“The litter they brought was formed of branches of trees tied together, and covered thickly over with blankets.  On this Malcolm was slowly borne down the hill-side, until a rude shanty was reached.  He was carried inside, and we were fortunate enough to meet with a kind Californian woman, who promised to attend on him while we returned here for your assistance.”

In reply to my inquiries, Don Luis said that he thought there were no bones broken, but poor Malcolm was dreadfully bruised, and his flesh in parts much lacerated.  He feared, however, that he had experienced some severe internal injuries.  As it was utterly impossible for me to have found my way to him that night, I determined to take a short nap and hurry to him the following morning.

During Don Luis’s recital I did not for one moment think of the gold which we had lost; all my sympathies were with my poor friend.  But, at the conclusion of Don Luis’s narrative, I saw that but few of my associates participated in my grief.  Don Luis was immediately assailed with inquiries rudely addressed to him in reference to the missing gold.  In reply, he stated that we all knew that Malcolm carried in his saddle-bags the great bulk of the gold they were conveying to San Francisco; and that, of course, when the robbers drove off the horse, the gold went with it.  “It is the doctor you have to thank for that,” growled out Bradley; and though I could not see the matter in this light, still I could not help thinking of my own distrustful disposition, which, in reality, had been the cause of making Malcolm a party to the conveyance of the treasure; this, in fact, had in all probability sacrificed my friend’s life.  I thought of his poor wife and children in Oregon, who would bewailing in vain for his return, which he, poor follow, had delayed so long, in the hope of going back to them laden with wealth.  Throughout the whole of the night most of the party remained gathered around the camp-fire-now in sullen silence, and now expressing their bitter dissatisfaction at the arrangements which had led to the day’s misfortune.  And when the first faint light of daybreak showed over the tall peaks of the snowy mountains, it discovered us looking haggard and dejected, alike wearied and disgusted with everything around.

CHAPTER XXII.

  The stock of gold remaining weighed and shared
  Squabbling over it
  The party separate
  The Author and others start off
  They meet with Lacosse and the trapper
  Lacosse’s explanation
  Arrive at Sutter’s
  Purchase flour at eighty-five dollars a barrel
  Camps of miners
  A gold-washing colony
  Encamped for the night
  Horses and flour missing in the morning
  Visit a big bony American
  A hole threatened in their skulls
  How quarrels are settled
  Lacosse promises to join the party at Sutter’s
  The march resumes
  Arrive at Malcolm’s shanty
  The doctor prescribes for his patient
  Malcolm’s first idea of the lasso
  The party leave for Sutter’s.