Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/85



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little room  at  the  back  of  the  store,  reserved  as  a  private  office. Then Marshall showed  him  the  gold. He looked  at  it  in  astonishment,  and,  still doubting, asked  what  it  was. His visitor  replied  that  it  was  gold. ' Impos- sible ! ' was  the  incredulous  ejaculation  of  Sutter. Upon this  Marshall asked for  some  nitric  acid,  to  test  it,  and  a  vaquero  having  been  despatched to the  gunsmith's  for  that  purpose,  Sutter  enquired  whether  there  was  no other  way  in  which  it  could  be  tested. He was  told  that  its  character might be  ascertained  by  weighing  it,  and  accordingly  some  silver  coin — $3. 25, was all  the  fort  could  furnish — and  a  pair  of  small  scales  or  balances  having been obtained,  Marshall  proceeded  to  weigh  the  dust,  first  in  the  air,  and then in  two  bowls  of  water. The experiment  residted  as  he  had  foreseen. The du3t  went  down;  the  coin  rose  lightly  up. Sutter gazed,  and  his  doubts faded, and  a  subsequent  test  with  the  nitric  acid,  which  by  this  time  had  ar- rived, settled the  question  finally. Then the  excitement  began  to  spread. Sutter knew  well  the  value  of  the  discovery,  and  in  a  short  time,  having made hurried  arrangements  at  tl;e  fort,  he  returned  with  Marshall  to Coloma,  to  see  for  himself  the  wonder  that  had  been  reported  to  him.

Here is  what  purports  to  be  a  verbatim  relation  by Sutter  to  J.  Tyrwliitt  Brooks,  quite  different  and  in many  places  contradictory  to  that  given  by  him  to others. One can  easily  imagine  how  Sutter  himself might change  his  story  in  its  several  narrations  accord- ino; to  humor  and  audience:

I was  sitting  one  afternoon,  said  the  captain,  just  after  my  siesta,  engaged by-the-by, in  writing  a  letter  to  a  relation  of  mine  at  Lucerne,  wlien  I  was interrupted by  Mr  ^Marshall — a  gentleman  with  whom  I  had  frequent  buoine  :s transactions — bursting hiirriedly  into  the  room. From t'.ie  unusual  agitation in h's  manner  I  imagined  that  something  serious  had  occurred,  and,  as  v.e involuntarily  do  in  this  part  of  the  world,  I  at  once  glanced  to  see  if  my  riiie was in  its  proper  place. You should  know  that  the  mere  appearance  of  Mr Marshall  at  that  moment  in  the  fort  was  quite  enough  to  surprise  me,  as  he had,  but  two  days  before,  left  the  place  to  make  some  alterations  in  a  mill for sawing  pine  planks,  which  he  had  just  run  up  for  me,  some  miles  higher up the  Americanos. \Mien he  had  recovered  himself  a  little,  he  told  me  th.at however  great  my  surprise  might  be  at  his  unexpected  reappearance,  it  would be much  greater  when  I  heard  the  intelligence  he  had  come  to  bring  me. ' Intelligence  '  he  added,  '  which,  if  properly  profited  by,  would  put  both  of U3  in  possession  of  unheard  of  wealth — millions  and  millions  of  dollars,  in fact.'  I  frankly  own,  when  I  heard  this,  that  I  thougl:t  something  had touched Marshall's  l)rain,  when  suddenly  all  my  misgivings  were  put  to  an  end l)y  his  flinging  on  the  table  a  handful  of  scales  of  pure  virgin  gold. I was fairly thunderstruck,  and  asked  him  to  explain  what  all  this  meant,  when  he went  on  to  say,  that  accord hig  to  my  instructions,  he  had  thrown  the  mill- wheel out  of  gear,  to  let  the  whole  body  of  the  water  in  the  dam  find  a  pas- sage through the  tail-race,  which  was  previously  too  narrow  for  the  water  to run  off  in  sufficient  quantity,  whereby  the  wheel  was  prevented  from  effi- ciently performing its  work. By this  alteration  the  narrow  channel  was  con- siderably enlarged, and  a  mass  of  sand  and  gravel  carried  oflf  by  the  force  of  the torrent. Eaidy in  the  morning  after  this  took  place,  he — Mr  Marshall — was walking along  the  left  bank  of  the  stream,  when  he  perceived  something  which he at  first  took  for  a  piece  of  opal — a  clear,  transparent  stone,  very  common  here ■ — glittering on  one  of  the  spots  laid  bare  by  the  sudden  crumbling  away  of  th.e bank. He paid  no  attention  to  this  ;  but  while  he  was  giving  directions  to  the workmen, having  ol)served  several  similar  glittering  fragments,  his  curiosity was  so  far  excited,  that  he  stooped  down  and  picked  one  of  them  up.      '  Do  you