“‘Don’t you remember Yank?’ I asked; ‘one of those old miners who were going to make a breakfast off of you?’
“Well, boys, he did remember me now, you bet.
“‘Mine gracious, is this Yank? Well! well! now come down into mine cabin.’
“After we had both recovered a little from our astonishment, and I had explained how we had hunted for him for several days among the hills and cañons, he told me how he had managed to find his way out of the mountains, after remaining up in a tree for more than two days to get away from a big grizzly which he thought must have been some relation to us old miners, some way, for the brute seemed determined to eat him up, anyhow.
“‘But,’ said he, ‘the bear got tired and hungry waiting for me to come down and finally went away, and then I came down and made tracks for San Francisco pooty quick, and don’t want to go out prospecting any more at all.’”
Yank continued by asking if any of them remembered the chap they called “Razor Bill.”
“Oh, yis,” Mike answered, “indade I remimber him well whin he wurruked down near Angel’s camp, an’ whin he wurruked up at Poverty Point, near Hangtown, an’ he made a good dale ov money too, but, begorra, he wasn’t the b’y to save it. I see him play cards with that same chap they called ‘Lucky Bill,’ an’ he lost more than $800 at the game.”
“Well,” said Yank, “I saw him at the Bay. He is driving an express wagon, and says that he is doing a very good business. He is married now, and has five or six children.”
Tennessee remarked that any man who played the game of seven up with “Lucky Bill” was sure to leave his dust there, for he was one of the best card-players in California.
“Do you remember the time when he cleaned out them chaps from San Francisco?” resumed Tennessee. “‘Twas in August of ’50, soon after his arrival in Hangtown from the East. These two chaps had heard of him, and that he had plenty of money, and they came up to clean him out. His house was crowded that evening by the boys who wanted to see the fun. It was agreed that one of these ’Frisco chaps should play ten games, and then if luck was against him he should have the privilege of quitting the game if he wished, and the other one could take his place and play in the same manner. They brought (as was said) $11,000 with them, all in $50 slugs, which was piled upon the table, and an equal sum was placed alongside of Bill. Both piles were decorated in the usual manner, with a big revolver placed in a convenient position for an emergency. The play was for $1,000 a game, and I tell you ’twas interesting to see them piles of slugs travel back and forth in a rapid manner from one side of the table to the other. But it was soon noticed that many of these stacks of slugs that had waltzed across to Lucky Bill’s side didn’t seem to be inclined to waltz back again. The consequence was that at the end of two hours they had played thirty-one games, and every slug was under the protection of Bill’s gun.