Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/806

 said the preacher, "God forgave him his sins, and thenceforth he was a new man."

Now it happened that the listener himself had likewise one night not long since become beastly drunk, stumbled into an old uncovered shaft on his way home, and escaped unharmed. The force of example fell upon him. He became uneasy, twisted himself in his seat, and finally rising up called out to the speaker, "Is that a fact?" "It is certainly true," replied the preacher. Turning to the one seated nearest him, he exclaimed, "My case exactly; I fell into a hole, came out all right; religion must be a good thing; by God I'll try it on too!" Therewith he marched forward and took his seat under the more immediate droppings of the sanctuary.

Among the miners at Carson creek, near the Stanislaus river, was an old man who had been there some months—it was generally believed that he had been successful—no one knew what he did with his gold, for he was a man of economical habits, and free from the vice of gambling. People believed that he buried his gold. One day the old man threw the whole camp into excitement by frantically rushing about and declaring that he had been robbed of his gold. He was rather liked and most of the miners sympathized with him, and offered to assist him in finding the gold, and in catching and punishing the robber.

After numerous inquiries of the old man, it was ascertained that he had been in the habit of burying his treasures in different places; and that the amount of which he had been robbed was concealed in a leathern bag at the foot of a certain tree—which particular bag was filled with lump gold, specimens, etc. He took several persons to the spot and showed them the hole cornered by a flat stone.

Upon examining the place carefully, a large gopher's hole was discovered in the side of the cavity in