The majority of the male inhabitants of this town
had gone to the mines, and this accounted for the unusual proportion of
women. We learned that they would return in November, and then the
gambling houses would start up in full blast, for these native
Californians seemed to have a great natural desire to indulge in games
of chance, and while playing their favorite game of monte would lay down
their last reale (12-1/2 cents) in the hope of winning the money in
sight before them on the table.
As the boarding house business got dull I was taken over to a vineyard
and set to work, in place of hauling water. The entire patch was as
green as a meadow with weeds, and I was expected to clean them out. I
inquired of Brier how he came to get hold of this nice property, and he
said that during the war the soldiers had taken possession of this piece
of ground, and had their camp here, so he considered it was government
land, and therefore had squatted on it and was going to hold it, and pay
for it as regular government land, and that he already considered it his
own, for said he, "I am an American, and this is a part of the public
domain." "All right," said I, "I will kill weeds for you, if you wish,
when I have time to spare, and you don't want the oxen worked at any
other work ".
I could see every day that I was improving in health and weight and
would soon become myself again, able to take the road to the mines. When
about two weeks of my time had expired two oldish men came to the house
to stop for a few days and reported themselves as from Sacramento,
buying up some horses for that market.
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