs and bought about
$150 worth of flour, pork, sugar, beans
and rice. These I packed upon the horse,
they did not form a heavy load for him
either, and started home. Lattempted to
take a straight road, but soon found myself on a very high and rugged peak, the
descent from which was extremely crooked and difficult, and it was only by very
great exertion that [managed to reach
home that night. In my anxiety I overworked myself and the next day I was
“token down’ with the ague and could
do nothing. The day was a beautiful
one; I made my bed out under a large
live oak tree, and lay there while Bill
rocked the cradle. At noon he came up,
made dinner, and then lay down to take
a little nap. About one o’clock I awoke
from a short sleep and found that by the
motion of the sun I was no longer in the
shade; and I raised myself upon my elbow intending to get up and place my
bed in the shade. AsI raised, I heard
a rustle behind me, and looking back I
saw a naked Indian jump from behind a
buckeye bush, some twenty steps distant,
and run down towards the canon.
T shouted, “Bill! Bill! Indians! Indians!” Billrushed out of the tent, and
with popping eye and flying hair, demanded “‘where? where?” while he jumped
up about six feet perpendicularly looking
down the cafion in the direction I pointed. The next moment he was making
ten feet strides after the Indian; and I
rose and limped to the tent for Bill’s rifle,
knowing that he had started without any
arms save the butcher knife which he always carried at his side, supposing that
the Indian might return.
Still I hurried to follow them, so that
if I had a chance I might assist my partner, or perhaps pick off the red-skin as
he might ascend the rocks on the other
side of the cafion. However, I had not
gone more than forty steps, before I saw
Bill come out from among the rocks and
bushes leading Mr. ‘Ingun,” a young
fellow, apparently sixteen or seventeen
years of age, by the hand. I was so
much excited that I drew up the rifle for
the purpose of shooting him in Bill’s
hand; but Bill protested, and as the distance was about fifty yards, it would not
have been a very safe experiment for a
man with the ague. So I dropped the
rifle and Bill came up. The Indian was
perfectly naked and savage inappearance.
What to do with him? That he must
die we were both agreed. It was plain
that he had robbed us the other day, and
that he had come intending to rob us
again. We presumed that he had accomplices in the vicinity. We must make
it a matter of life and death. Bill proposed that the prisoner should be given
to Ben Wright’s Wallawallas, who hate
the ignoble Diggers, and would have delighted in killing this one. I objected,
that the Indian if entrusted to third persons might escape, and that if he had
accomplices watching us, we ought to
give them a proof of how soon we could