These men were evidently of the tribe of Skinflint, who had no souls, or they would not have attempted to rob an almost penniless emigrant in this way of the last few dollars he had, and all the hope he had of reaching the mines.  I did not desire to give up to such narrow principles as this and hesitated, but they were bound to have the money or make a quarrel, and talked pretty loud of the way they collected debts in Sacramento, so that to avoid trouble and get out of the clutches of such mean scoundrels as these I counted out sixteen dollars, almost every cent I had, and reluctantly gave them to my enemy.  I immediately mounted my mule, and without stopping to say goodbye rode off.  I may have quoted a part of the speech Capt Hunt made when the party wanted to leave the trail and take the cut-off, especially that part where he alluded to their going to h—­l.  I very much fear the little piety my mother taught me was badly strained on that occasion, and I thought of a good many swear words if I did not say them, which I suppose is about as bad.  I could see how cunningly they had managed to get me to ride their horse that it might serve as the foundation for a claim on me for about all the money I had in the world.

I hitched my mule in the edge of the town and went in to look at the place.  The houses were situated very much as in other places we had come through—­scattered around over much ground and built low, but had a different style of roof, a peaked or sloping one, and covered with half round tile two feet or more long and an inch thick.  One course of these would be laid with the hollow side up, and then a course with the hollow side down, covering the joints of the lower course.  This allowed the air to circulate freely and was proof against rain.  I saw no flat roofs such as I had seen down along the coast.  I saw one gambling house and about all the men in town were gathered there, and some women, too.  This was the busiest place in town and situated near the plaza.  This was the largest town I had yet been in.  There seemed to be plenty of women and lots of dogs, but the men were as scarce as they had been in any of the towns—­gone to the gold mines to make a stake.  I took in the sights pretty well, and there were a great many new things for me to see, and when pretty well satisfied concluded I would go back to my mule and camp in some place just out of town for the night.

Before I reached my animal whom should I meet but my old traveling companion John Rogers whom I thought to be a hundred miles away by this time.  We shook hands heartily and he told me that Bennett, Moody and Skinner were camped not far off, and he was still with them.  He wore a pair of blue overalls, a blue woolen shirt and the same little narrow rimmed hat he had worn so long.  I observed, too, that he was barefoot, and told him I had a dollar or two which he could take and get some shoes.  He said it was no use for there was not a pair of shoes in the town to buy, and he had not found any material of which he could make himself a pair of moccasins.  I told him how I had been swindled coming up, and he was about as angry as I had been.  I think if I had known that my friend John Rogers had been so near I should have bidden the rascals an unceremonious good-bye and we would have been able to hold our own on a claim for the services of myself and mule.