Each of the brothers loaded himself with about twenty-five pounds of it, and then they covered up all traces of the vein, made a rude drawing of the locality and the principal landmarks in the vicinity, and started westward again.  But troubles thickened about them.  In their wanderings one brother fell and broke his leg, and the others were obliged to go on and leave him to die in the wilderness.  Another, worn out and starving, gave up by and by, and laid down to die, but after two or three weeks of incredible hardships, the third reached the settlements of California exhausted, sick, and his mind deranged by his sufferings.  He had thrown away all his cement but a few fragments, but these were sufficient to set everybody wild with excitement.  However, he had had enough of the cement country, and nothing could induce him to lead a party thither.  He was entirely content to work on a farm for wages.  But he gave Whiteman his map, and described the cement region as well as he could and thus transferred the curse to that gentleman—­for when I had my one accidental glimpse of Mr. W. in Esmeralda he had been hunting for the lost mine, in hunger and thirst, poverty and sickness, for twelve or thirteen years.  Some people believed he had found it, but most people believed he had not.  I saw a piece of cement as large as my fist which was said to have been given to Whiteman by the young German, and it was of a seductive nature.  Lumps of virgin gold were as thick in it as raisins in a slice of fruit cake.  The privilege of working such a mine one week would be sufficient for a man of reasonable desires.

A new partner of ours, a Mr. Higbie, knew Whiteman well by sight, and a friend of ours, a Mr. Van Dorn, was well acquainted with him, and not only that, but had Whiteman’s promise that he should have a private hint in time to enable him to join the next cement expedition.  Van Dorn had promised to extend the hint to us.  One evening Higbie came in greatly excited, and said he felt certain he had recognized Whiteman, up town, disguised and in a pretended state of intoxication.  In a little while Van Dorn arrived and confirmed the news; and so we gathered in our cabin and with heads close together arranged our plans in impressive whispers.

We were to leave town quietly, after midnight, in two or three small parties, so as not to attract attention, and meet at dawn on the “divide” overlooking Mono Lake, eight or nine miles distant.  We were to make no noise after starting, and not speak above a whisper under any circumstances.  It was believed that for once Whiteman’s presence was unknown in the town and his expedition unsuspected.  Our conclave broke up at nine o’clock, and we set about our preparation diligently and with profound secrecy.  At eleven o’clock we saddled our horses, hitched them with their long riatas (or lassos), and then brought out a side of bacon, a sack of beans, a small sack of coffee, some sugar, a hundred pounds