“I,” said I, firmly, “am going to turn over my share in a business partnership with you; and in the meantime I expect to get a job driving team with John McGlynn for enough to pay the board bill while you rustle. And that goes!” I added warningly.
“Thank you, Frank,” replied Talbot, and I thought I saw his bright eye dim. He held silent for a moment. “Do you know,” he said suddenly, “I believe we’re on the right track. It isn’t the gold. That is a bait, a glittering bait, that attracts the world to these shores. It’s the country. The gold brings them, and out of the hordes that come, some, like us, will stick. And after the gold is dug and scattered and all but forgotten, we will find that we have fallen heirs to an empire.”
THE END
NOTE
The author desires fully to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following writers, from whose books he has drawn freely, both for historical fact, incidents, and the spirit of the times:
Tuthill–History of California.
Foster–The Gold Regions of California.
Stillman–Seeking the Golden Fleece.
Taylor–El Dorado.
Delano–Life on the Plains.
Shinn–Mining Camps.
Brooks–Four Months Among the Gold Finders.
Johnson–Sights in the Gold Region and Scenes by the Way.
Bostwicks–Three Years in California.
Shaw–Ramblings in California.
Hittell–History of San Francisco.
Bates–Four Years on the Pacific Coast.
Taylor–California Life Illustrated.
Marryatt–Mountains and Molehills.
James–The Heroes of California.
Hunt–California the Golden.
Haskins–The Argonauts of California.
Bell–Reminiscences of a Ranger.
Royce–California.
Eldredge–Beginnings of San Francisco.
Langford–Vigilante Days and Ways.
The author desires further to announce that, provided nothing interferes, he hopes to supplement this novel with two others. They also will deal with early days, and will be entitled The Gray Dawn, and The Rose Dawn.