We were now well into the month of December. The rainy season usually commences about the middle of November, and continues almost without intermission until the latter part of February. The year previous it had rained for three months without cessation; now we had no rain. December passed away, and January had come, still the drought continued. Men and animals drooped, the earth had become baked, not a shrub, not a leaf, no, not even a blade of grass could be seen in any direction. A drier season had never been known in that region. Shad had been sober for several days upon compulsion entirely. He could get no more liquor, not because the fiery draught was scarce, but for want of money to pay for it. My own funds were out, gone to liquidate our daily expenses, so that the prospect before us looked gloomy enough. I think, had it been our good fortune to have water, we should have made a very handsome sum out of our large heap of dirt. Without water, to separate the precious metal from the dirt, we could do nothing. About the 20th of January it rained nearly all the morning. “Hope told a flattering tale.� Alas for us poor devils, the rain ceased at noon; this same half a day’s rain cost Shad the only shirt he had for liquor. He said he felt morally certain the rainy season had set in now, and that he would have a regular jollification upon the strength of it, if it cost him his shirt, and it did cost him his shirt.
The season was now so far advanced that we could no longer hope for continuous rain, if it came at all; so I resolved, though with reluctance and after much deliberation, to abandon our pile of gold and make the best of my way back to San Francisco. It was all well enough that I should make a resolve of this description, but the principal part of the affair would be to carry it into effect. The primum mobile, the sinews of war, the wherewith must first be found before I could budge an inch. It was next to impossible to expect aid or counsel from poor Shad. He, good, susceptible soul, had fallen a willing victim to the artful blandishments of an ancient squaw, not so much on account of her great personal attractions as in consequence of her valuable possessions, which consisted of a dilapidated blanket and a keg of whiskey. I was quite charmed with the appearance of the squaw, she so strongly resembled a kangaroo; indeed it was quite a treat to see the pair together, it being problematical which was the most hideous, or the most beastly. I found it utterly useless to remonstrate with him; in fact, he never was in a fitting condition to understand me: so I made up my mind to leave him. Through the kindness of a friend, which was afterwards reciprocated, I was enabled to pay the few debts I had contracted, and to leave Columbia with a trifle of money, which, with economy, enabled me to reach San Francisco in due time.
Thus terminated my last mining adventure in the gold regions of California.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE.
The title of our chapter will bring up to the minds of all who visited California, during its early days, some startling recollections. The Vigilance Committee was the institution of that country, striking terror into all evil doers. Like all energetic associations, it was capable of being abused and sometimes ran into extremes, but its worst enemies cannot deny that it was the only thing which could suppress crime at the time it was in power.
Great mistakes are made in regard to this organization by most writers who have spoken of it. They have committed the very common error of judging of the institutions of one set of people by the standard of another. They have applied to California the same rule which would guide them in their judgment of an Atlantic State. In reality, however, there is no parallel between the two. The latter is inhabited by a population educated to regard the law as the paramount authority. The lawless are in the minority among them. Years of good government have taught the criminal to look upon the public authorities as his bitterest foes, and the honest man to regard them as his friends and protectors.
In California, however, every thing was the reverse of this. No sooner were her doors thrown open and her treasures disclosed, than people from every quarter of the globe thronged to her shores. Men of industrious habits and adventurous spirit went thither of course, as they always hasten to every new field of enterprise. The crowd of newcomers, however, was swelled by others of a far different character. Plunder was of course to be had, and the swindlers and desperadoes, who live by their wits, were quite as eager to visit the new country as were the honest miners who had come to wrench fortune from the flinty bowels of the earth by their brawny arms.
Villains from all parts of the world swarmed upon the new soil. Cunning sharpers from New England, desperate vagabonds from Texas, bogus men from the north-west, and reckless plunderers from the prairies hastened to California like crows to a corn-field. Mexico sent thither her sly robbers, Chili and Peru furnished their secret assassins. The penal colonies of Great Britain vomited their refuse upon this unhappy land, and even savage pirates from the Eastern Archipelago found their way to El Dorado. The territory numbered among her inhabitants accomplished thieves, burglars and cut-throats from every civilized and barbarous country within reach, men who had been familiar with courts and jails, and all punishments short of death.
It may readily be understood what a state of society existed there. The laws of the United States were, by a figure of speech, said to be in force over the new territory. Really, however, they were as impotent as they are in a village of Blackfeet among the Rocky Mountains. The officers of the law were utterly powerless. Rarely did they attempt to assert their authority, and when they did make the effort, they signally failed. The only law recognized there was that of the strongest. The correct aim, the steady hand, the strong arm were the only protectors of a Californian in those days. He might as well lean upon a wilted blade of grass as upon the legal authorities.
This condition of affairs afforded a fine harvest to the amiable gentlemen who had come hither to practice their professions. Robberies and murders became every-day occurrences, of no more importance than an assault and battery on election day. The most daring outrages were every where committed with impunity. Unoffending men were shot down and pillaged in broad daylight; shops were broken open; haciendas were stormed;—in short, the country was in a state of siege, and the blackguards were in the ascendent.