or laughing; there was even no talk.  Each waited his turn.  At the entrance every applicant was closely scrutinized and interrogated.  Several men were turned back peremptorily in the first few minutes, with the warning not to dare make another attempt.  Passed by this Committee, the candidate climbed the stairs.  In the second story behind a table sat Coleman, Dempster, and one other.  These administered to him an oath of secrecy and then passed him into another room where sat Bluxome behind a ledger.  Here his name was written and he was assigned a number by which henceforth in the activities of the Committee he was to be known.  Members were instructed always to use numbers and never names in referring to other members.

Those who had been enrolled waited for some time, but finding that with evening the applicants were still coming in a long procession, they gradually dispersed.  No man, however, departed far from the vicinity.  Short absences and hastily snatched meals were followed by hurried returns, lest something be missed.  From time to time rumors were put in circulation as to the activities of the Executive Committee, which had been in continuous session since its appointment.  An Examining Committee had been appointed to scrutinize the applicants.  The number of the Executive Committee had been raised to twenty-six; a Chief of Police had been chosen, and he in turn appointed messengers and policemen, who set out in search of individuals wanted as door-keepers, guards, and so forth.  Only registered members were allowed on the floor of the hall.  Even the newspaper reporters were gently but firmly ejected.  There was no excitement or impatience.

At length, at eight o’clock, Coleman came out of one of the side-rooms and, mounting a table, called for order.  He explained that a military organization had been decided upon, advised that numbers 1 to 100 inclusive should assemble in one corner of the room, the second hundred at the first window, and so on.  An interesting order was his last.  “Let the French assemble in the middle of the hall,” he said in their language—­an order significant of the great numbers of French who had first answered the call of gold in ’49, and who now with equal enthusiasm answered the call for essential justice.  Each company was advised to elect its own officers, subject to ratification by the Executive Committee.  It was further stated that arrangements had been made to hire muskets to the number of several thousands from one George Law.  These were only flintlocks, but efficient enough in their way, and supplied with bayonets.  They were discarded government weapons, brought out some time ago by Law to arm some mysterious filibustering expedition that had fallen through.  In this manner, without confusion, an organization of two thousand men was formed—­sixteen military companies.

By Saturday morning, May 17, the Committee rooms were overwhelmed by crowds of citizens who desired to be enrolled.  Larger quarters had already been secured in a building on the south side of Sacramento Street.  Thither the Committee now removed en masse, without interrupting their labors.  These new headquarters soon became famous in the history of this eventful year.