I was an ox driver and so
told him I would take his team and cart and set out with the work. He
said he could pay fifty dollars a month, and I accepted the offer
quickly as I saw it was a good chance to build up my exhausted strength
and flesh.
I turned the little mule out in the hills near by, and began my work. It
was not hard, for the boarders were thinning out. The natives did not
patronize this hotel very much, but grub disappeared pretty fast at my
corner of the table, for my appetite began to be ravenous. There was not
much variety to the food and very few luxuries or delicacies, which were
hard to obtain on such a bare market, but all seemed satisfied with the
food, and to me it tasted extra good.
Rogers went back to the old camp and helped them there, and I often went
over after dark, when my work was done. Moody and Skinner had been
active in trying to get Mr. Bennett ready to go up the coast with them.
Bennett had sold his repeating rifle and with the proceeds and the help
of his friends had got another ox, making two yoke for him. They fixed
up a wagon for him, and yokes enough could be found where people had
traded off their oxen for horses. Provisions enough had been gathered by
Moody and Skinner for them all, and Rogers would go along with the party
to help them with the teams.
I was left alone after they started, and it was my idea to quit when I
had worked a month, and if my mule staid with me, to start for the mines
even if I went alone.
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